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Record-Breaking Puzzles on Lichess
Test your tactical skills in this collection of puzzle rarities and curiosities!
One of the benefits of a free and open-source chess server is the massive amounts of available data to explore. Lichess kindly provides us with an open database containing the billions of games and millions of puzzles on the site. Equipped with python and a half-gig file of puzzles, I set out to collect some record-breaking and curious puzzles! Each puzzle includes a link to its puzzle page for you to attempt before admiring the solution. Most of these are particularly hard, so settle down and get ready for a rather unique test of precision and endurance.
Highest Rated
Lichess puzzles, just like players, have a Glicko 2 rating to measure the difficulty of the puzzle as well as the puzzle-solving strength of the player. Considering we have player leaderboards, which puzzles would place on their own leaderboard? I collected the top three, although the current rankings may have changed slightly since the database was last updated. Can you say you solved the hardest three puzzles on Lichess?
No. 3 — "Quietly, Now"
Rating: 2955
Already down a minor piece, White snaps off the knight blockading the passed f-pawn with Bxf6. This breaks the general principle of avoiding trades when you're down in material. Fascinatingly, this is a mistake; White's only winning move was a calm Ba4, threatening mate on d7. As luck would have it, Black blunders the game right back, but not without a catch — it's one of the hardest sequences to spot! Try the puzzle.
No. 2 — "Two Beats Four"
Rating: 2996
Black is down both a rook and a knight, and likely gulping at the sight of White's pieces in attacking formation. Thankfully, the black queen and rook have something even more powerful than material: initiative! Try the puzzle.
No. 1 — "Slippery When Checked"
Rating: 3047
Taking the cake for hardest puzzle on Lichess, this one is a doozy! White gleefully lands a royal fork on Black's exposed king and undeveloped queen, winning material instantly. But are they celebrating too early? See if you can spot Black's tantalizing response. Try the puzzle.
Longest Puzzles
We all know the feeling of calculating a tricky puzzle only find out there's one more move than you expected. And another. And another... Until you mess up. Coldly, Lichess simply laughs and takes your rating points; it doesn't even matter that your first ten moves were correct! It stands to reason that the longest puzzles on the site should be some of the hardest, due to the plentiful opportunities for mistakes. Do you have the patience to match the precision?
No. 3 — "Timing!..."
Moves: 14
...Why are musicians so bad at jokes? This seemingly cut-and-dry ending is actually hiding a fundamental endgame drill! Take care when calculating: you will need to get a few things just right — or White will happily leave the board with half of your point. Try the puzzle.
No. 2 — "Neck-and-Neck"
Moves: 15
"I'm pretty sure this is a won endgame," White innocently thinks. It's true, but don't be so fast to kick back and go into autopilot. If White so much as slips once in the next 15 moves, Black will snatch the game right back. Try the puzzle.
No. 1 — "An Unstoppable Force"
Moves: 15
Tying for the longest game, I was surprised to discover this wasn't an endgame. Here, White accomplishes an ideal attack on Black's castled king, but at the expense of two minor pieces and a pawn or two. White knows that their attack must have enough power to outmatch the material disadvantage, but soon realizes the nightmare on the board: a lengthy combination with no end in sight. Can your calculation see through the deep dark forest, or will you trust your improvisation and play it by ear? Try the puzzle.
Longest Piece Journeys
Who doesn't like to be the hero? Occasionally one piece becomes the star of the show, dancing around the board and single-handedly leaving the opponent in shambles. Ultrabullet players rejoice! I collected the longest puzzles where every move is made by the same piece. As expected, most of the time the King gets this honor, so I looked specifically for the best of each different piece.
King — "Takes Two to Tango"
Moves: 10
Out of the many, many king journeys I dug up, this one is the clear winner at 10 moves. Black is about to lose their extra pawn, but one of them is passed. Can White's king dance his way to a winning position? Try the puzzle.
Rook — "Ain't No Rest for the Rook-ed"
Moves: 8
Black carelessly runs their king into a very simply fork, dropping their extra bishop. However, there's a bit more danger up Black's sleeve than expected. Can White's rook keep up with Black's speedy pawn majority? Try the puzzle.
Knight — "Forks in the Road"
Moves: 8
White has perfectly deployed each of their pieces, albeit is missing a pawn center. Luckily, Black's pieces are extremely uncoordinated — all it takes is one tricky knight to trip them all over their shoelaces. Try the puzzle.
Queen — "Broken Elevator"
Moves: 7
White is up the exchange but down three pawns, with one of them just a move away from queening (alongside a mate threat on h2). However, Black's king is surrounded and his "loyal" subjects are not on their best squares. Can White's queen wiggle the black king out of safety like a loose tooth before things go south? Try the puzzle.
Bishop — "Pac-man Bishop"
Moves: 7
White and Black have creatively formed a check-mark shape with their locked pawns and pieces. Fortunately for Black, White's pawns are sitting ducks on the same color as the dark-squared bishop, but the passed h-pawn is getting ready to run the mile. How many can Black's bishop feast on before needing to come to the rescue? And even if it does, will it fend off White's active king? Try the puzzle.
Pawn — "Now THIS is Pawn Racing!"
Moves: 7
My favorite curiosity of the bunch. Black finds themselves on the wrong end of king activity, but a two-to-one majority on the g- and h-files offers a glimmer of hope. Can Black win this race? According to the 2628 rating, it's not so easy... or is it? Try the puzzle.
More to come!
Thanks for joining me in this tour of record-breaking and fascinating puzzles on Lichess. I have plenty more interesting ones to share, but this post was getting quite long. Look out for another collection in the very near future!
How many could you solve? Do you have any other ideas for unique puzzle criteria? Share in the comments!