Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening246,214
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,129,426
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,149,847
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame221,941
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame56,216
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame141,551
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame34,845
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame45,441
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook30,955
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense158,298
French Defense65,604
Queen's Pawn Game58,224
Italian Game57,110
Caro-Kann Defense51,350
Scandinavian Defense40,781
Queen's Gambit Declined38,460
Ruy Lopez31,951
English Opening31,949
Scotch Game27,694
Indian Defense27,438
Philidor Defense20,017
Motifs
Advanced pawn257,475
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f729,291
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender34,980
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack245,675
Moving a piece (such as a knight), that previously blocked an attack by a long range piece (such as a rook), out of the way of that piece.
Double check22,120
Checking with two pieces at once, as a result of a discovered attack where both the moving piece and the unveiled piece attack the opponent's king.
Exposed king126,751
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork624,125
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece188,167
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack363,126
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin281,370
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack62,581
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice321,172
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer100,459
A motif involving a high value piece being attacked, moving out the way, and allowing a lower value piece behind it to be captured or attacked, the inverse of a pin.
Trapped piece60,400
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction155,410
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance59,729
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move272,368
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection191,235
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference17,418
Moving a piece between two opponent pieces to leave one or both opponent pieces undefended, such as a knight on a defended square between two rooks.
Intermezzo60,674
Instead of playing the expected move, first interpose another move posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer. Also known as "Zwischenzug" or "In between".
Quiet move179,111
A move that does neither make a check or capture, nor an immediate threat to capture, but does prepare a more hidden unavoidable threat for a later move.
X-Ray attack15,428
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang40,395
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,219,848
Win the game with style.Mate in 1520,598
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2543,454
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3132,471
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 419,161
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,164
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,807
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,736
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate141,822
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,132
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,161
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,480
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,802
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate14,602
A checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is surrounded (or smothered) by its own pieces.Special moves
Castling2,204
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,523
A tactic involving the en passant rule, where a pawn can capture an opponent pawn that has bypassed it using its initial two-square move.
Promotion98,317
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion820
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,012
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,360,346
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,859,357
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,219,848
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle567,858
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,432,017
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,124,340
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle358,351
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games633,627
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games66,765
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,852
Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world.
Player games
Lookup puzzles generated from your games, or from another player's games.These puzzles are in the public domain, and can be downloaded from database.lichess.org.