Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6 481 465

A bit of everything. You don't know what to expect, so be ready for anything! Just like in real games.

Phases

Opening324 582

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2 951 069

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame3 205 814

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame340 374

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame86 266

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame231 024

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame52 412

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame73 907

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook47 812

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsUgar »

Motifs

Advanced pawn393 556

One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.

Attacking f2 or f746 933

An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.

Capture the defender43 660

Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.

Discovered attack332 877

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 check33 679

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 king192 000

A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.

Fork845 637

A move where a piece attacks two or more opposing pieces simultaneously.

Hanging piece255 344

A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.

Kingside attack556 312

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.

Pin390 498

A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.

Queenside attack96 208

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.

Sacrifice476 139

A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.

Skewer144 775

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 piece74 442

A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.

Advanced

Attraction230 353

An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.

Clearance83 470

A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.

Collinear move7 840

Two opposing pieces face each other, and one slides along the line of attack without capturing the enemy piece.

Discovered check108 803

Move a piece to reveal a check from a hidden attacking piece, which often leads to a decisive advantage.

Defensive move385 342

A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.

Deflection278 399

A move that distracts an opposing piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".

Interference23 736

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.

Intermezzo79 781

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 move264 376

A move that does not check, capture, or create an immediate threat to capture. Instead, it prepares a hidden and unavoidable threat for a later move.

X-Ray attack22 733

A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.

Zugzwang65 465

The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.

Mates

Checkmate2 001 262

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1925 686

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2835 630

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3203 580

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 429 920

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more6 448

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7 675

A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.

Arabian mate7 700

A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.

Back rank mate212 379

Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.

Balestra mate1 368

A bishop delivers the checkmate, while a queen blocks the remaining escape squares

Blind Swine mate6 361

Two rooks team up to mate the king in an area of 2 by 2 squares.

Boden's mate3 833

Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Corner mate10 781

Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen, and use a knight to deliver the checkmate.

Double bishop mate3 800

Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Dovetail mate4 156

A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.

Epaulette mate22 646

Two adjacent escape squares for a checked king are occupied by other pieces.

Hook mate11 007

Checkmate using a rook, knight, and pawn, where an opposing pawn blocks the king's escape.

Kill box mate5 519

A rook is next to the enemy king and supported by a queen that also blocks the king's escape squares. The rook and the queen catch the enemy king in a 3 by 3 "kill box".

Pillsbury's mate67 644

A rook delivers checkmate to the king, while a bishop helps confine it.

Morphy's mate7 132

A bishop delivers checkmate to the king, while a rook helps confine it.

Opera mate63 940

Check the king with a rook and use a bishop to defend the rook.

Swallow's tail mate8 398

A checkmate pattern that visually resembles the appearance of a swallow’s tail, similar to a V shape.

Triangle mate7 854

The queen and rook, one square away from the enemy king, are on the same rank or file, separated by one square, forming a triangle.

Vuković mate2 487

A rook and knight team up to mate the king. The rook delivers mate while supported by a third piece, and the knight is used to block the king's escape squares.

Smothered mate25 005

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 677

Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.

En passant9 009

A tactic involving the en passant rule, where a pawn can capture an opposing pawn that has just moved next to it with its initial two-square move.

Promotion153 216

Promote one of your pawns to a queen, rook or minor piece.

Underpromotion1 185

Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.

Goals

Equality43 030

Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)

Advantage1 907 997

Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)

Crushing2 474 917

Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)

Checkmate2 001 262

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle972 944

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3 283 825

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1 651 474

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle518 963

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games848 563

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games77 791

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3 296

Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world.

Player games

View 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.