Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening241,625
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,082,892
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,091,065
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame214,954
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame54,382
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame136,307
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame33,832
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame43,786
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook29,962
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense155,118
French Defense64,254
Queen's Pawn Game56,852
Italian Game55,854
Caro-Kann Defense49,929
Scandinavian Defense39,699
Queen's Gambit Declined37,699
English Opening31,342
Ruy Lopez31,317
Scotch Game27,025
Indian Defense26,898
Philidor Defense19,672
Motifs
Advanced pawn249,265
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f728,203
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender34,440
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack240,479
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 check21,461
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 king122,853
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork610,621
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece184,128
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack351,750
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin274,725
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack60,684
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice311,968
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer97,806
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 piece59,520
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction150,926
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance58,310
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move265,599
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection185,946
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference16,997
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.
Intermezzo59,462
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 move174,076
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 attack14,988
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang39,000
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,174,379
Win the game with style.Mate in 1496,530
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2526,742
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3128,511
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 418,561
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,035
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,637
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,557
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate137,698
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,023
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,073
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,381
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,530
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate13,941
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
Castling2,172
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,374
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.
Promotion95,042
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion791
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)
Advantage1,324,074
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,824,600
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,174,379
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle543,790
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,380,742
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,092,677
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle348,859
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games620,022
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games66,018
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,831
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.