Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening254,219
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,211,158
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,252,836
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame233,642
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame59,263
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame150,313
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame36,556
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame48,280
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook32,606
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense163,272
French Defense67,721
Queen's Pawn Game60,374
Italian Game58,956
Caro-Kann Defense53,425
Scandinavian Defense42,355
Queen's Gambit Declined39,606
English Opening32,937
Ruy Lopez32,857
Scotch Game28,748
Indian Defense28,326
Philidor Defense20,555
Motifs
Advanced pawn271,112
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f731,216
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender35,845
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack254,545
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 check23,250
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 king133,312
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork646,639
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece194,885
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack382,337
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin292,400
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack65,927
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice336,415
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer104,910
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 piece61,854
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction162,892
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance62,120
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move283,660
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection200,006
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference18,036
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.
Intermezzo62,592
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 move187,571
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 attack16,152
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang42,726
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,296,990
Win the game with style.Mate in 1561,187
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2571,971
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3139,257
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 420,181
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,394
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate5,086
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,989
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate148,889
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,297
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,314
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,657
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate7,200
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Kill box mate3,672
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".
Vukovic mate1,804
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 mate15,656
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
Castling2,253
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,773
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.
Promotion103,820
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion856
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)
Advantage1,420,004
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,917,811
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,296,990
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle608,446
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,518,040
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,177,013
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle374,321
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games657,220
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games68,272
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,893
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.