Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening239,542
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,062,557
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,065,672
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame211,898
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame53,562
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame134,014
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame33,401
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame43,067
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook29,531
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense153,902
French Defense63,707
Queen's Pawn Game56,276
Italian Game55,341
Caro-Kann Defense49,395
Scandinavian Defense39,248
Queen's Gambit Declined37,401
English Opening31,088
Ruy Lopez31,084
Scotch Game26,734
Indian Defense26,658
Philidor Defense19,521
Motifs
Advanced pawn245,702
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f727,702
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender34,209
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack238,115
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 check21,161
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 king121,070
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork604,552
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece182,351
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack346,643
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin271,805
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack59,822
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice307,955
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer96,597
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 piece59,148
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction148,964
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance57,729
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move262,569
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection183,533
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference16,844
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.
Intermezzo58,978
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 move171,879
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 attack14,814
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang38,348
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,154,365
Win the game with style.Mate in 1485,947
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2519,418
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3126,735
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 418,285
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more3,980
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,578
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,489
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate135,874
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate1,986
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,035
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,338
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,427
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate13,674
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
Castling2,158
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,295
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.
Promotion93,610
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion779
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,010
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,307,870
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,809,152
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,154,365
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle533,207
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,357,871
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,078,736
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle344,586
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games613,873
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games65,597
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,813
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.