Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening237,852
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,045,744
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,044,541
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame209,819
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame52,998
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame132,429
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame33,121
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame42,584
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook29,232
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense152,984
French Defense63,316
Queen's Pawn Game55,873
Italian Game54,965
Caro-Kann Defense48,971
Scandinavian Defense38,943
Queen's Gambit Declined37,170
English Opening30,892
Ruy Lopez30,888
Scotch Game26,539
Indian Defense26,502
Philidor Defense19,408
Motifs
Advanced pawn243,327
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f727,338
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender34,031
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack236,573
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 check20,961
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 king119,860
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork600,440
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece181,120
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack343,160
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin269,757
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack59,199
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice305,200
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer95,763
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 piece58,863
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction147,597
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance57,314
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move260,494
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection181,987
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference16,734
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.
Intermezzo58,620
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 move170,379
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 attack14,680
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang37,910
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,140,416
Win the game with style.Mate in 1478,645
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2514,199
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3125,502
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 418,125
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more3,945
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,526
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,442
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate134,610
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate1,963
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,012
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,303
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,352
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate13,503
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
Castling2,149
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,249
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.
Promotion92,637
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion768
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)
Advantage1,297,076
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,798,615
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,140,416
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle525,905
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,342,287
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,069,205
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle341,723
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games609,932
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games65,358
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,801
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.