Puzzle Themes
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Phases
Opening257,536
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,243,856
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,294,559
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame237,951
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame60,384
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame153,645
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame37,156
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame49,289
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook33,177
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense165,343
French Defense68,575
Queen's Pawn Game61,249
Italian Game59,766
Caro-Kann Defense54,396
Scandinavian Defense43,052
Queen's Gambit Declined40,063
English Opening33,377
Ruy Lopez33,224
Scotch Game29,156
Indian Defense28,706
Philidor Defense20,807
Motifs
Advanced pawn276,199
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f731,891
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender36,168
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack257,823
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 check23,670
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 king135,728
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork655,054
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece197,343
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack389,325
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin296,432
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack67,141
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice342,056
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer106,547
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 piece62,395
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction165,671
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance63,017
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move287,745
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection203,337
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference18,246
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.
Intermezzo63,290
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 move190,800
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 attack16,394
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang43,645
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,324,693
Win the game with style.Mate in 1575,677
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2582,213
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3141,761
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 420,562
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,480
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate5,196
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate5,094
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate151,412
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,359
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,378
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,721
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate7,365
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 mate16,015
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
Castling2,266
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,865
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.
Promotion105,867
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion868
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,014
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,441,664
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,939,419
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,324,693
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle622,936
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,549,144
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,196,305
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle380,408
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games665,293
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games68,642
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,914
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.