Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening263,067
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,299,082
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,364,621
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame246,077
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame62,492
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame160,089
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame38,336
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame51,272
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook34,353
An endgame with only queens, rooks, and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense168,920
French Defense70,192
Queen's Pawn Game62,911
Italian Game61,184
Caro-Kann Defense56,153
Scandinavian Defense44,322
Queen's Gambit Declined40,979
English Opening34,110
Ruy Lopez33,883
Scotch Game29,922
Indian Defense29,393
Philidor Defense21,228
Motifs
Advanced pawn285,823
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f733,171
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender36,825
Removing a piece that is critical to defense of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack264,020
Moving a piece that previously blocked an attack by another long range piece, such as a knight out of the way of a rook.
Double check24,468
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 king140,303
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork670,633
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece201,897
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack402,597
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin304,111
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack69,465
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice352,703
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer109,700
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 piece63,345
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction170,889
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance64,682
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move295,770
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection209,472
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference18,697
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.
Intermezzo64,601
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 move196,834
A move that does not make a check or capture, but does prepare an unavoidable threat for a later move.
X-Ray attack16,878
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang45,466
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,377,911
Win the game with style.Mate in 1603,415
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2602,065
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3146,500
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 421,304
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,627
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate5,398
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate5,292
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate156,295
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,474
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,488
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,835
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate7,645
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 mate16,723
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
Castling2,303
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,028
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.
Promotion109,823
Promote one of your pawns to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion894
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,016
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,482,830
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,980,997
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,377,911
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle650,674
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,608,980
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,233,240
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle391,863
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games680,886
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games69,578
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,941
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.