Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening234,221
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,010,197
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame1,999,968
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame204,604
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame51,612
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame128,581
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame32,332
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame41,417
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook28,498
An endgame with only queens, rooks, and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense150,727
French Defense62,347
Queen's Pawn Game54,877
Italian Game54,061
Caro-Kann Defense47,956
Scandinavian Defense38,181
Queen's Gambit Declined36,614
English Opening30,477
Ruy Lopez30,433
Scotch Game26,077
Indian Defense26,071
Philidor Defense19,162
Motifs
Advanced pawn237,255
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f726,498
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender33,628
Removing a piece that is critical to defense of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack232,699
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 check20,466
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 king116,990
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork590,488
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece178,173
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack334,625
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin264,826
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack57,659
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice298,548
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer93,729
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 piece58,175
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction144,249
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance56,265
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move255,432
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection178,087
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference16,426
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.
Intermezzo57,746
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 move166,667
A move that does not make a check or capture, but does prepare an unavoidable threat for a later move.
X-Ray attack14,358
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang36,792
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,107,214
Win the game with style.Mate in 1461,110
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2502,030
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3122,511
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 417,698
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more3,865
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,401
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,323
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate131,575
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate1,894
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate1,946
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,247
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,184
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate13,005
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
Castling2,125
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,134
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.
Promotion90,246
Promote one of your pawns to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion769
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)
Advantage1,270,003
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,772,691
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,107,214
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle508,370
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,303,788
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,045,958
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle334,805
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games272,798
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games25,378
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,344
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.