Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6,200,204

A bit of everything. You don't know what to expect, so be ready for anything! Just like in real games.

Phases

Opening313,977

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2,830,990

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame3,055,237

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame324,966

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame82,604

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame219,857

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame50,089

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame70,224

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook45,574

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsMore »

Motifs

Advanced pawn375,816

One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.

Attacking f2 or f744,862

An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.

Capture the defender42,482

Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.

Discovered attack321,085

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 check32,182

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 king183,225

A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.

Fork816,008

A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.

Hanging piece246,441

A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.

Kingside attack530,789

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.

Pin376,102

A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.

Queenside attack91,648

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.

Sacrifice455,473

A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.

Skewer138,704

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 piece72,509

A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.

Advanced

Attraction220,197

An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.

Clearance80,346

A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.

Collinear move7,101

Two opposing pieces face each other, and one slides along the line of attack without capturing the enemy piece.

Discovered check108,808

Move a piece to reveal a check from a hidden attacking piece, which often leads to a decisive advantage.

Defensive move370,924

A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.

Deflection266,937

A move that distracts an opposing piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".

Interference22,888

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.

Intermezzo77,256

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 move253,774

A move that does not check, capture, or create an immediate threat to capture. Instead, it prepares a hidden and unavoidable threat for a later move.

X-Ray attack21,730

A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.

Zugzwang62,301

The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.

Mates

Checkmate1,897,198

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1873,169

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2795,605

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3193,877

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 428,422

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more6,127

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7,297

A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.

Arabian mate7,265

A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.

Back rank mate202,932

Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.

Balestra mate1,368

A bishop delivers the checkmate, while a queen blocks the remaining escape squares

Blind Swine mate6,361

Two rooks team up to mate the king in an area of 2 by 2 squares.

Boden's mate3,631

Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Corner mate10,787

Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen and a knight to engage the checkmate.

Double bishop mate3,583

Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Dovetail mate3,973

A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.

Epaulette mate22,656

Two adjacent escape squares for a checked king are occupied by other pieces.

Hook mate10,388

Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.

Kill box mate5,520

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".

Pillsbury's mate67,648

The rook delivers checkmate, while the bishop helps to confine it.

Morphy's mate7,134

Use the bishop to check the king, while your rook helps to confine it.

Opera mate63,943

Check the king with a rook and use a bishop to defend the rook.

Swallow's tail mate8,398

A checkmate pattern that visually resembles the appearance of a swallow’s tail, similar to a V shape.

Triangle mate7,854

The queen and rook, one square away from the enemy king, are on the same rank or file, separated by one square, forming a triangle.

Vuković mate2,487

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 mate23,640

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

Castling2,614

Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.

En passant rights8,673

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.

Promotion146,215

Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.

Underpromotion1,145

Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.

Goals

Equality43,030

Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)

Advantage1,848,582

Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)

Crushing2,382,053

Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)

Checkmate1,897,198

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle920,427

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3,171,582

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1,580,430

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle498,424

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games817,614

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games76,252

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3,232

Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world.

Player games

View 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.