Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening301,467
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,695,631
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,878,149
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame304,122
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame77,416
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame204,851
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame46,983
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame65,098
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook42,428
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense191,843
French Defense81,042
Queen's Pawn Game73,395
Italian Game70,381
Caro-Kann Defense67,179
Scandinavian Defense52,835
Queen's Gambit Declined46,596
English Opening39,125
Ruy Lopez38,101
Scotch Game34,805
Indian Defense33,860
Philidor Defense23,828
Motifs
Advanced pawn353,044
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f741,489
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender41,157
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack306,158
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 check29,951
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 king172,305
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork778,988
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece234,281
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack494,334
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin357,496
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack85,424
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice427,251
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer131,355
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 piece70,272
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction207,205
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance76,259
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move352,289
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection252,058
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference21,876
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.
Intermezzo74,166
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 move239,778
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 attack20,374
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang58,075
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,740,431
Win the game with style.Mate in 1791,279
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2737,522
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3179,652
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 426,318
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,660
Figure out a long mating sequence.Mate themes
Anastasia's mate6,716
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,647
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate188,803
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Balestra mate1,367
A bishop delivers the checkmate, while a queen blocks the remaining escape squares
Boden's mate3,303
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate3,221
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,629
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,550
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".
Triangle mate7,853
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.
Vukovic mate2,486
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 mate21,506
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
Castling2,532
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant8,262
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.
Promotion137,016
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,075
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,026
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,762,699
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,277,939
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,740,431
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle838,536
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle3,020,684
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,491,894
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle472,984
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games784,846
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games74,823
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,143
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.