Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6,460,929

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

Phases

Opening323,706

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2,941,945

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame3,195,278

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame339,149

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame85,939

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame230,131

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame52,229

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame73,644

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook47,654

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsMore »

Motifs

Advanced pawn392,058

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

Attacking f2 or f746,788

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

Capture the defender43,518

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

Discovered attack331,860

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 check33,570

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 king191,298

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

Fork842,968

A move where a piece attacks two or more opposing pieces simultaneously.

Hanging piece254,554

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

Kingside attack554,500

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

Pin389,270

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

Queenside attack95,874

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

Sacrifice474,496

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

Skewer144,277

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 piece74,239

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

Advanced

Attraction229,548

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

Clearance83,205

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

Collinear move7,812

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

Discovered check108,803

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

Defensive move383,958

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

Deflection277,502

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

Interference23,673

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.

Intermezzo79,555

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 move263,409

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 attack22,646

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

Zugzwang65,225

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

Mates

Checkmate1,994,286

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1922,325

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2832,842

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3202,894

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 429,795

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more6,432

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7,656

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

Arabian mate7,672

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

Back rank mate211,736

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 mate3,820

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

Corner mate10,782

Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen, and use a knight to deliver the checkmate.

Double bishop mate3,785

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

Dovetail mate4,144

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

Epaulette mate22,646

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

Hook mate10,963

Checkmate using a rook, knight, and pawn, where an opposing pawn blocks the king's escape.

Kill box mate5,519

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 mate67,644

A rook delivers checkmate to the king, while a bishop helps confine it.

Morphy's mate7,133

A bishop delivers checkmate to the king, while a rook helps confine it.

Opera mate63,940

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 mate24,901

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

Castling2,668

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

En passant8,977

A tactic involving the en passant rule, where a pawn can capture an opposing pawn that has just moved next to it with its initial two-square move.

Promotion152,639

Promote one of your pawns to a queen, rook or minor piece.

Underpromotion1,183

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)

Advantage1,905,216

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

Crushing2,464,002

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

Checkmate1,994,286

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle969,583

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3,274,807

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1,645,287

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle516,857

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games846,232

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games77,608

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3,296

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.