Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6 026 781

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

Phases

Opening307 450

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2 758 588

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame2 960 743

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame314 241

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame79 859

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame211 864

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame48 469

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame67 668

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook43 985

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsUgar »

Motifs

Advanced pawn363 856

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

Attacking f2 or f743 318

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

Capture the defender41 792

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

Discovered attack313 456

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 check31 162

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 king177 582

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

Fork796 726

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

Hanging piece240 350

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

Kingside attack513 173

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

Pin366 509

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

Queenside attack88 644

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

Sacrifice441 316

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

Skewer134 827

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 piece71 308

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

Advanced

Attraction213 577

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

Clearance78 197

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

Discovered check108 808

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

Defensive move361 053

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

Deflection259 195

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

Interference22 359

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.

Intermezzo75 643

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 move246 403

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 attack21 029

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

Zugzwang60 033

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

Mates

Checkmate1 824 129

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1835 572

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2768 245

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3186 975

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 427 430

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more5 909

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7 043

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 953

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

Back rank mate196 346

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 483

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

Corner mate10 794

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

Double bishop mate3 421

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

Dovetail mate3 818

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

Hook mate9 991

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 649

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

Morphy's mate7 135

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

Opera mate63 942

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

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.

Vukovic 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 mate22 632

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 586

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

En passant8 452

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.

Promotion141 438

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

Underpromotion1 116

Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.

Goals

Equality43 027

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

Advantage1 803 658

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

Crushing2 326 417

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

Checkmate1 824 129

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle882 829

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3 095 231

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1 534 068

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle485 103

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games801 003

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games75 593

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3 176

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.