Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening291,818
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,593,856
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,743,881
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame290,004
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame73,737
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame194,258
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame44,896
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame61,762
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook40,519
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense186,425
French Defense78,537
Queen's Pawn Game70,875
Italian Game68,210
Caro-Kann Defense64,604
Scandinavian Defense50,796
Queen's Gambit Declined45,259
English Opening37,919
Ruy Lopez37,158
Scotch Game33,637
Indian Defense32,843
Philidor Defense23,224
Motifs
Advanced pawn337,192
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f739,542
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender40,121
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack296,173
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 check28,627
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 king164,575
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork752,743
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece226,538
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack472,273
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin344,703
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack81,480
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice409,079
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer126,147
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 piece68,693
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction198,468
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance73,467
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move338,654
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection241,803
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference21,116
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.
Intermezzo71,880
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 move229,728
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 attack19,524
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang55,181
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,651,356
Win the game with style.Mate in 1745,196
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2704,185
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3171,497
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 425,053
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,425
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate6,407
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,286
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate180,873
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate3,095
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate3,041
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,428
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,088
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Kill box mate3,671
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".
Vukovic mate1,803
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 mate20,345
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
Castling2,482
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,956
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.
Promotion130,714
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,034
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,024
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,698,175
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,204,959
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,651,356
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle792,455
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,920,800
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,429,979
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle454,283
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games760,842
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games73,712
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,104
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.