Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6 244 767

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

Phases

Opening315 631

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2 849 700

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame3 079 436

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame327 662

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame83 224

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame221 805

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame50 499

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame70 875

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook45 982

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsUgar »

Motifs

Advanced pawn378 919

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

Attacking f2 or f745 252

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

Capture the defender42 659

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

Discovered attack323 095

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 458

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 king184 701

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

Fork821 040

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

Hanging piece247 985

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

Kingside attack535 348

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

Pin378 460

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

Queenside attack92 480

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

Sacrifice459 094

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

Skewer139 723

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 819

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

Advanced

Attraction221 920

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

Clearance80 847

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

Collinear move7 572

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 move373 295

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

Deflection268 974

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

Interference23 017

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 680

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 move255 534

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 899

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

Zugzwang62 860

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

Mates

Checkmate1 916 492

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1882 938

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2803 028

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3195 628

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 428 703

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more6 197

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7 357

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 348

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

Back rank mate204 663

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 674

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 625

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

Dovetail mate4 012

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

Epaulette mate22 649

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

Hook mate10 512

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 941

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 864

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 626

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

En passant rights8 743

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.

Promotion147 473

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

Underpromotion1 153

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 859 630

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

Crushing2 396 321

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

Checkmate1 916 492

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle930 196

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3 191 140

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1 592 369

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle501 768

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games822 267

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games76 511

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3 239

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.