Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening266,369
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,333,039
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,407,377
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame250,450
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame63,594
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame163,563
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame38,978
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame52,302
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook34,972
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense170,703
French Defense71,017
Queen's Pawn Game63,668
Italian Game61,904
Caro-Kann Defense57,011
Scandinavian Defense45,007
Queen's Gambit Declined41,425
English Opening34,501
Ruy Lopez34,209
Scotch Game30,295
Indian Defense29,741
Philidor Defense21,426
Motifs
Advanced pawn291,035
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f733,880
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender37,155
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack267,385
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 check24,916
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 king142,771
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork679,054
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece204,382
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack409,851
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin308,269
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack70,718
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice358,514
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer111,396
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 piece63,892
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction173,671
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance65,591
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move299,971
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection212,746
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference18,943
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.
Intermezzo65,327
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 move200,117
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 attack17,139
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang46,418
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,406,483
Win the game with style.Mate in 1618,217
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2612,735
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3149,126
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 421,694
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more4,711
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate5,494
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate5,387
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate158,894
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,534
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,547
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,880
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate7,773
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Kill box mate3,672
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 mate1,804
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 mate17,097
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
Castling2,314
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,125
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.
Promotion111,928
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion899
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,017
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,505,154
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,003,144
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,406,483
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle665,476
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,640,576
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,253,666
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle398,083
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games688,801
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games69,946
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,953
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.