Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening239,143
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,058,795
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,060,935
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame211,645
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame53,493
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame133,816
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame33,362
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame43,015
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook29,489
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By game openingMore »
Sicilian Defense153,790
French Defense63,663
Queen's Pawn Game56,224
Italian Game55,297
Caro-Kann Defense49,343
Scandinavian Defense39,212
Queen's Gambit Declined37,366
Ruy Lopez31,058
English Opening31,054
Scotch Game26,710
Indian Defense26,632
Philidor Defense19,504
Motifs
Advanced pawn245,387
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f727,653
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender34,192
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack237,927
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 check21,127
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 king120,910
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork604,022
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece182,204
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack346,187
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin271,535
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack59,738
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice307,586
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer96,492
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 piece59,110
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction148,788
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance57,681
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move262,301
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection183,324
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference16,830
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.
Intermezzo58,935
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 move171,674
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 attack14,797
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang38,285
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,152,649
Win the game with style.Mate in 1485,024
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2518,792
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3126,590
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 418,267
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more3,976
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate4,572
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate4,483
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate135,715
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate1,983
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,031
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate2,328
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate6,423
Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.
Smothered mate13,649
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
Castling2,157
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant6,288
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.
Promotion93,487
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion778
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,010
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,306,444
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing1,807,846
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,152,649
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle532,284
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,355,917
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,077,526
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle344,225
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games613,380
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games65,566
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games2,811
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.