Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening287,549
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,549,692
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,686,319
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame283,046
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame71,904
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame188,902
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame43,850
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame60,055
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook39,525
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense183,763
French Defense77,241
Queen's Pawn Game69,667
Italian Game67,085
Caro-Kann Defense63,259
Scandinavian Defense49,789
Queen's Gambit Declined44,606
English Opening37,300
Ruy Lopez36,676
Scotch Game33,038
Indian Defense32,319
Philidor Defense22,919
Motifs
Advanced pawn329,195
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f738,559
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender39,599
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack291,208
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 check27,976
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 king160,745
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork739,657
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece222,617
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack461,282
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin338,474
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack79,627
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice400,251
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer123,557
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 piece67,887
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction194,083
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance72,128
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move331,783
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection236,738
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference20,732
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.
Intermezzo70,687
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 move224,524
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 attack19,127
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang53,644
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,608,097
Win the game with style.Mate in 1722,690
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2688,088
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3167,551
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 424,464
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,304
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate6,228
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,120
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate177,101
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,991
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,942
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,330
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate8,841
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 mate1,804
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 mate19,793
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
Castling2,453
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,827
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.
Promotion127,513
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,017
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,023
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,665,227
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,169,013
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,608,097
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle769,949
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,871,749
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,399,150
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle444,515
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games748,577
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games73,088
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,080
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.