Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening305,609
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,739,032
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,935,375
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame311,356
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame79,119
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame209,671
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame47,991
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame66,948
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook43,596
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense194,381
French Defense82,243
Queen's Pawn Game74,578
Italian Game71,355
Caro-Kann Defense68,378
Scandinavian Defense53,740
Queen's Gambit Declined47,182
English Opening39,631
Ruy Lopez38,548
Scotch Game35,310
Indian Defense34,315
Philidor Defense24,120
Motifs
Advanced pawn360,586
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f742,920
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender41,599
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack311,413
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 check30,893
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 king176,001
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork791,426
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece238,696
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack508,478
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin363,845
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack87,830
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice437,422
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer133,730
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 piece70,977
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction211,732
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance77,630
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Discovered check108,807
Move a piece to reveal a check from a hidden attacking piece, which often leads to a decisive advantage.
Defensive move358,288
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection257,175
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference22,228
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.
Intermezzo75,176
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 move244,380
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 attack20,844
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang59,406
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,804,819
Win the game with style.Mate in 1825,639
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2761,023
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3185,150
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 427,159
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,850
Figure out a long mating sequence.Mate themes
Anastasia's mate6,967
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,863
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate194,603
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Balestra mate1,367
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 mate3,449
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Corner mate10,796
Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen and a knight to engage the checkmate.
Double bishop mate3,383
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,772
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate9,902
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 mate67,651
The rook delivers checkmate, while the bishop helps to confine it.
Morphy's mate7,135
Use the bishop to check the king, while your rook helps to confine it.
Opera mate63,943
Check the king with a rook and use a bishop to defend the rook.
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.
Vukovic 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 mate22,370
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
Castling2,568
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant8,398
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.
Promotion140,086
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,105
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,027
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,791,115
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,311,443
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,804,819
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle872,896
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle3,074,773
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,521,417
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle481,318
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games796,281
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games75,378
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,162
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.