Puzzle Themes
Recommended
Phases
Opening285,399
A tactic during the first phase of the game.
Middlegame2,528,417
A tactic during the second phase of the game.
Endgame2,658,579
A tactic during the last phase of the game.
Rook endgame279,301
An endgame with only rooks and pawns.
Bishop endgame70,955
An endgame with only bishops and pawns.
Pawn endgame185,973
An endgame with only pawns.
Knight endgame43,259
An endgame with only knights and pawns.
Queen endgame59,180
An endgame with only queens and pawns.
Queen and Rook38,993
An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.By openingsMore »
Sicilian Defense182,189
French Defense76,521
Queen's Pawn Game68,960
Italian Game66,434
Caro-Kann Defense62,481
Scandinavian Defense49,195
Queen's Gambit Declined44,221
English Opening36,976
Ruy Lopez36,396
Scotch Game32,711
Indian Defense32,031
Philidor Defense22,760
Motifs
Advanced pawn324,793
One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.
Attacking f2 or f738,006
An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.
Capture the defender39,338
Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.
Discovered attack288,437
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 check27,624
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 king158,708
A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.
Fork732,685
A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.
Hanging piece220,551
A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.
Kingside attack455,348
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.
Pin335,063
A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.
Queenside attack78,650
An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.
Sacrifice395,466
A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.
Skewer122,152
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 piece67,455
A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.Advanced
Attraction191,787
An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.
Clearance71,367
A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.
Defensive move328,112
A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.
Deflection234,016
A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".
Interference20,525
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.
Intermezzo70,075
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 move221,698
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 attack18,906
A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.
Zugzwang52,797
The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.Mates
Checkmate1,584,973
Win the game with style.Mate in 1710,713
Deliver checkmate in one move.Mate in 2679,473
Deliver checkmate in two moves.Mate in 3165,425
Deliver checkmate in three moves.Mate in 424,139
Deliver checkmate in four moves.Mate in 5 or more5,223
Figure out a long mating sequence.
Anastasia's mate6,140
A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.
Arabian mate6,031
A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.
Back rank mate175,032
Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.
Boden's mate2,939
Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Double bishop mate2,900
Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.
Dovetail mate3,282
A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.
Hook mate8,706
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 mate19,462
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
Castling2,445
Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.
En passant7,749
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.
Promotion125,711
Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece.
Underpromotion1,001
Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.Goals
Equality43,022
Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)
Advantage1,647,318
Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)
Crushing2,149,706
Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)Checkmate1,584,973
Win the game with style.Lengths
One-move puzzle757,972
A puzzle that is only one move long.
Short puzzle2,845,376
Two moves to win.
Long puzzle1,382,430
Three moves to win.
Very long puzzle439,244
Four moves or more to win.Origin
Master games741,902
Puzzles from games played by titled players.
Master vs Master games72,792
Puzzles from games between two titled players.
Super GM games3,068
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.