Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix4,800,169

A bit of everything. You don't know what to expect, so you remain ready for anything! Just like in real games.

Phases

Opening257,402

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2,243,458

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame2,294,633

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame238,049

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame60,338

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame154,335

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame37,201

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame48,780

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook33,144

An endgame with only queens, rooks, and pawns.

By game openingMore »

Motifs

Advanced pawn277,083

One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote.

Attacking f2 or f731,968

An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening.

Capture the defender36,169

Removing a piece that is critical to defense of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move.

Discovered attack256,314

Moving a piece that previously blocked an attack by another long range piece, such as a knight out of the way of a rook.

Double check23,281

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 king134,924

A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate.

Fork653,987

A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once.

Hanging piece197,076

A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture.

Kingside attack391,512

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side.

Pin296,269

A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece.

Queenside attack67,477

An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side.

Sacrifice342,739

A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves.

Skewer105,609

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 piece62,256

A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves.

Advanced

Attraction166,042

An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic.

Clearance63,082

A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea.

Defensive move287,403

A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage.

Deflection203,164

A move that distracts an opponent piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading".

Interference18,206

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.

Intermezzo63,460

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 move191,315

A move that does not make a check or capture, but does prepare an unavoidable threat for a later move.

X-Ray attack16,442

A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece.

Zugzwang43,539

The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position.

Mates

Checkmate1,326,189

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1578,930

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2581,324

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3141,126

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 420,389

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more4,420

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Anastasia's mate5,225

A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece.

Arabian mate5,119

A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board.

Back rank mate152,230

Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces.

Boden's mate2,376

Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Double bishop mate2,397

Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces.

Dovetail mate2,715

A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces.

Hook mate7,363

Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape.

Мат «Смертельная коробка»3,672

Ладья ставится рядом с королём противника под защитой ферзя, который одновременно препятствует побегу короля. Ладья и ферзь ловят вражеского короля в «смертельную коробку» 3×3.

Мат Вуковича1,804

Ладья и конь совместно матуют короля. Ладья, защищённая ещё одной фигурой, ставит мат, а конь отрезает поля отступления вражеского короля.

Smothered mate15,909

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

Castling2,251

Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack.

En passant6,893

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.

Promotion106,148

Promote one of your pawns to a queen or minor piece.

Underpromotion872

Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.

Goals

Equality42,289

Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp)

Advantage1,444,148

Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp)

Crushing1,935,061

Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp)

Checkmate1,326,189

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle625,688

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle2,542,573

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1,198,482

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle380,947

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games665,790

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games68,302

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games2,871

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.