Puzzle Themes

Recommended

Healthy mix6 323 775

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

Phases

Opening318 508

A tactic during the first phase of the game.

Middlegame2 882 758

A tactic during the second phase of the game.

Endgame3 122 509

A tactic during the last phase of the game.

Rook endgame332 525

An endgame with only rooks and pawns.

Bishop endgame84 375

An endgame with only bishops and pawns.

Pawn endgame225 515

An endgame with only pawns.

Knight endgame51 197

An endgame with only knights and pawns.

Queen endgame72 091

An endgame with only queens and pawns.

Queen and Rook46 679

An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns.

By openingsUgar »

Motifs

Advanced pawn384 463

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

Attacking f2 or f745 925

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

Capture the defender42 960

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

Discovered attack326 616

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 check32 926

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 king187 422

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

Fork829 800

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

Hanging piece250 619

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

Kingside attack543 436

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

Pin382 746

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

Queenside attack93 934

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

Sacrifice465 525

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

Skewer141 541

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 piece73 327

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

Advanced

Attraction225 134

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

Clearance81 754

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

Collinear move7 673

Two opposing pieces face each other, and one slides along the line of attack without capturing the enemy piece.

Discovered check108 808

Move a piece to reveal a check from a hidden attacking piece, which often leads to a decisive advantage.

Defensive move377 701

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

Deflection272 471

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

Interference23 284

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.

Intermezzo78 402

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 move258 798

A move that does not check, capture, or create an immediate threat to capture. Instead, it prepares a hidden and unavoidable threat for a later move.

X-Ray attack22 224

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

Zugzwang63 909

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

Mates

Checkmate1 950 183

Win the game with style.

Mate in 1899 994

Deliver checkmate in one move.

Mate in 2815 930

Deliver checkmate in two moves.

Mate in 3198 783

Deliver checkmate in three moves.

Mate in 429 179

Deliver checkmate in four moves.

Mate in 5 or more6 299

Figure out a long mating sequence.

Mate themes

Anastasia's mate7 483

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

Arabian mate7 477

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

Back rank mate207 629

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

Balestra mate1 368

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 733

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

Corner mate10 787

Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen and a knight to engage the checkmate.

Double bishop mate3 705

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

Dovetail mate4 072

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

Epaulette mate22 648

Two adjacent escape squares for a checked king are occupied by other pieces.

Hook mate10 710

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 647

The rook delivers checkmate, while the bishop helps to confine it.

Morphy's mate7 134

Use the bishop to check the king, while your rook helps to confine it.

Opera mate63 941

Check the king with a rook and use a bishop to defend the rook.

Swallow's tail mate8 398

A checkmate pattern that visually resembles the appearance of a swallow’s tail, similar to a V shape.

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.

Vuković 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 mate24 296

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 639

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

En passant rights8 848

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.

Promotion149 675

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

Underpromotion1 164

Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook.

Goals

Equality43 030

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

Advantage1 879 166

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

Crushing2 422 169

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

Checkmate1 950 183

Win the game with style.

Lengths

One-move puzzle947 252

A puzzle that is only one move long.

Short puzzle3 225 648

Two moves to win.

Long puzzle1 613 669

Three moves to win.

Very long puzzle507 979

Four moves or more to win.

Origin

Master games831 301

Puzzles from games played by titled players.

Master vs Master games76 890

Puzzles from games between two titled players.

Super GM games3 260

Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world.

Player games

View puzzles generated from your games, or from another player's games

These puzzles are in the public domain, and can be downloaded from database.adjva4.dpdns.org.