Advanced pawn One of your pawns is deep into the opponent position, maybe threatening to promote. Advantage Seize your chance to get a decisive advantage. (200cp ≤ eval ≤ 600cp) Anastasia's mate A knight and rook or queen team up to trap the opposing king between the side of the board and a friendly piece. Arabian mate A knight and a rook team up to trap the opposing king on a corner of the board. Attacking f2 or f7 An attack focusing on the f2 or f7 pawn, such as in the fried liver opening. Attraction An exchange or sacrifice encouraging or forcing an opponent piece to a square that allows a follow-up tactic. Back rank mate Checkmate the king on the home rank, when it is trapped there by its own pieces. Balestra mate A bishop delivers the checkmate, while a queen blocks the remaining escape squares Blind Swine mate Two rooks team up to mate the king in an area of 2 by 2 squares. Bishop endgame An endgame with only bishops and pawns. Boden's mate Two attacking bishops on criss-crossing diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces. Castling Bring the king to safety, and deploy the rook for attack. Capture the defender Removing a piece that is critical to defence of another piece, allowing the now undefended piece to be captured on a following move. Collinear move Two opposing pieces face each other, and one slides along the line of attack without capturing the enemy piece. Corner mate Confine the king to the corner using a rook or queen and a knight to engage the checkmate. Crushing Spot the opponent blunder to obtain a crushing advantage. (eval ≥ 600cp) Discovered check Move a piece to reveal a check from a hidden attacking piece, which often leads to a decisive advantage. Double bishop mate Two attacking bishops on adjacent diagonals deliver mate to a king obstructed by friendly pieces. Dovetail mate A queen delivers mate to an adjacent king, whose only two escape squares are obstructed by friendly pieces. Equality Come back from a losing position, and secure a draw or a balanced position. (eval ≤ 200cp) Kingside attack An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the king side. Clearance A move, often with tempo, that clears a square, file or diagonal for a follow-up tactical idea. Defensive move A precise move or sequence of moves that is needed to avoid losing material or another advantage. Deflection A move that distracts an opposing piece from another duty that it performs, such as guarding a key square. Sometimes also called "overloading". Discovered attack 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 check 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. Endgame A tactic during the last phase of the game. 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. A tactic involving the en passant rule, where a pawn can capture an opposing pawn that has just moved next to it with its initial two-square move. Epaulette mate Two adjacent escape squares for a checked king are occupied by other pieces. Exposed king A tactic involving a king with few defenders around it, often leading to checkmate. Fork A move where the moved piece attacks two opponent pieces at once. A move where a piece attacks two or more opposing pieces simultaneously. Hanging piece A tactic involving an opponent piece being undefended or insufficiently defended and free to capture. Hook mate Checkmate with a rook, knight, and pawn along with one enemy pawn to limit the enemy king's escape. Checkmate using a rook, knight, and pawn, where an opposing pawn blocks the king's escape. Interference 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. Intermezzo 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". Kill box mate 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 mate The rook delivers checkmate, while the bishop helps to confine it. A rook delivers checkmate to the king, while a bishop helps confine it. Morphy's mate Use the bishop to check the king, while your rook helps to confine it. A bishop delivers checkmate to the king, while a rook helps confine it. Swallow's tail mate A checkmate pattern that visually resembles the appearance of a swallow’s tail, similar to a V shape. Triangle mate 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 mate 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. Knight endgame An endgame with only knights and pawns. Long puzzle Three moves to win. Master games Puzzles from games played by titled players. Master vs Master games Puzzles from games between two titled players. Checkmate Win the game with style. Mate in 1 Deliver checkmate in one move. Mate in 2 Deliver checkmate in two moves. Mate in 3 Deliver checkmate in three moves. Mate in 4 Deliver checkmate in four moves. Mate in 5 or more Figure out a long mating sequence. Middlegame A tactic during the second phase of the game. One-move puzzle A puzzle that is only one move long. Opening A tactic during the first phase of the game. Opera mate Check the king with a rook and use a bishop to defend the rook. Pawn endgame An endgame with only pawns. Pin A tactic involving pins, where a piece is unable to move without revealing an attack on a higher value piece. Promotion Promote one of your pawn to a queen or minor piece. Queen endgame An endgame with only queens and pawns. Queen and Rook An endgame with only queens, rooks and pawns. Queenside attack An attack of the opponent's king, after they castled on the queen side. Quiet move 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. Rook endgame An endgame with only rooks and pawns. Sacrifice A tactic involving giving up material in the short-term, to gain an advantage again after a forced sequence of moves. Short puzzle Two moves to win. Skewer 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. Smothered mate 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. Super GM games Puzzles from games played by the best players in the world. Trapped piece A piece is unable to escape capture as it has limited moves. Underpromotion Promotion to a knight, bishop, or rook. Very long puzzle Four moves or more to win. X-Ray attack A piece attacks or defends a square, through an enemy piece. Zugzwang The opponent is limited in the moves they can make, and all moves worsen their position. Healthy mix A bit of everything. You don't know what to expect, so be ready for anything! Just like in real games. 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 %s.