How do the chess puzzles work?
You get 5 positions from real games, one from each of 5 difficulty bands, from about 600 to 2100 on Lichess's puzzle rating. The other side has just moved (its move is highlighted); find the best reply. Some puzzles need two or three moves, and the other side answers in between. Tap a piece, then the square it goes to.
A wrong move isn't played: it counts as a try and you go again. If you're stuck, "Show me" plays the rest of the answer. You always play from the bottom of the board, as White or as Black.
Where do the chess puzzles come from?
From the Lichess puzzle database, which Lichess releases into the public domain (CC0) for any use. When we read it on 20 October 2026 it held 6,157,341 puzzles, each cut from a real game and checked by computer; Lichess says generating them took more than 100 years of CPU time. This page uses 150 of them: popular, much played and one to three moves long.
Lichess builds each puzzle so that every move of the answer is the only good one, except a mate in one, where any checkmate wins. This page follows the same rule: any move that gives checkmate counts.
How is your chess puzzle score calculated?
Your result is how many of the 5 puzzles you solved without pressing "Show me", with how many you got on the first try, your wrong moves and your total time. After each puzzle you see its Lichess rating: how hard it is for Lichess players, not a rating for you.
What kinds of chess puzzles are there?
Two broad kinds: forced checkmates, named by how many moves they take (mate in 1, 2 or 3), and tactics that win material, such as a fork, a pin or a skewer. Lichess tags each puzzle with the ideas it uses. Counted across the 150 puzzles this page draws from:
| Idea | What it means | Puzzles here |
|---|---|---|
| Mate in 2 | A forced checkmate in two moves, whatever the other side replies. | 23 |
| Fork | One piece attacks two or more at once. | 23 |
| Pin | A piece can't move without exposing a more valuable one behind it. | 14 |
| Mate in 1 | Checkmate in one move. | 13 |
| Discovered attack | Moving one piece uncovers an attack by another. | 12 |
| Sacrifice | Giving up material to win more, or to mate. | 11 |
| Mate in 3 | The same, in three moves. | 9 |
| Hanging piece | Taking a piece that was left undefended. | 6 |
| Attraction | Luring a piece, often the king, onto a square where it can be attacked. | 5 |
| Skewer | A valuable piece is attacked, and when it moves the one behind it is taken. | 4 |
| Deflection | Forcing a defender away from what it guards. | 3 |
| Back-rank mate | Mate on the back row, where the king is hemmed in by its own pawns. | 1 |
| Trapped piece | Winning a piece that has no safe square to go to. | 1 |
A puzzle can carry more than one tag, and 52 carry none of these. When you're stuck, the list doubles as a checklist: is there a mate, a fork, a pin?
How do you get better at chess puzzles?
- Look at checks, captures and threats first. Most short puzzles start with one of them.
- Ask what the last move changed. The highlighted move often left something undefended or opened a line.
- Count attackers and defenders. A piece attacked twice and defended once can be won.
- Check the reply. Before moving, picture the other side's best answer.
For a puzzle about how the knight moves, try the Knight's Tour; for pure deduction, the Logic Grid Puzzle.