Trainings
95 trainings graded 1–10. Log in to track what you complete.
Fundamentals 2
Capture the free piece
An enemy piece is standing on a square nobody protects. Find it and take it for free.
Mate in one for absolute beginners
Simple checkmates in one move with the queen, rook and knight. Learn to recognise when the king has nowhere left to go.
Checkmate patterns 11
Ladder and box mates
Finish the game with king and queen, king and rook, or two heavy pieces. The enemy king is already on the edge: find the final check.
Back-rank mates I
The king is trapped behind its own pawns. Find the rook or queen check that ends the game.
The Arabian mate
A knight on f6 (or f3) and a rook team up against a king in the corner. The knight protects the rook and guards the escape square.
Back-rank mates II
The back rank is defended. Deflect, overload or exchange the defender with a sacrifice, then mate.
Smothered mate
A knight checks a king that is boxed in by its own pieces. Learn the finish and Philidor's legacy, the queen sacrifice that sets it up.
Anastasia's mate
A knight on e7 covers g8 and g6; a rook or queen then mates on the h-file, usually after a sacrifice removes the h-pawn.
Boden's mate
Two bishops on crossing diagonals against a king that castled long. The trigger is almost always a queen sacrifice on c6 or c3.
Greco's and Damiano's mates
Attacks down the h-file: a bishop takes g8 away (Greco), or rooks are sacrificed on h8 to bring the queen in with mate (Damiano).
Queen and knight mates
Queen and knight are the deadliest attacking pair. Spot the mates on h7 and g7, and the knight checks that drive the king into the corner.
Mate in 2: mixed patterns
Each puzzle is a forced mate in two using a different pattern. Find the key move and the mate that follows.
Long mating combinations
Forced mates in three to five moves, all from Black's side. Every move is a check: calculate the whole sequence before you start.
Tactics 13
Knight forks
Find the knight check that also attacks a rook or queen. Answer the check, lose the piece.
Pawn forks
A humble pawn advance attacks two pieces at once. Only one of them can escape.
Mixed tactics: novice
Forks, skewers and discovered attacks without a label. Work out which weapon the position calls for.
Pins: attack the frozen piece
A pinned piece cannot run. Attack it again, or create a pin that wins the piece outright.
Queen forks
The queen attacks in eight directions. Find the check that also picks up a loose piece.
Skewers
Check the king with a long-range piece and capture whatever stands behind it.
Discovered attacks
Move the front piece with a threat and let the piece behind it strike. Usually the moving piece gives check.
Removing the defender
A piece is safe only because something protects it. Capture or chase away the protector and take what it was guarding.
Double checks
Two pieces give check at once; only a king move is legal. Use that to win material or mate.
Trapped pieces
A piece with no safe squares is as good as lost. Find the pawn move that closes the net.
Deflection and decoy
Force an enemy piece onto a bad square (decoy) or away from a good one (deflection), then cash in.
Perpetual check: saving lost positions
You are hopelessly behind on material, but the enemy king cannot escape your checks. Find the drawing mechanism.
Mixed tactics: advanced
No theme is given. Each position hides a different idea: decoys, discovered attacks and knight checks that end in mate.
Endgames 5
Opposition: the only move
King and pawn endings where exactly one king move wins or holds the draw. Find it.
Rook endgame skewers
Checks that line the enemy king up with its own rook or a new queen. Classic tactics of rook and promotion endings.
Pawn breakthroughs
Sacrifice pawns to force one of them through. Pure pawn endings in which a single push decides the game.
Stalemate tricks for the defender
Down to your last resource? Find the move that leaves the opponent's win in ruins: a stalemate trap or a desperado piece.
Promotion tricks
Underpromotions, promotions with check and the right piece at the right moment. The pawn's last step is often the most tactical.
Strategy 2
Simplify into a won endgame
You are ahead in material. Find the forcing exchange that converts the advantage into a technically won ending.
Positional tactics: traps, outposts and the seventh rank
Strategic ideas that win material by force: trapping a badly placed piece, occupying an outpost with a double attack, and invading the seventh rank.
Calculation 6
Forcing sequences I: check, then take
Two-move combinations where a check or a threat forces the reply and the next move wins material.
Counting captures: who wins the exchange sequence?
Count attackers and defenders, capture with the least valuable piece first, and know when the recapture costs your opponent more than it is worth.
Find the only move
Defensive puzzles with exactly one saving resource: stalemate tricks, underpromotion and the opposition. Every other move loses.
Forcing sequences II: three-move combinations
Sacrifices and deflections where every move forces the reply: Boden's mate, Anastasia's mate, Legal's mate and a queen sacrifice into a knight fork.
Quiet moves and zugzwang
Not every winning move is a check or a capture. Pawn breakthroughs, the opposition and Reti's famous king walk show the power of a quiet move.
Long combinations
Forcing combinations three to five moves deep: smothered mate, Damiano's double rook sacrifice and queen sacrifices that open the h-file.