How to Play
- Read the position — look at the board and notice which side you're playing (shown above the board).
- Tap a piece to select it. Valid move squares will light up in green.
- Tap a green square to make your move. If it matches the puzzle solution, the opponent will respond automatically.
- Keep going until you've found all the correct moves in the sequence. Some puzzles require one move, others require a series.
- A progress bar shows how far through the solution you are.
Features
- 20,000 puzzles — sourced from the Lichess puzzle database, across 4 difficulty levels (5,000 each).
- Hints — stuck? Tap the lightbulb to highlight the piece you should move.
- Undo — made a wrong move? Undo and try again.
- Skip — can't solve it? Skip to the next puzzle.
- Statistics — track your puzzles played, solved, win rate, and current streak.
- Shuffled order — puzzles appear in random order so each session feels fresh.
Tips & Strategy
- Look for checks — forcing moves like checks and captures are often the key.
- Count attackers vs defenders — if a piece is attacked more times than it's defended, you can usually capture it.
- Look for forks — a single piece attacking two or more enemies at once is a common theme.
- Watch for pins and skewers — pieces stuck on a line with a more valuable piece behind them.
- Think one move ahead — after your move, what will the opponent do? Then what?
- Use hints sparingly — solving without hints builds real chess intuition.
Difficulty Levels
Beginner (Rating <1200) — simple one-move tactics like captures and basic checkmates. 5,000 puzzles.
Intermediate (Rating 1200–1599) — two to three move sequences involving pins, forks, and exchanges. 5,000 puzzles.
Advanced (Rating 1600–1999) — multi-move combinations with sacrifices and deeper calculation. 5,000 puzzles.
Master (Rating 2000+) — complex sequences requiring precise calculation across several moves. 5,000 puzzles.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many chess puzzles are available?
There are 20,000 puzzles sourced from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0 public domain), with 5,000 puzzles at each of four difficulty levels: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Master.
What difficulty levels are available?
Beginner (under 1200 rating) covers simple one-move tactics. Intermediate (1200-1599) involves pins and forks. Advanced (1600-1999) features multi-move combinations. Master (2000+) requires deep calculation.
Can I undo a wrong move?
Yes. Tap the Undo button to reverse your last move and try a different one. You can undo as many times as needed within a puzzle.
Are my puzzle stats tracked?
Yes. The game tracks puzzles played, puzzles solved, win rate, and your current streak. Stats are saved locally in your browser.
What is the best way to improve at chess with puzzles?
Try to solve puzzles without using hints — this builds genuine pattern recognition. Look for forcing moves like checks and captures first, and think about what the opponent will do after each of your moves.
About
Chess puzzles (also called chess tactics) are positions taken from real games where one side has a winning move or combination. Solving puzzles is one of the most effective ways to improve your chess — it trains pattern recognition, calculation, and tactical awareness.
This game features 20,000 puzzles sourced from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0 public domain), covering themes like forks, pins, sacrifices, checkmates, and more. Each puzzle is rated by difficulty and tagged with tactical themes. Move validation is powered by chess.js with professional SVG piece graphics. All puzzles run entirely in your browser with no account or download required.
From the build: the Lichess CSV dump is several hundred megabytes — shipping all of it to the browser was a non-starter. We sampled 5,000 puzzles per rating band, dropped the columns we did not need (themes were kept, popularity wasn't), and minified the result down to something the page can hold in memory without ceremony. Move validation runs through chess.js so we never have to re-implement castling and en-passant edge cases ourselves, and pieces are SVG so the board stays crisp on any retina-class display.