Chess puzzles are a great way to improve your chess skills, but online chess puzzles can be hit or miss. Many websites mainly offer puzzles that are sequences of forced moves, which are suitable for training blitz or bullet skills, but not for improving your overall chess understanding and calculation skills. ChessPuzzle.net takes a different approach by offering puzzles that are based on the human thought process, rather than just a sequence of forced moves.

Multiple solutions

If you just take any winning position with any number of winning moves, solving them does not feel like a real puzzle. But allowing only one forced move all the way to the end of the puzzle takes this too far. There are many positions where the first few moves are forced, but then there are multiple good moves to continue, and the puzzle should end when a clear advantage is achieved, not when there is only one move to continue.

Here are some examples of puzzles with multiple solutions, which are not possible on other puzzle sites, but are fully supported on ChessPuzzle.net:

This is a typical smothered mate combination: 1.Nf7+ Kg8 2.Nh6+ Kh8. Now White can win with the well-known 3.Qg8+! Rxg8 4.Nf7#, but it is also possible to win with playing 3.Nf7+ Kg8 4.Nh6+ Kh8. Now you are forced to play 5.Qg8+! Rxg8 6.Nf7#, because playing 5.Nf7+ again would repeat the position for the third time.

This very common puzzle is fully supported on ChessPuzzle.net, but would either not be possible on other puzzle sites, would end after the first two moves, or show repeating the moves with 3.Nf7+ as a mistake.

Here is an example which shows a brilliant but very complicated checkmate combination, where multiple moves are possible at various points:

Click the diagram to solve this puzzle, and view the solution to see many variations.

Benefit: More complex and varied puzzles, resembling more types of real-game situations.

Puzzle tasks and ending a puzzle when the advantage is clear

Chess puzzles on other sites might end when there is more than one good move to continue - often leaving you "puzzled" as to why you actually solved the puzzle. Our chess puzzles don't just end when there is more than one good move to continue - they end when a clear advantage is achieved, a drawn position is reached (in draw puzzles), or you have defended against a threat (in defence puzzles). The exact condition when the puzzle ends depends on the puzzle's task, which is shown above the chess board when solving. There is also a text displayed, reminding you of the win condition. ChessPuzzle.net supports the following tasks for a varied chess training experience:

Win

Win material or deliver checkmate to solve this puzzle.

Checkmate

Find a quick checkmate to solve this puzzle.

Draw

Force a draw to solve this puzzle. This can be a draw by stalemate, threefold repetition, or insufficient material. See our article on draws for more information and examples of these types of puzzles.

Defend

Defend against your opponent's threats to solve this puzzle.

Defend and win

You are material up but have to defend against your opponent's threats to solve this puzzle.

Regain material

Win back material to solve this puzzle.

Benefit: The player clearly knows the objective of the puzzle, and the puzzle ends when that objective is achieved. This makes learning from the puzzle much clearer and easier.

In some cases, you might select a move that achieves the task in a much more complicated way than the solution, when you might see the message "There is a better move". In that case, your move is taken back, and you have to find a more efficient way to achieve the task. This can happen in the following situations:

• Selecting a move that misses a reasonably quick checkmate when one is available.
• Delaying capturing material if that is the best move and would lead to an immediate win.
• Delaying promoting a pawn if that is the best move and would lead to an immediate win.

Having said that, this does not mean you always have to find the fastest mate. We do support suboptimal checkmate moves, and also endgame playouts, as explained in the next sections.

Supporting suboptimal checkmate moves

Consider the following example:

White proceeds with 1.Qxf7+ Kh8 2.Rd7 Qe3+ 3.g3 Rg8, reaching the following position:

Here the best move is 1.Qf5!, which leads to a quick checkmate after 1...exf5 2.Nf7#, but Qf5 is not the most intuitive move. It is much easier to play 1.Qh5, for example 1...h6 2.Qxh6+ gxh6 3.Rh7#, or 2.Qg6 hxg5 3.Qh5#.

Suboptimal checkmates like this are fully supported in our puzzles.

Benefit: You can finish the puzzle in the way that is easiest for you to see and calculate.

Supporting endgame training and playouts

ChessPuzzle.net supports endgame training positions. These are typical endgame positions which are quite difficult to win (or draw) in practice, even if it can be achieved with many different moves. These include many important endgame positions, such as queen against pawn, rook and pawn against rook, and many more.

You can read more about endgame training positions, including examples to try, in our article on endgame training positions.

We also support positions that start like a puzzle, but then continue with an endgame playout that works like an endgame training position in that you can choose any way to win or draw. These puzzles include some famous endgame studies such as this one from Troitzky:

Click the diagram to solve this puzzle, and then click the "Solution" button to see the solution and a video with explanations by GM Daniel King.

You can read more about endgame playouts, including examples to try, in our article on endgame playouts.

Benefit: Endgame training is a crucial part of chess training, and is now fully supported on ChessPuzzle.net.

Multiple reply moves in the solution view

Often when trying to find the best move, you have to take into account multiple reply moves from your opponent, and find the best move that works against all of them. In the solution view, ChessPuzzle.net supports showing multiple reply moves for the opponent, and how to win against each of them.

In chess, the decision to sacrifice a piece for a potential checkmate is both thrilling and risky. It demands that you precisely calculate all defensive moves of your opponent. If you overlook or miscalculate any of them, the intended sacrifice could be incorrect and refuted, and you could lose the game.

In this example, White can win with the spectacular Queen sacrifice 1.Qxh7+!! Before playing this sacrifice, you have to calculate two variations:
1...Kxh7 2.Rh5#, and
1...Nxh7 2.Ng6#.

Here is another beautiful example. Click on the diagram to solve this puzzle. Try to calculate all variations before playing the moves. Then click the "Solution" button and compare the variations shown with the variations you calculated.

Benefit: Practice to calculate multiple variations and see them on the solution page. This is an important skill for all chess players.

Selecting the most challenging reply move

The computer opponent doesn't always select the "best" engine move, nor the move that wins the most material, but the move that is most challenging for you in solving the puzzle. This is the most critical variation that you have to correctly calculate in your decision process.

Black can win with 1...Kh6! 2.g4 Qg1. Here the "best" engine move is to sacrifice the queen with 3.Qe3, ending the puzzle in a weird and confusing way with 3...Qxe3. The puzzle ends with the critical variation 3.gxh5 g5+ 4.fxg5 fxg5# or 4...Qxg5#.

Benefit: Improved puzzles, less confusing computer moves.

Solutions explained

Our solution view includes many features to help you understand the solution and learn from it:

• Replaying the solution and your solving attempts
• Replaying the whole game the puzzle is based on
• Viewing alternate solutions and variations, including threats and variations to be avoided
• Explaining key moves and motifs with text and graphical annotations
• Analyzing the position and making your own analysis moves
• Using engine analysis

You can read more about the solution view with explanations of all the features in our article on the solution view.

Benefit: Learn from the solution with detailed explanations and analysis.

How these puzzles support systematic chess training

The following table compares the features of ChessPuzzle.net with traditional online chess puzzles and puzzle books:

Puzzle Academy is built on these puzzles. It organizes them by motif and difficulty, with guides, personalized workouts, and a clear path through the material. If you want to turn better puzzles into structured training, take a look at Puzzle Academy.