Capturing Defender
Take out the guard, then take the prize. Remove the support before claiming the piece behind.
Checkmate
Every escape covered, every defender too slow. Sharpen the closing punch.
Deflection
Yank a defender off its post with a bigger threat. Pry guards away from what they protect.
Discovered Attack
Move one piece, the one behind unleashes a hidden threat. Hunt batteries that fire two attacks at once.
Fork
One piece, two targets. Spot the double attack before your opponent untangles.
Hanging Piece
Free material sitting in the open. Scan every move for a piece nobody is protecting.
Pin
A piece stuck guarding something more valuable behind it. Pile on before help arrives.
Sacrifice
Give up material to crack the position open. Train the nerve to play it when the line pays.
Skewer
Force a heavy piece to step aside, then grab the one behind. Hunt pieces lined up on the same rank, file, or diagonal.
Chess tactics explained
Every puzzle in a theme set comes from the Lichess puzzle database and is tagged with that tactic. This is what each one means.
- Capturing Defender
- You capture a piece that is defending one of your opponent's pieces. Without its defender, that piece can be won on a following move. 8 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 2 to 5.
- Checkmate
- The king is in check and there is no legal move that gets it out of check, which ends the game. Every puzzle in these sets finishes with checkmate. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5. For puzzles that are exactly two moves long, see our mate in 2 puzzles.
- Deflection
- A move that forces or lures an enemy piece away from a job it is doing, such as guarding a square or another piece. Once it has left, whatever it was guarding is open to attack. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Discovered Attack
- You move one piece out of the way of a bishop, rook or queen behind it, which opens an attack from that piece. The piece that moved can make a threat of its own at the same time. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Fork
- One piece attacks two or more enemy pieces at the same time, and your opponent can often save only one of them. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Hanging Piece
- An enemy piece that is undefended, or not defended enough, so you can capture it without losing material in return. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Pin
- A piece cannot move off a line without exposing a more valuable piece behind it to attack. If the piece behind is the king, moving off the line is illegal. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Sacrifice
- You give up material on purpose, because the forced moves that follow give you more than you gave up: material, a winning attack or checkmate. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.
- Skewer
- A bishop, rook or queen attacks a valuable piece that has to move out of the way, and the piece behind it on the same line can then be taken. It is the reverse of a pin. 10 sets of 100 or 500 puzzles, levels 1 to 5.