100 Puzzles That Improve Your Rating
Not all puzzles are created equal. These 100 puzzles were selected for one reason: each one teaches a tactical pattern that appears frequently in practical games. Solving "pretty" puzzles with rare patterns is fun but doesn't improve your play much. Solving common patterns repeatedly until recognition is automatic does. Work through these 100 puzzles and you will see the patterns in your own games.
Fork patterns (puzzles 1–25)
The most common tactical motif in practical chess.
- Puzzles 1-10: Knight forks, the classic. A knight attacks two pieces simultaneously. These puzzles progress from obvious forks (the knight already has a forking square) to setups that require one preparatory move.
- Puzzles 11-20: Queen and pawn forks, the queen attacks two pieces, or a pawn advance attacks two pieces.
- Puzzles 21-25: Combined forks, a fork is the result of a sacrifice or deflection.
After solving these 25 puzzles, you should recognise fork setups instantly. Practice more in our puzzle trainer.
Pin and skewer patterns (puzzles 26–50)
- Puzzles 26-35: Absolute pins (pinned to the king), finding the pin and exploiting it by piling up attackers on the pinned piece.
- Puzzles 36-45: Skewers, attacking a high-value piece to win the piece behind it.
- Puzzles 46-50: Combined pin/skewer tactics, using a pin to win material through a subsequent tactical operation (discovered attack, zwischenzug).
Mating patterns (puzzles 51–75)
- Puzzles 51-60: Back-rank mate combinations, the most common mating pattern. Recognise the setup (king on g1/g8, pawns blocking escape), find the sacrifice that creates the mate.
- Puzzles 61-70: Smothered mate sequences, the classic Nf7-Qg8+ Rxg8-Nf7# pattern and its variations.
- Puzzles 71-75: Greek gift sacrifices, Bxh7+ followed by Ng5+ and Qh5 with a mating attack. These patterns appear surprisingly often in club games.
Advanced combinations (puzzles 76–100)
- Puzzles 76-85: Deflection and decoy, forcing a defender away from its post to create a winning tactic.
- Puzzles 86-90: Zwischenzug, the "in-between move" that transforms the evaluation.
- Puzzles 91-95: Windmill and discovered-attack chains, multiple discovered attacks in sequence.
- Puzzles 96-100: Queen sacrifices, giving up the queen for forced checkmate or decisive material gain.
Solve all 100 puzzles at a rate of 5 per day (20 days total). Then repeat the set, the second pass builds speed and automaticity. Track your accuracy on ChessBhumi puzzles.