Trapped piece puzzles
A piece with no safe square left. Attack it and it is lost, wherever it tries to go.
Bishops that grab an edge pawn and knights on the rim get trapped most often. Count a piece's escape squares before you send it deep into enemy ground.
8 real puzzles from games on Lichess, easiest first, rated 797 to 2691. The course has 240 trapped pieces puzzles in all.
Puzzle 1 · rated 797
Black just played Ng5. White to move.
Show the answer
34. f4 h5 35. fxg5
Puzzle 2 · rated 1091
Black just played Qxa2. White to move.
Show the answer
15. Ra3 Qxa3 16. bxa3
Puzzle 3 · rated 1386
Black just played a6. White to move.
Show the answer
21. Rhb1 Qxa1 22. Rxa1
Puzzle 4 · rated 1635
White just played Kg1. Black to move.
Show the answer
19... Qb2 20. Qc5+ Kg8 21. Qa3 Qxa1
Puzzle 5 · rated 1903
Black just played Bg5. White to move.
Show the answer
31. Re1 Rxe1 32. Rxe1 Qxe1 33. Bxe1
Puzzle 6 · rated 2148
White just played Bg5. Black to move.
Show the answer
19... Qd4+ 20. Kh1 Rh8 21. Qh4 Rxh4
Puzzle 7 · rated 2410
White just played Qg5. Black to move.
Show the answer
23... Bh2+ 24. Kh1 Re5 25. Qe3 Rxe3
Puzzle 8 · rated 2691
White just played Ngf5. Black to move.
Show the answer
24... Ne8 25. Nxe8 Qxf5 26. Nd6 Qd7 27. Nxb7 Qxb7
Free, no sign-up. Puzzles come in order of difficulty and the ladder adjusts to how you solve.
‹ Hanging pieces · Sacrifices ›
Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0). Every line was replayed move by move by the course's rules engine. Part of Chess Path, a free chess course. Free coach for your Chess.com and Lichess games.