Chess tactics trainer: puzzles set at your level
A tactic is a short sequence of forcing moves (checks, captures and threats) that wins material or mates. Most games below master level are decided by one: a fork that wasn't seen, a pin that was ignored, a piece left where it could be taken. The OptiChess tactics trainer gives you positions from real games where a move like that is there to be found, at a level where you have to work for it.
The answer here is 6...Nxd5!, giving up the queen. After 7.Bxd8 Bb4+ White has to block with 8.Qd2, Black takes it with 8...Bxd2+, and after 9.Kxd2 Kxd8 Black has won a knight for a pawn. This is the Elephant Trap, and it still catches players at club level, because the first move looks like a blunder.
What you'll meet at each level
- Around 800: mate in one, and pieces left to be taken.
- Around 1100: forks and pins, two moves deep.
- Around 1400: combinations of two or three moves.
- Around 1700: quiet first moves, three or four moves deep.
- 2000 and up: long lines, quiet moves, several plausible tries.
- 2300 and up: wins that strong players missed in their own games.
How the difficulty is set
A puzzle's rating is the level at which half of players find the move, judged from what players at each level actually play. It is checked against how real players did on thousands of puzzles. Your own rating then moves with every first try, so the positions follow you as you improve.
How answers are checked
Every answer is checked against the board by the engine. If another first move also wins, it counts. If it wins but there was a stronger move, you're told so. After the first move, any move that keeps the win is accepted.
Why tactics alone aren't enough
In 490 online games checked by Stockfish, from under 1200 to 2400, a winning tactic came up about once every 57 positions, and 86% of the costly mistakes came in positions with no tactic to find at all. So OptiChess mixes tactics with the other decisions that lose games: checking your own move, judging endgames and reading the pawn structure.
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Try it. Real positions, set at your level, every answer checked against the board. No account needed to start.
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