Daily Chess Puzzles

[integral]

@LastThursday @Jannes

Those are some good ideas, but there's a very key brilliant move in the position, it's that move that when you see it you get the "AHA moment" it all clicks

On 12/18/2025 at 9:39 AM, integral said:

OK guys ONE PUZZLE A DAY.

========================== puzzle 2 =============================

White to move, find the best move. 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by integral

[Joshe]

On 12/17/2025 at 7:07 AM, Leo Gura said:

I saw the queen sac as the first move to try.

That's only because you know that when you're presented with puzzles like "black to move and win" the solution is almost always counter-intuitive, otherwise it wouldn't make for a good puzzle. So you relied on a heuristic that doesn't exist in real games.

Not so easy to find when the clock is ticking and you don't know you have mate in 2. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Joshe

[Joshe]

On 12/18/2025 at 9:39 AM, integral said:

OK guys ONE PUZZLE A DAY.

========================== puzzle 2 =============================

White to move, find the best move. 

The position is probably close to equal if you move rook to e3 because black just moves pawn to d5, not only defending the knight but cutting off white's bishop mobility.

You have to take night first then rook e3. Queen can't retreat and protect rook on e8, so you gobble up the cookie and make the chicken run to h7. Then black is down a rook and black's bishop can't come out without losing the other rook and the f7 pawn is weak and the entire position for black has collapsed. 

Could also calculate the line knight takes knight, sac the bishop on f7 check, queen h5 check. Stopping there because too much calculation but could be something there. Probably not. Black could just decline the sac. 

Edited 14 hours ago by Joshe

[Jannes]

6 minutes ago, Joshe said:

The position is probably close to equal if you move rook to e3 because black just moves pawn to d5, not only protecting the knight but cutting off white's bishop mobility.

You have to take night first then rook e3. Queen can't retreat and protect rook on e8, so you gobble up the cookie and make the chicken run to h7. Then black is down a rook and black's bishop can't come out without losing the other rook and the f7 pawn is weak and the entire position for black has collapsed. 

You found it!! 🥳

[Joshe]

This guy has a good idea: 

Rather than doing random daily puzzles, stick to a set of roughly 100–300 tactical motif puzzles and use spaced-repetition software like Anki to drill them until they become second nature.

Eventually, the patterns just show up without conscious processing, like magic. 

Pattern-recognition takes much longer if just keep doing random puzzles. 

Edited 15 hours ago by Joshe

[Leo Gura]

On 12/18/2025 at 6:39 AM, integral said:

OK guys ONE PUZZLE A DAY.

========================== puzzle 2 =============================

White to move, find the best move. 

I would grab the black knight with white's knight, then pin black's queen with the white rook at E3.

Black should be in a very bad spot after that.

Edited 14 hours ago by Leo Gura

[integral]

11 hours ago, Joshe said:

This guy has a good idea: 

Rather than doing random daily puzzles, stick to a set of roughly 100–300 tactical motif puzzles and use spaced-repetition software like Anki to drill them until they become second nature.

Eventually, the patterns just show up without conscious processing, like magic. 

Pattern-recognition takes much longer if just keep doing random puzzles. 

Listudy (listudy.org) — Uses spaced repetition for openings, endgames and tactics training with scientifically effective methods. Listudy Free and open source.

ChessWoodie (chesswoodie.com) — Free chess puzzle trainer with 3 million+ puzzles using the Woodpecker Method for spaced repetition. Tracks your solving speed and improvement. ChessWoodie

---

But the highest quality chess puzzles are on chesstempo.com but they're interface isn't as good. 

Edited 4 hours ago by integral

[integral]

Puzzle 3

White to move, find the best move.

[Leo Gura]

@integral That's so easy that I will remove my answer not to spoil it.

Black is doomed.

Edited 3 hours ago by Leo Gura

[integral]

@Leo Gura I'm surprised you found this one the easiest? Okay in the future you have to prove you found it because I don't believe it. 

[Leo Gura]

2 minutes ago, integral said:

@Leo Gura I'm surprised you found this one the easiest? Okay in the future you have to prove you found it because I don't believe it. 

I found it in one minute.

Give up rook to the pawn.

Edited 2 hours ago by Leo Gura

[integral]

@Leo Gura Okay I'm going to start leveling it up then, no more going easy on you.

[Leo Gura]

When there are so few pieces it is too easy.

There was literally 3 moves worth checking here.

But still, I enjoyed this one.

Good puzzle for newbies. Thanks for posting it.

Edited 2 hours ago by Leo Gura

[Leo Gura]

I sac my biggest pieces as quickly as I can. I check for biggest sacs first. Which breaks many of these clever puzzles.

I would sac my king if they let me 

Edited 1 hour ago by Leo Gura

[Jannes]

20 minutes ago, integral said:

@Leo Gura Okay I'm going to start leveling it up then, no more going easy on you.

No post more newbie puzzles please. 

[Leo Gura]

14 hours ago, Joshe said:

So you relied on a heuristic that doesn't exist in real games.

Even in a real game I will check for big sacs because that is the most fun way to play. But that requires mid-game+. Hard to sac in early game.

[Joshe]

1 hour ago, Leo Gura said:

Even in a real game I will check for big sacs because that is the most fun way to play. But that requires mid-game+. Hard to sac in early game.

Same here. You might like the Stafford gambit for black.