♟ Puzzles — Rules & FAQ

The Puzzles section has two simple training modes — Standard (puzzles from the free Lichess database: forced mates and tactics like forks, pins and hanging pieces) and Crazyhouse (our own engine-checked mate puzzles with pocket drops). Every puzzle is a position with one winning idea: you play the winning side, the trainer answers with the defence. (Looking for the puzzle roguelike? That's Puzzlehouse — a separate game, with its own rules page.)

Playing a puzzle

Q. What am I trying to do?

Find the winning line. Some puzzles are a forced mate (a mate-in-N: a sequence that checkmates no matter how the opponent defends); others are tactics where you win decisively (a fork, a pin, a hanging piece) without a mate. The puzzle's title tells you the goal ("mate in 2", or e.g. "win material (fork)"). You play the winning side; the trainer answers with the defence.

Q. How do I move?

Drag a piece to the square you want. The trainer plays the defence back automatically, so you only ever enter your own moves.

Q. What if I play the wrong move?

Your first wrong move counts as a miss — it's recorded and settles your rating for that puzzle. But nothing is given away: the board simply snaps back and you can keep trying for as long as you like (further tries are free — the recorded result doesn't change). The solution is only ever shown when you ask for it with the Solution button: that's the give-up — the correct line then plays on the board and a Try again (unrated) button appears.

Q. What does “Try again (unrated)” do?

It re-presents the same puzzle for pure practice. Your first result already stands, so the practice run is unrated: it does not record another attempt, does not change your rating or the puzzle's difficulty, and earns no ◆ — there's no way to farm the rating by retrying. Watch the solution, then try it yourself as many times as you like.

Q. Are there keyboard shortcuts?

Yes, on desktop: N new puzzle · → next · ← previous · R retry · H hint (a nudge, no penalty) · S show solution · F flip the board. They're ignored while you're typing in a box.

Q. Can I play a fixed set of puzzles?

Yes — pick a Set of 10, 20 or 30 puzzles from the info card (the default is Endless, which just keeps serving puzzles). A counter shows your progress (e.g. 7/20), and when the set ends you get a short summary — accuracy, total time, and your rating change — then you can start a new set or go back to endless. It's a lighter, self-chosen goal alongside the once-a-day Daily Challenge.

Difficulty & rating

Q. How is a puzzle's difficulty decided?

Every puzzle has a difficulty Elo, measured by how a panel of bots of known strength fares against it — harder puzzles are the ones the weaker bots miss. Puzzles are grouped into difficulty bands from beginner to expert.

Q. Do I have a rating?

Yes — a local rating that rises when you solve and dips when you miss, weighted by the puzzle's difficulty (the standard Elo exchange). It's kept on this device; signing in syncs your progress to your account.

Q. What is mate-in-1, mate-in-2, …?

The number of your moves in the forced mate. Mate-in-1 is a single move; mate-in-2 means you move, the opponent replies (any defence), and your second move mates. Higher N is harder to calculate.

Q. What does "Adaptive (≈ my level)" do?

It's the default Rating filter. Instead of a fixed band, it serves puzzles just below your current rating — hard enough to stay a real test, but not so hard you're stuck failing the same difficulty over and over. As your rating rises from solving, the puzzles served rise with it automatically; pick a fixed band instead (Beginner…Master) if you'd rather practise a specific difficulty on purpose.

Filters & review

Q. Can I choose which puzzles I get?

Yes — filter by mate length, by tactical motif (fork, pin, back-rank, endgame themes and more — the same taxonomy Lichess uses), by the piece that delivers mate, and by difficulty band. You can also get a random puzzle within your filters.

Q. Do missed puzzles come back?

Puzzles you miss are queued for review and spaced out over time (spaced repetition) so you re-see the ones you find hard until they stick.

Q. Can I replay a puzzle I've already solved?

Yes — open it again any time just to see it. But a replay before the puzzle's next review is due is view-only: it does not change the scheduled review time and earns no ◆. You always wait the full spaced interval — there's no way to "refresh" a puzzle's timer or farm it by re-solving early. The puzzle counts again (and pays) only once it's genuinely due.

Q. What are diamonds (◆)?

Diamonds (◆) are the app's one currency. You earn them by making progress — clearing a new bot on a Vantage or Manhouse level (+1 ◆ per first clear) and advancing in Roguehouse — and spend them in the Roguehouse Foundry (board & piece skins in the Shop are free). Solving puzzles is always free and unlimited and builds your rating & XP; ◆ never block a puzzle or a game. Your balance shows in the top bar and on your Profile. How diamonds work →

Coaching

Q. Does the trainer explain the puzzles?

The coaching is deliberately light: the solved replay carries a compact pattern label (e.g. "💡 Smothered mate"), the Hint ladder teaches before it tells (see below), and your Profile tracks the motifs you miss most. There are no explanation paragraphs after a solve and no analysis notes after a miss — the board does the talking and the prose stays out of the way.

Q. What does the Hint button do now?

With Coaching on, the first Hint press names the pattern to look for ("look for a smothered mate"), the next press points to the piece to move, and the last reveals the full solution — so a hint trains recognition before it gives the move away.

Q. Can I see my weak spots?

Your Profile shows a weak motifs panel — the tactical patterns you miss most on this device — each with a one-line tip and a Drill button that starts a themed practice set of exactly that pattern.

Q. I don't want the coaching text. Can I turn it off?

Yes — flip Coaching off in Settings → Gameplay. It hides the teaching hint tier and the weak-motifs panel.

Q. Is there a longer guide to the rules?

Yes — How to play Crazyhouse is a full walkthrough of the pocket, drops and checkmate. It covers the Crazyhouse games (Vantage, Manhouse, Roguehouse, Free Play) and the trainer's Crazyhouse mode; the Standard mode and the minigames are plain chess.

Common mate patterns

The names the trainer and your weak motifs panel use for how a mate is delivered:

Smothered
The king is boxed in by its own pieces; a knight check is mate because nothing can block or capture it.
Back-rank
The king is trapped on its home rank behind its own unmoved pawns; a rook or queen mates along that rank.
Anastasia's
A knight and rook trap the king against the edge — the knight covers the escape squares, the rook mates on the file.
Arabian
A rook and knight team up in the corner: the knight guards the rook and the flight square, the rook gives mate.
Boden's
Two bishops on crossing diagonals mate a king castled behind its pawns.
Damiano's
A pawn (or queen) supported from behind mates on the edge after the defending pieces are pulled away.
Hook
A rook, knight and pawn interlock to cage the king on the side of the board.
Dovetail
The king's own pieces block its only two flight squares, so a queen beside it is mate.

Credits & sources

Standard puzzles © Lichess (CC0). Our Standard-chess puzzles are imported from the free Lichess open puzzle database, released into the public domain (CC0) — thank you, Lichess. The Standard mode and all the minigames serve this pool; the Crazyhouse mode's mate puzzles are generated and verified by our own engine pipeline.