Puzzles
Sharpen your tactics with direct access to the Lichess puzzle database — millions of puzzles drawn from real games, playable entirely offline.
What It Is
Section titled “What It Is”En Parlant~ includes a built-in puzzle trainer powered by the Lichess puzzle database. These are genuine tactical situations extracted from real games played on Lichess — not composed problems. Every puzzle has a clear solution: find the best move (or sequence of moves) in the position.
Getting the Puzzle Database
Section titled “Getting the Puzzle Database”The first time you open the Puzzles feature, you’ll need to download the database. It’s a large file, so be patient on the initial download. Once it’s on your machine, puzzles load instantly and work completely offline — no internet connection required.
Difficulty Rating
Section titled “Difficulty Rating”Puzzles are rated by difficulty using the same Glicko rating system Lichess uses for players. As you solve puzzles, the difficulty adjusts to match your ability. Get a puzzle right, and the next one gets a bit harder. Miss one, and it eases off. Over time you’ll see your puzzle rating climb as your pattern recognition improves.
Tactical Themes
Section titled “Tactical Themes”Filter puzzles by tactical theme to focus your training on specific skills:
- Forks — attack two pieces at once
- Pins — immobilize a piece that’s shielding a more valuable target
- Skewers — attack a valuable piece that must move, exposing something behind it
- Back rank mate — exploit a king trapped on the first rank
- Discovered attack — move one piece to unleash an attack from another
- And many more — the database covers dozens of tactical motifs
Focusing on a single theme is a great way to drill a pattern until it becomes second nature.
Solving Flow
Section titled “Solving Flow”- A position appears on the board — it’s your turn to move
- Find the best move and play it on the board
- The app tells you immediately if you’re right or wrong
- If the puzzle requires a sequence of moves, the opponent responds and you continue until the combination is complete
There’s no time pressure. Take as long as you need to calculate.
No Account Required
Section titled “No Account Required”Puzzles run entirely on your machine. No login, no account, no internet after the initial download. Your solving history and rating are stored locally.
Credit
Section titled “Credit”The puzzle database is from Lichess, licensed under Creative Commons CC0. Lichess is a free, open-source chess server — the puzzles exist because of the games played by its community.