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Home » Chess Strategy » How To Solve Chess Puzzles (Quickly and Easily) For Beginners

How To Solve Chess Puzzles (Quickly and Easily) For Beginners

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Which puzzles should you solve?

• Look for forcing moves
• Look at what each piece is doing
• Look for what would be left after
• Practical Examples on Solving Puzzles
• Types of Puzzles
• Art of Solving Puzzles

If you’re new to the game this is the question you’ll face especially during your training. So in this article, I’ll share a simple 3-step process you can use to solve puzzles.

After that, I’ll share some typical examples where we’ll use the process to solve the puzzles and show a way to improve your speed at solving them. Before we move on, I must confess that everyone has a different process. Also with time and experience, the process evolves.

But regardless of that, it’s important to solve puzzles as it improves your tactics and calculation.

Last Updated: September 28th, 2021

At first, you should start with easy puzzles and move on to more difficult ones. Imagine you’ve decided to run a marathon. Is it possible that from day one you’d be able to run 42 kms all at once?

For most humans, that would be impossible. You’d need to train for smaller distances, become better at it and then gradually increase the difficulty.

If you start with the goal to run 42 kms at once in the first few weeks without proper training, you are going to put yourself under immense pressure and become demotivated when you don’t hit your target.

The same also applies when you train in chess. You first start to solve simple chess positions, before you move on to more complex ones.

So if you’re a beginner and have never solved a puzzle in your life, I recommend you start by solving basic ‘Mate in 1’ puzzles first. Once you master that, then you can start with ‘Mate in 2’ puzzles and so on.

You keep increasing the difficulty as things become easier.

Process To Solve Puzzles

• Look for forcing moves.
• Look at what each piece is doing.
• Look at what would be left at the end.

For most masters, because of continuous training, they are able to spot simple combinations and checkmates rather quickly.

While everyone develops their own individual style for solving puzzles, there are some common elements which they all follow.

I’ll share them below.

1) Always look for forcing moves

These are moves where your opponent is FORCED to react to in a certain way. This limits their choices and gives your calculation a direction to follow.

The forcing moves are:

• Checks – Thanks to the rules of the games, a player has to deal with a king in check, and any other move which doesn’t address this problem is illegal.
• Captures – When you capture material, the opponent needs to recapture it back or else they’ll be behind in material. While capture isn’t as forcing as a check, the opponent’s choice is still restricted.
• Attacking moves – What’s your first instinct when someone attacks your queen? Do you ignore it or you make sure that your queen is safe? Under normal circumstances, any player would move their queen away(unless you’re Mikhail Tal!). So basically when you attack something, your opponent has to respond to your threat. Once again, this puts a limit on their number of options.

Now let’s see practical examples and understand how to put these principles into action.

2) Watch out for which piece is doing what

Often there will be a piece that will be performing an important defensive task. Other times, they might be controlling an important square or attacking something. You don’t need to be very detailed on this, but it’s good to have a general understanding of what pieces are doing.

As you become more experienced, this process happens unconsciously without your active interference.

3) What are you left with at the end?

These three things will serve you as a good starting point.

Now let’s get down to business and see how it all works in practice.

Types of Puzzles and How To Solve Them

Let’s go over the different types of puzzles and how to solve them, beginning with Mate in One Puzzles. We’ll keep increasing the difficulty.

How To Solve Mate in One Puzzles

In these puzzles, you’re supposed to deliver a mate in 1 move. This means here, you should always look for the checks in the position, since that’s the only way you could deliver a checkmate.

Black to play.

Let’s ask ourselves – “What are the forcing moves they can play?” We can notice they have 2 checks at their disposal –

1…f2+

1…Re1+

Since this is a mate in 1 puzzle, one of them should lead to a checkmate. Let’s just find that out with a simple calculation.

After 1…f2 , White can still play 2.Kf1 or Kh1 and it’s not a mate yet.

And after 1… Re1+ , can the White king move anywhere? Absolutely not! So after the 2nd move, White is checkmated. Therefore the solution would be 1…Re1# .

This is a simple illustration to show you how a more complicated process works.

How To Solve Mate in Two Puzzles

It’s White to play and mate in two in this position. What to play?

Let’s start by calculating the forcing moves in the position. What are the checks White has? We immediately noticed one 1.Rd8+!   How can Black respond to it?

They’re forced to play 1…Rxd8 .  Again, we ask ourselves, what are the forcing moves White has after 1…Rxd8 ? If you notice carefully, the queen and bishop are eyeing the long h1-a8 diagonal and will soon deliver a checkmate.

So we can find White has 2 checks, and apparently both lead to a checkmate after 2.Qa8# or 2.Qb7#

Another similar example on mate in two moves.

Put the process that you learned to use above, and you should be able to find an answer.

White plays –

1.Rxe8+ and after 1…Rxe8 2.Qxg7#

After 1…Qxe8 also 2.Qxg7# .

White is winning after Rxe8+ .

Here, I’d also like to emphasize here on the importance of paying attention to the details in the position. If you notice, White is attacking on the g7-point. They could’ve started with  1.Qxg7 or 1.Bxg7, but in both cases, the knight was defending the g7-pawn.

So after 1.Rxe8 , we eliminate the knight on e8 defending the g7-pawn. During your calculation, pay attention to such small details. They help you understand the position better.

General Tactics Puzzles

Black has just played …Nd4 . How should White respond?

Let’s kick off our calculation by looking for forcing moves. White could give a check with 1.Bb5+. Black would then play 1…Nxb5 capturing White’s bishop. Sounds like a bad deal!

So continue looking for other options.

Do you have any captures? Yes, we can spot 1.Nxd4 . What would Black do then? Let’s calculate one by one.

They could play 1…exd4 , but then we capture their bishop with 2.Bxg4. Now if we count the pieces, we are a piece up! So this is a bad deal for our opponent, and they shouldn’t take it!

What else could they play? 1…Bxe2 was another option for them.

Now again we have 3 options – 3 forcing moves – 2.Kxe2, 2.Qxe2, 2.Nxe2 .

Now, it’s easy to discard 2.Kxe2 because Black then has 2…exd4 and the material is equal. We lost a knight and bishop, and so did our opponent.

If you observe on 2.Qxe2 , Black has the same reply – 2…exd4 . We could play 3.Qb5+ and try to gain the b7-pawn.

But before we move there, let’s examine another important option we might have – 2.Nxe2 . Suddenly, we realize that Black has no …exd4 . Our knight is safe, and we have lost only 1 bishop, while our opponent has 2 pieces, the bishop and the knight. We are a piece up!

And so we’ve established that 1.Nxd4 Bxe2 2.Nxe2! leaves us with an extra piece.

A Famous Position

This is a popular position.

Here White has a strong way to proceed. Can you spot how?  Let’s get down to business!

What are White’s forcing moves?

1. Bxf7+ (check)

1. Nxe5 (capture)

1. g4 (attacking move)Very quickly we can find out that 1.Bxf7+ Bxf7 brings nothing. White loses their piece and there doesn’t seem to be a reasonable follow up.So let’s have a look at 1.Nxe5 . Black has 3 choices then. Here’s how the process could look like – 1…dxe5 2.Qxh5 (capture) and White wins a piece.

Another line could run like 1.Nxe5 Bxd1 2.Bxf7+ (check) Ke7 3.Nd5# (check). A beautiful mate!

1.Nxe5 and now let’s consider 1…Nxe5. White plays 2.Qxh5 (If instead 2.Bxf7+ , Black defends with 2…Bxf7 after which White has nothing.) 2…Nxc4 .

Looks like White has lost a piece, but they have a forcing move left at their disposal 3.Qb5+! Qd7 4.Qxc4 and White regains the piece and has an extra pawn.  Now we know that 1.Nxe5 works and leaves us with an extra pawn!

If you calculate for 1.g4 , you’ll see that it leaves us with nothing after 1… Bg6 .

So what do we play? We go for 1.Nxe5! Because it leaves us with extra material compared to the other two lines.

Pattern Recognition — The Art of Solving Puzzles… Faster!

Have you ever wondered how a Super Grandmaster like Hikaru Nakamura is able to solve positions at such a fast speed? That’s because he has solved many positions over and over that have built up his ‘pattern recognition muscle’. For a lot of master level players and strong amateurs, this thing holds true.

The easiest way to build this muscle is to solve puzzles on one theme!

It’s like to make your legs strong, you focus only on that muscle group and do squats daily.

Similarly, to become good at pins, you solve puzzles whose main theme is a pin.

Enough of talking, let me show you how it actually works.

How Pattern Recognition “Fires Up” Old Memories of Training

Let me share two puzzles to show how effective this tool can be.

It’s White to play, what would you play? Let’s use the process and examine the forcing moves – 1.Nh6+, 1.Ng5+, 1.Nd8+, 1.Ne5+, 1.Nxd6+ .

You’ll notice that after all other moves apart from 1.Nh6+ , White is losing their queen with 1…Nxd5. So immediately all those options are discarded.

Let’s examine 1.Nh6+ (double check with queen and knight). Black’s only legal move is to move the King away with 1…Kh8 . Then again we have two checks –

On 2.Nf7+ , Black plays 2…Kg8 while repeating the position. So does White have any other options?

2.Qg8+ looks crazy, but let’s keep going with that fantasy. Black has only one forced move 2…Rxg8+ and then suddenly we spot that the only forcing move leads to a checkmate – 3.Nf7#.

So we instantly play the solution – 1.Nh6+ Kh8 2.Qg8+ Rxg8 3.Nf7# .

This pattern is also known as the smothered mate .

Now that you know the previous puzzle, this one should be easy to solve. How would you continue as White?

On careful inspection, you’ll see that the first move is 1.Qb3+. Now consider Black’s options 1…Rf7 and 1…Kh8.

After 1…Rf7, White White’s forcing moves are 2.Qxf7, 2.Qxb7 .

In both cases, White achieves nothing .

So what do we do? We return to the position and find out if there’s anything else.

Suddenly, we can spot an attacking move with 2.Ng5. Black’s rook is pinned and it soon will be captured.

So – 1.Qb3+ Rf7 2.Ng5 leaves us with an extra exchange as we will capture the f7-rook with our knight.

After 1.Qb3+ Kh8 , our forcing moves with a check (2.Qxb7 and 2.Qg8+) bring us nothing, so we play something else. What’s that? We can play 2.Ng5!

Can you spot the similarities between this position and the previous one? That’s basically how pattern recognition works in chess. You find something you are familiar with and try to execute that on the board.

If you notice carefully, Black has no way to defend against 2.Nf7+ or 2.Ne6, leaving White with an extra exchange. And thanks to the last puzzle, you should be able to figure out how White threatens a smothered mate.

So the solution will be 1.Qb3 Kh8 2.Ng5! 

To become better at solving puzzles, there’s only one way and that is by solving them everyday. This is also how you’ll build your muscle for pattern recognition.

The process shared here should give you a good starting point. Go to chess.com or lichess and start to put what you learnt here into practice!

Happy solving!

I hope this guide on how to solve Chess puzzles helped you. You may also be interested in reading about castling in Chess . and the list of ways on how to get better at Chess .

Draw in Chess: 7 Types of Draw Rules Explained (For Beginners)

10 best british chess players, ranveer mohite.

Ranveer Mohite is a professional chess player from India. His current elo rating is 2277, and he regularly writes about chess, expressing his passion for the game. Check out his blog here. Connect with him on LinkedIn.

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Mastering Chess Puzzles: The Comprehensive Guide to Effective Problem Solving

• GM Noël Studer
• Middlegame , Train like a Grandmaster

I often get emails from blog readers who seemingly solve most Chess puzzles correctly but can’t find the right moves during the game.

What is their problem?

Mostly their definition of ‘correct solution’ differs widely from mine.

They either solve Chess puzzles in a way they can’t during a game (try & error), or they are happy finding the first right move and don’t go deeper.

In this article, you will learn why these approaches are so hurtful for your chess progress & how a correct Chess puzzle solution should look.

In the Spotlight: A Chess Puzzle for You

To make a point, let’s look at the following position. If you want to test yourself, take some time to solve the position. Read on once you come up with an answer. (White to move)

The correct answer is 1.Rxf6 Rxf6 2.Rf1 Raf8 3.Qg5 Kg7 4.Nh5+

Other sub-variations work, such as playing 2.Qg5 then 3.Rf1 or playing 4.Bxf6+ first before playing 5.Nh5+.

The key is to finish the calculation once the piece is regained by force.

Any solution not written down until the end is not correct. This might seem nitpicking, but it is actually extremely important.

During a game, you don’t have the benefit of knowing there is a win. You have to calculate clearly and can’t just play the move that looks most tempting. It might very well be that a tempting move loses because of a trick at the end of the line.

To prepare for the in-game moment, we need to calculate correctly and, until the end, also in training.

So if you just thought, “Ah, 1.Rxf6 Rxf6 2.Rf1 wins”, you have some work to do.

Your intuition is right, but sooner than later, there will be an in-game position where your intuition leads you on the wrong path. This is where your crystal clear calculation should come in and save your ass.

Now let’s look at the two most common ways to do it wrong, and you’ll learn how to do it better next time.

Falling into the Trap: The Try & Error Method

This is a phenomenon mostly happening when studying with online tactics trainers. You see a tempting move and execute it. If it is correct, you will do the same on the second move. If it is wrong, you have another shot at the same puzzle and go with the next most likely move.

Eventually, you will “solve” (I’d rather say guess) the puzzle. You might try Bxf6, Rxf6, or Qg5 in any order in the example above. Even if you get 1.Rxf6 right from the get-go, you shouldn’t really be proud. You probably didn’t see until the end of the line, so you didn’t improve any skills that help you in real games.

This is also the reason why I’m not a big fan of speed puzzle solving like Puzzle Rush or Puzzle Racer . The limited time forces you into a try & error mindset, which will be useless during a real game.

The only real solution here is:

Never solve by the try & error method.

It is a horrible habit that increases your confidence (“I got it right”) but worsens your chess. This inevitably leads to way too high expectations and, thus, to disappointment and frustration.

Just remember Try & Error —> Frustration, and you should be able to withstand the temptation.

A Common Mistake: Shallow Thinking and Its Consequences

Shallow thinking is the next biggest issue and is a close friend of the try & error method. Both stem from the same human tendency to be lazy.

It is hard to calculate a line until the end, but sometimes glaringly obvious which first move one should play. So you think, “I’ll just play this move and think from the next position.”

The problem here is a practical one again. Sometimes, the obvious moves are wrong!

When solving tactical exercises, you know there is something good in the position. If there is only one forceful-looking move, you might be tempted to go with it without thinking.

But during the game, this isn’t true at all. There are positions where a move looks good but loses instantly.

That’s why it is important that you only execute a move during training when you finish your full calculation process. This habit will eventually save you a lot of points during your games.

Wisdom from Artur Jussupow

Artur Jussupow, the former World #3 and my Coach in my teenage years, had some great advice when I used the shallow thinking method in training.

A common conversation would go like that:

Artur: “Solve this position, White to move, you get 5 Minutes

Noël (after 30 seconds): “I believe f5 looks good.”

Artur: “You can believe in the church; in chess, we calculate and know.”

He would then not say anything until I came up with the full line I calculated until the very end.

Since then, whenever I thought, “This move looks good,” I was reminded of Artur telling me to finish my calculation before making assumptions.

The Road to Success: How to Solve Chess Puzzles Correctly

Now that you know what to avoid solving a puzzle correctly is pretty straightforward. Open up your puzzle book or go to your favorite Online Chess Tactics Trainer.

Now follow these three simple steps:

1) Carefully examine the position before jumping into one move that looks or feels right (sometimes my students miss that they are material up or down because they immediately try to spot the right move).

2) Come up with a List of Candidate moves. The simplest way to get the most forcing ones it to look for:

in this sequence.

3) Calculate one move at a time. Start with the most forceful one ( if there is a checkmate , you don’t need to calculate other moves!) and finish only with a clear evaluation. If you win by force, shortly make sure you didn’t miss anything, then write down the solution and compare it with the puzzle solution.

If the evaluation isn’t good (enough), continue with the next most forceful move. If none of the initial candidate moves ends in a good (enough) evaluation, you either need to find more candidate moves or decide on the line with the least bad evaluation.

You are now curating a habit that will help you during your exercises but even more in-game. The right, non-rushed thought process helped me and my students save dozens of points. It will do the same for you.

I firmly believe that

anyone can improve their chess through the right mindset and training techniques.

I’m here to guide you on your journey to chess mastery.

Read more about Noël

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Videos by Felix Blohberger: A new sacrifice idea against the French and “Mikhalchishin’s Miniatures” (Part 3). “Lucky bag” with 44 analyses by Emanuel Berg, Romain Edouard, Alexandr Fier, Michal Krasenkow, Yago Santiago, Vaibhav Suri and many others.

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A weapon against the Grunfeld Defence (7.Qa4+)

With the move 7.Qa4+, Kotyk presents a simplified variation that requires less theoretical knowledge, yet still offering strong attacking potential. You will learn how to respond effectively to your opponent's moves, and steer the game in your favour.

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7 college RBs who could solve Cowboys ground game concerns

Randy gurzi | jun 18, 2024.

Dak Prescott enters a contract year with the Dallas Cowboys and he'll have to earn every penny of any extension he signs . Dallas elected not to draft a running back to replace Tony Pollard and will turn to Ezekiel Elliott and Rico Dowdle as the leaders of a running back committee.

Teams have had success using such an approach in the past, but the Cowboys don't have anyone who strikes fear into the opposing team. That's why it's safe to assume they'll need to be more proactive in addressing the position in 2025.

With that in mind, here are seven collegiate running backs to keep an eye on as potential selections for the Cowboys in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech

While Tahj Brooks isn't going to wow anyone with his athletic traits, he's still an impressive prospect. Listed at 5-foot-10 and 230 pounds, he's a wrecking ball who forced 96 missed tackles in 2023 according to Pro Football Focus.

Brooks had 1,538 yards last year and 10 touchdowns. He returns for a final season, which will be his fifth in the NCAA. His age and lack of long speed could make him an intriguing selection in the mid-to-late rounds.

Donovan Edwards, Michigan

Following a strong sophomore campaign, Donovan Edwards took a back seat to Blake Corum in 2023. He had just 497 yards for the NCAA Champions but has a chance to prove he's worthy of being a lead back this year.

Corum entered the NFL as did quarterback J.J. McCarthy. This means Edwards could very well be the focal point of the offense. The 6-foot, 202-pounder has the look of an NFL back and is solid in the passing game. He could see his stock soar if he's able to take advantage of this huge opportunity.

Devin Neal, Kansas

Kansas isn't a hot bed for NFL talent but Devin Neal remains a name to watch in 2024. Listed at 5-foot-11 and 208 pounds, Neal put up back-to-back 1,000-yard campaigns for the Jayhawks. This past season, he went for 1,280 yards with 16 touchdowns — and it took one touch for him to show how impressive he was going to be as a junior.

Is Devin Neal even real!!?? 🤯🤯 48-yard TD on his FIRST TOUCH OF THE SEASON pic.twitter.com/voxiwt7jzD — Kansas Football (@KU_Football) September 2, 2023

In all, Neal has 3,077 yards and 33 touchdowns while averaging 5.7 yards per attempt. One more strong season could push him into the Day 2 conversation.

TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State

Ohio State has a couple of backs who could be stars in the NFL, starting with TreVeyon Henderson. The 5-foot-10, 210-pounder burst onto the scene in 2021 with 1,248 yards and 15 touchdowns as a freshman.

Injuries slowed him in 2022 but he returned to form this past season. Henderson still missed three games and had fewer than 1,000 yards making this a critical campaign for him as he auditions for the next level.

Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State

Joining TreVeyon Henderson in Columbus is Quinshon Judkins. A 219-pound back who started his career at Ole Miss, Judkins amassed 2,725 yards and 31 touchdowns during his first two seasons in the SEC. Now at Ohio State, he will split time with Henderson but appears to have the higher ceiling of the two.

Ollie Gordon II, Oklahoma State

Ollie Gordon II was seventh in Heisman voting last year and was the Doak Walker Award winner following a season where he had 2,062 yards from scrimmage with 22 touchdowns.

One of the more complete backs, Gordon has the speed, vision, and strength to be a star at the next level. What's more impressive is how much he accomplished even with Oklahoma State struggling in run blocking.

Omarion Hampton, North Carolina

Another brusing back at 220 pounds, Omarion Hamption recorded 1,072 yards after contact for North Carolina in 2023. The sophomore finished with 1,504 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground and another 222 yards and a score on 29 receptions.

Even with his size, Hampton still posseses breakaway speed. If he puts up another solid season, then impresses at the Scouting Combine, he could be in the mix to be an early selection in Round 2.

RANDY GURZI

Arizona State grad