Practice · one position, one move
One move wins. Which one?
Positions from real games in which exactly one move wins or holds – checked with the tablebase. Choose your way in: all of them, by goal, by the kind of move, by level or by technique.
WorksheetEvery click puts together 20 new positions of Puzzles at random to print – or 10, 30 or 40, 10 a page, with a page of solutions if you like.As a PDF: choose “Save as PDF” in the print window of the browser.-
White to move · 1942Alexander Alekhine – Goesta Stoltz
Every position of the trainer, one after another, shuffled.
Below the board you narrow the choice – by goal, level, family, player or opening. Your progress and your favorites stay in your browser.
By level, from owlet to wise owl Owlet 7,175Young owl 9,193Tawny owl 6,078Eagle owl 5,585Wise owl 2,033 -
Black to move · 1941Kurt Richter – Alexander Alekhine
Exactly one move keeps the win – every other gives it away.
The win is there, but only one move keeps it. Every other move gives it away – so says the tablebase.
By level, from owlet to wise owl Owlet 3,390Young owl 2,911Tawny owl 2,772Eagle owl 1,531Wise owl 1,070 -
Black to move · 1932Alexander Alekhine – Max Euwe
Exactly one move holds the draw – every other loses.
The position is on the edge. Only one move saves the draw, all others lose.
By level, from owlet to wise owl Owlet 3,785Young owl 6,282Tawny owl 3,306Eagle owl 4,054Wise owl 963 -
White to move · 1935Juan Manuel Fuentes – Alexander Alekhine
No check, no capture – and still the only move.
A piece moves – no check, no capture – and exactly this move wins or holds. A rook behind the passed pawn, a bishop to the long diagonal, a knight to the right square: the quiet side of endgame technique.
17 % of all 30,064 puzzles -
Black to move · 1933Alexander Alekhine – V. Dolinek
In the endgame the king fights along – here his move is the only one.
In the endgame the king becomes a fighting piece. In these positions a king move is the only one that wins or holds – opposition, key squares, the way to the pawn.
42 % of all 30,064 puzzles -
White to move · 1955Mikhail Botvinnik – Vladimir Simagin
From owlet to wise owl: how hard a puzzle is.
The level comes from the tablebase: how far the way to the goal is and how many moves go wrong. Each level with an example and its puzzles.
The five levels, winning and holding together I Owlet 7,175II Young owl 9,193III Tawny owl 6,078IV Eagle owl 5,585V Wise owl 2,033 -
White to move · 2022Magnus Carlsen – Levon Aronian
Opposition, building a bridge, the fortress: the craft behind the positions.
Each technique explained, with an example from a master game and puzzles of its own.
The most puzzles Zugzwang724 positions Opposition537 positions Long side and short side178 positions