Clearance puzzles
84 free clearance puzzles from real games, rated 881 to 2390. Solve them on the board below; your accuracy feeds your weakness map.
What is a clearance?
A clearance moves one of your own pieces off a square or line so another piece can use it. The best clearances move with tempo, making a threat so the opponent can't stop the follow-up.
These are hard to see because the key move is about the piece that doesn't move.
Common mistake
Clearing slowly. Without tempo, the opponent closes the line again.
How to spot it
Is one of your pieces blocking the ideal square for another?
Can the blocker leave with check, capture or threat?
Pawn advances that open a diagonal for a bishop are a common clearance.
Related themes
- Attraction (decoy)Drag a piece onto a fatal square.
- InterferenceCut the line between two enemy pieces.
- X-ray attackAttack or defend through another piece.
- ZugzwangEvery move makes it worse.
- Quiet moveNo check, no capture, and still winning.
Let the adaptive drill find your weakest pattern
Puzzles: Lichess puzzle database (CC0), filtered for popularity and play count. See how Weakspot works.