Hanging piece puzzles
84 free hanging piece puzzles from real games, rated 743 to 2302. Solve them on the board below; your accuracy feeds your weakness map.
What is a hanging piece?
A hanging piece is one that can be captured for free because it isn't defended (or isn't defended enough). Below 1500, most games are decided by hanging pieces, not deep combinations.
These puzzles are deliberately simple-looking. The skill is the scan: checking every enemy piece for whether it's defended, every move.
Common mistake
Taking a 'free' piece that's actually bait for a back-rank or fork tactic.
How to spot it
For each enemy piece, ask: is it defended? How many times?
Recently moved pieces are often loose. Check what the last move left behind.
Before grabbing, check whether the capture walks into a fork, pin or mate.
Related themes
- ForkOne piece attacks two targets at once.
- PinA piece that can't move without exposing something bigger.
- SkewerA reverse pin: the big piece moves, the one behind falls.
- Discovered attackMove one piece, unleash another.
- Double checkTwo checks at once. The king must move.
Let the adaptive drill find your weakest pattern
Puzzles: Lichess puzzle database (CC0), filtered for popularity and play count. See how Weakspot works.