Trapped piece puzzles
84 free trapped piece puzzles from real games, rated 860 to 2351. Solve them on the board below; your accuracy feeds your weakness map.
What is a trapped piece?
A trapped piece isn't attacked yet, but every square it could flee to is covered. Attack it and it's lost.
Bishops on the rim, knights on the edge and queens that grabbed a pawn too far from home are the usual victims.
Common mistake
Attacking the piece before its escape squares are covered. Close the exits first.
How to spot it
Count a piece's safe squares. One or zero means it can be trapped.
Pawn moves are the cheapest way to cut off escape squares.
Greedy pieces (a queen on b7/b2, a bishop on h7/a7) are classic targets.
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.