Zwischenzug Chess Puzzles
Free zwischenzug chess puzzles. Master the art of the 'in-between move' — an unexpected intermezzo that changes the course of a sequence. Free to practise, graded easy to hard, no login required.
About zwischenzug puzzles
A zwischenzug — German for 'in-between move' — is a forcing move inserted before the move your opponent is expecting, usually a check or a capture that must be answered first. It works because players calculate sequences as fixed exchanges and stop looking for interruptions. Learning to insert an in-between move, and to check whether your opponent has one available, is one of the sharpest practical skills in chess. These puzzles specifically break the habit of assuming a forced sequence is really forced, which is where a surprising number of games are decided.
How to train zwischenzug
A zwischenzug is a shape, not a sequence. Once you can spot the shape you will find the move in seconds instead of calculating from scratch, so train for recognition speed: glance, name the pattern, then verify.
Questions
How many zwischenzug puzzles are there?
Enough that you will not repeat them — this set is drawn from a library of over 1,000,000 puzzles taken from real games, graded from easy to hard.
What level is this suitable for?
Children from about age 5 upward, once they know how the pieces move, through to rated tournament players. Start on the easy set and move up when you are solving most of them at a glance.