Master Games Chess Puzzles

About master games puzzles

Master games puzzles are taken from the games of strong titled players — masters, international masters, and grandmasters. These puzzles reflect the tactical patterns that arise in serious over-the-board competition, making them highly instructive for practical improvement. Master games tactical positions tend to be more realistic and less forced than composed puzzles, requiring you to find hidden resources in positions that look balanced or complex. Practising master games puzzles develops your ability to handle real competitive positions and exposes you to the tactical themes that appear most frequently in serious chess. Studying master games is the most direct path to understanding how strong players think and calculate.

How to train master games

These positions come from real games at a specific level, so they reflect the mistakes players at that level actually make.

Questions

How many master games 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.