Chess puzzles for kids
Three to try on this page, 432 more to print as PDF worksheets, and the same positions on a board that moves if you would rather solve on a screen. All free, none of it behind a sign-up.
The printable puzzle sheets are at reflexchess.com/worksheets
Three easy puzzles
In every one of these it is your move and there is something to win. The two shaded squares show the move the other player just made, which is a clue rather than the answer. Have a go before you open it.
Answer
30...Rh5#
Answer
29...Qxd1#
Answer
46...Rb1+ 47.Qd1 Rxd1#
Answers are written in chess notation. N is a knight, R a rook, Q a queen, B a bishop, K a king, and a move with no letter is a pawn. The square is a letter and a number: files run a to h from the left, ranks 1 to 8 from the bottom. So Qxh7# means "the queen takes the piece on h7, and that is checkmate". The printed worksheets label every board down the side and along the bottom, which makes this much easier than reading it off a small picture.
Print a whole set
Each of these is twelve positions and a full answer key, on three pages. These six are the gentlest sets we have.
PDFMate in One · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 424–1268Download →PDFHanging Pieces · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 496–1292Download →PDFBack Rank Mates · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 441–1221Download →PDFChess Forks · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 587–1257Download →PDFChess Pins · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 652–1314Download →PDFChess Skewers · Easy12 positions · answer key · Lichess 610–1297Download →All 36 worksheets, or the printing guide for teachers and parents.
Where the puzzles come from, and what that means
Every position is a real moment from a real game, taken from the Lichess puzzle database, which is released under CC0. Nobody composed them to look pretty. Somebody was actually playing, somebody left something hanging, and the puzzle is the move that punishes it.
That has one consequence worth being straight about: these positions are graded by difficulty, not by age. The rating on a puzzle is measured from how often players find the move, so a 424 is genuinely easy and a 2200 is genuinely hard, but none of them were designed for children specifically. What makes the easy band suitable is that the answer is short, forcing and usually a check, not that the game it came from involved anyone young.
How to get better at them
- Look at checks first. If a puzzle is mate in one, the move is a check. That halves the board before you have thought about anything.
- Count defenders before you get clever. More beginner games are lost to a piece nobody was defending than to anything clever, which is why hanging pieces is the second sheet and not the tenth.
- Say the answer out loud before you play it. "Knight takes e5, and if the pawn takes back I have the queen." A move you can say is a move you have checked.
- Getting one wrong is the useful part. A set where you score twelve out of twelve was too easy to teach you anything.
On a screen instead
The Reflex Chess trainer has the same positions on a board you can move pieces on, and it tells you immediately whether you were right, which paper cannot. The first 3 skills and both practice modes open with no account and no email address: that is 360 positions before anything asks you for anything. There are no adverts and no way for anyone to message you.
Mate in one, in the app · Free pieces · Reflex Rush, against the clock · What the app asks for
Read about the patterns
Each puzzle set has a written guide with worked examples: mate in one, hanging pieces, back rank mates, forks, pins and skewers, or start at chess for beginners.
Questions
Are these chess puzzles suitable for beginners?
The easiest sheets start at Lichess rating 424, which is about as gentle as a real position gets. A child who knows how the pieces move and what checkmate is can start. If a position is too hard, that is information: drop a band rather than pushing through it.
Can I print the puzzles?
Yes. Every set is a PDF with twelve positions, a box under each to write the answer in, and a full answer key. Nothing to sign up for.
Where do the puzzles come from?
The Lichess puzzle database, released under CC0. Every position is a moment from a real game where somebody had a winning move available, and the rating on it is measured from how often players actually find it.
How do I help a child who is stuck?
Do not give the move. Give the question the move answers: what is the opponent threatening, which pieces are undefended, what happens if I check here. A child who is handed the answer learns the answer, and a child who is handed the question learns the question.