Deflection Puzzles: Developing Level

By the numbers

deflection puzzles at developing level: the numbers

There are 80,484 deflection puzzles at developing level, solved 303,431,706 times in total. The median rating is 1393.

Often combined with

Endgame tactics · 50,335Middlegame tactics · 28,159Checkmate · 14,768Mate in 2 · 8,286Rook endgame tactics · 7,235Attraction · 7,229Fork · 6,391Kingside attack · 6,376

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 1,260French Defence · 537Caro–Kann Defence · 471Italian Game · 431Scandinavian Defense · 428Queen's Pawn Game · 403Queen's Gambit Declined · 304Ruy Lopez · 234

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical deflection solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 deflection puzzles at developing level (2.5% of all 80,484).

53.8% need 2 solver moves, 37.8% need 3 solver moves, 7.8% need 4 solver moves, 0.6% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 1377 for the shortest solutions, 1467 for the longest.

41% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 27.2% and gives check in 90.6%; 18.3% end in checkmate, 46.6% involve a sacrifice, 52.8% have White to move.

How many moves does the solver need?

Which piece plays the key move?

What does the solver win?

Material balance along the whole line, counting every capture by both sides (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9):

How much is left on the board?

How it is counted: every puzzle in the sample is replayed move by move with a chess rules engine. A sacrifice means a piece that is captured on the very next ply and was worth more than what it captured itself (pawn 1, minor piece 3, rook 5, queen 9). Sample of 2,000 puzzles. Percentages are shares of the sample.

Where it happens

Where the key move lands

Where the solver’s first move ends, drawn from their own side (rank 1 is their back rank). Busiest squares: f7 (6.8%), e8 (6.4%), h7 (5.6%), h6 (4.6%), d8 (4.4%).

Counted from the same 2,000-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.