Interference Puzzles: Challenging Level

By the numbers

interference puzzles at challenging level: the numbers

There are 6,628 interference puzzles at challenging level, solved 20,475,337 times in total. The median rating is 1788.

Often combined with

Middlegame tactics · 3,868Endgame tactics · 2,396Deflection · 621Fork · 613Exposed king · 606Sacrifice · 513Intermezzo (in-between move) · 451Opening tactics · 364

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 243Queen's Pawn Game · 104French Defence · 98Queen's Gambit Declined · 63Caro–Kann Defence · 62Scandinavian Defense · 59Italian Game · 57Indian Defence · 49

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical interference solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 interference puzzles at challenging level (30.2% of all 6,628).

50.1% need 2 solver moves, 38% need 3 solver moves, 9.2% need 4 solver moves, 2.8% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 1765 for the shortest solutions, 1847 for the longest.

29.2% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 19.6% and gives check in 57.8%; 3.8% end in checkmate, 11% involve a sacrifice, 54.8% 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: d5 (4.4%), e6 (4.4%), e5 (4.3%), f6 (3.9%), g5 (3.7%).

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