Real positions. Quiet practice.

Queen endgame tactics Puzzles: Foundation Level

Real puzzles from rated games · median rating 983 · solved 17,279,282 times

Difficulty 600–1199

These are queen endgame tactics puzzles rated 600–1199, the Foundation level on this site. They come from real rated games: 23,912 puzzles, median rating 983, solved 17,279,282 times. The twelve below are among the most-solved of them; try each on the board, then read the numbers further down to see how solutions at this level are built.

All queen endgame tactics puzzles Print a worksheet

By the numbers

queen endgame tactics puzzles at foundation level: the numbers

There are 23,912 queen endgame tactics puzzles at foundation level, solved 17,279,282 times in total. The median rating is 983.

Often combined with

Endgame tactics · 23,912 Checkmate · 14,017 Mate in 1 · 8,733 Mate in 2 · 4,608 Advanced pawn · 3,124 Skewer · 2,069 Promotion · 1,786 Back-rank mate · 1,362 Defensive move · 948

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 2 Englund Gambit · 1 Queen's Pawn Game · 1 Ruy Lopez · 1

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical queen endgame tactics solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 queen endgame tactics puzzles at foundation level (8.4% of all 23,912).

36% need 1 solver move, 49.2% need 2 solver moves, 11.8% need 3 solver moves, 2% need 4 solver moves, 1% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 926 for the shortest solutions, 968 for the longest.

88.2% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 18.4% and gives check in 89.7%; 59.6% end in checkmate, 14% involve a sacrifice, 51.8% have White to move.

18.4%first move captures

89.7%first move gives check

59.6%end in checkmate

14%involve a sacrifice

How many moves does the solver need?

1 solver move

36% · median rating 926

2 solver moves

49.2% · median rating 987

3 solver moves

11.8% · median rating 1063

4 solver moves

2% · median rating 1133

5+ solver moves

1% · median rating 968

Which piece plays the key move?

Key move by a queen

88.2%

Key move by a pawn

11%

Key move by the king

0.9%

What does the solver win?

Most valuable capture: queen

49.4%

Captures nothing along the line

46.6%

Most valuable capture: pawn

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

No material gained (mating or positional)

67.4%

Up to 2 pawns’ worth

8.2%

3–4 points (about a minor piece)

0.2%

5–8 points (a rook or more)

2.2%

9 or more points (a queen’s worth)

22.1%

How much is left on the board?

28 or more pieces on the board

21–27 pieces

13–20 pieces

28.4%

12 pieces or fewer

71.6%

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: h8 (6.4%), e8 (4.8%), d8 (4.6%), a8 (3.9%), g4 (3.8%).

3.9	3.2	3.1	4.6	4.8	3.5	2.2	6.4	8
	1.6		1.2	1.1	2.2	3.4	1.3	7
		1.1		1.1	2		1.1	6
	1.2	1.4	1.5	2.5	3.2	2.8	1.2	5
		1.2	1.4	2.2	3.2	3.8	1.5	4
	1	1	2	1.8	2.3	1.9		3
			1.1	1.3	1	1		2
								1
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

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

Study positions

The most-solved queen endgame tactics puzzles, from each difficulty level. Play each one on the board, then open the answer for the full line.

				♕
		♟

♔	♚
			♙
				♙
♙
		♛

Black to move · rating 767 · solved 1,923 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: h8=Q

Solution: Qb5#


	♚
	♟
				♙
♟		♛
		♕		♔
		♙	♙

Black to move · rating 772 · solved 1,785 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Qf3+

Solution: Qxf3+ → gxf3 → a3

		♔	♕

♚	♛

Black to move · rating 969 · solved 1,819 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: h8=Q

Solution: Qf7#

♚
		♔		♟	♟
♙	♙		♟		♟

				♙


			♛

White to move · rating 1036 · solved 1,765 times · Mate in 3.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: e1=Q

Solution: b7+ → Ka7 → b8=Q+ → Kxa6 → Qb6#


					♚
		♟				♟
	♟	♙			♟		♟
	♙						♙
		♕	♟	♙		♙
♛					♙
				♔

Black to move · rating 1065 · solved 2,075 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Ke1

Solution: Qe2#


					♟	♚
			♟
♕			♔
		♙
	♙			♙
♙	♛		♙

Black to move · rating 1096 · solved 1,862 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Kd5

Solution: Qe5+ → Kc6 → Qxa5


				♟	♚
	♛				♟
♟		♕	♔
			♙	♙
♙
	♙

Black to move · rating 1097 · solved 2,133 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: f4

Solution: Qg6#

				♚
			♟	♟
	♕

♛
		♙
		♔		♙

White to move · rating 1145 · solved 2,067 times · Mate in 2.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Kh8

Solution: Qc8+ → Qe8 → Qxe8#

	♕	♔
♛			♚

Black to move · rating 1152 · solved 1,844 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: b8=Q

Solution: Qd7#

				♚

♟					♟

	♙	♕	♙	♙
♙		♙	♔		♙

		♛

Black to move · rating 1159 · solved 2,377 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Kf3

Solution: Qh1+ → Ke2 → Qxe4



♟	♕		♟
♙		♟	♚
	♙	♛
		♙
		♔

White to move · rating 1165 · solved 2,429 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: g5

Solution: Qf7#


♙	♕			♟	♚	♟
			♟

			♛
		♟			♙
		♔		♙		♙

Black to move · rating 1191 · solved 2,588 times · 3 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: b7

Solution: Qe2+ → Kc3 → Qc2+ → Kd4 → Qxc7

Positions and move sequences come from real rated games (CC0 data). Engine evaluations, where shown, are stored evaluations of the position (CC0).

Same theme, other levels

Queen endgame tactics puzzles by difficulty

Advanced level Challenging level Developing level

3.9	3.2	3.1	4.6	4.8	3.5	2.2	6.4	8
	1.6		1.2	1.1	2.2	3.4	1.3	7
		1.1		1.1	2		1.1	6
	1.2	1.4	1.5	2.5	3.2	2.8	1.2	5
		1.2	1.4	2.2	3.2	3.8	1.5	4
	1	1	2	1.8	2.3	1.9		3
			1.1	1.3	1	1		2
								1
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

3.9	3.2	3.1	4.6	4.8	3.5	2.2	6.4	8
	1.6		1.2	1.1	2.2	3.4	1.3	7
		1.1		1.1	2		1.1	6
	1.2	1.4	1.5	2.5	3.2	2.8	1.2	5
		1.2	1.4	2.2	3.2	3.8	1.5	4
	1	1	2	1.8	2.3	1.9		3
			1.1	1.3	1	1		2
								1
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

3.9	3.2	3.1	4.6	4.8	3.5	2.2	6.4	8
	1.6		1.2	1.1	2.2	3.4	1.3	7
		1.1		1.1	2		1.1	6
	1.2	1.4	1.5	2.5	3.2	2.8	1.2	5
		1.2	1.4	2.2	3.2	3.8	1.5	4
	1	1	2	1.8	2.3	1.9		3
			1.1	1.3	1	1		2
								1
a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h