Real positions. Quiet practice.

Queen and rook tactics Puzzles: Foundation Level

Real puzzles from rated games · median rating 845 · solved 17,209,419 times

Difficulty 600–1199

These are queen and rook tactics puzzles rated 600–1199, the Foundation level on this site. They come from real rated games: 29,141 puzzles, median rating 845, solved 17,209,419 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 and rook tactics puzzles Print a worksheet

By the numbers

queen and rook tactics puzzles at foundation level: the numbers

There are 29,141 queen and rook tactics puzzles at foundation level, solved 17,209,419 times in total. The median rating is 845.

Often combined with

Endgame tactics · 29,141 Checkmate · 21,568 Mate in 2 · 11,726 Back-rank mate · 8,710 Mate in 1 · 8,331 Fork · 2,666 Skewer · 1,773 Advanced pawn · 1,620 Mate in 3 · 1,455

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 8 Four Knights Game · 6 Scotch Game · 5 Italian Game · 4 French Defence · 3 Scandinavian Defense · 3 Philidor Defence · 3 Ruy Lopez · 3

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical queen and rook tactics solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 queen and rook tactics puzzles at foundation level (6.9% of all 29,141).

28.1% need 1 solver move, 59% need 2 solver moves, 11.8% need 3 solver moves, 0.8% need 4 solver moves. Median rating: 757 for the shortest solutions, 1054 for the longest.

80% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 22.2% and gives check in 94.8%; 75.6% end in checkmate, 14% involve a sacrifice, 49.3% have White to move.

22.2%first move captures

94.8%first move gives check

75.6%end in checkmate

14%involve a sacrifice

How many moves does the solver need?

1 solver move

28.1% · median rating 757

2 solver moves

59% · median rating 835

3 solver moves

11.8% · median rating 948

4 solver moves

0.8% · median rating 1054

Which piece plays the key move?

Key move by a rook

80%

Key move by a queen

14.4%

Key move by a pawn

5.4%

What does the solver win?

Most valuable capture: rook

37.5%

Most valuable capture: queen

33.1%

Captures nothing along the line

25.2%

Most valuable capture: pawn

4.2%

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)

34%

Up to 2 pawns’ worth

5.6%

3–4 points (about a minor piece)

5.6%

5–8 points (a rook or more)

27.8%

9 or more points (a queen’s worth)

26.9%

How much is left on the board?

28 or more pieces on the board

21–27 pieces

0.2%

13–20 pieces

59.8%

12 pieces or fewer

40%

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: d8 (15.1%), e8 (13.2%), c8 (10.2%), f8 (9.1%), b8 (5.9%).

4.3	5.9	10.2	15.1	13.2	9.1	2.5	3.5	8
			1.2		1.6	1.7	2.4	7
					1	1.6	1.6	6
						1.4		5
						1.8	1.2	4
								3
								2
1							1	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 and rook tactics puzzles, from each difficulty level. Play each one on the board, then open the answer for the full line.

♜			♛			♜	♚
♟				♖	♖
	♟						♟


		♙	♟			♙
♙	♙					♙	♙
						♔

White to move · rating 613 · solved 1,633 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: gxh6

Solution: Rh7#



	♜
		♚
		♜	♟
♙
♙				♕
♔

Black to move · rating 802 · solved 2,653 times · Mate in 2.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Qg2

Solution: Rd1+ → Ka2 → Ra6#

		♚
	♟
	♜	♟
			♟
♔			♙
♕		♙

Black to move · rating 808 · solved 3,565 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Ke4

Solution: Re6+ → Kf4 → Rxe3


♟	♟				♟	♚
		♟				♟
		♖			♟
	♙		♜	♕
♙				♙		♙	♟
					♙		♙
						♔

Black to move · rating 915 · solved 1,729 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Qxe4

Solution: Rd1#


				♟
♕	♜	♚	♟		♟
		♟			♙
		♙		♙
			♙	♔

	♜

White to move · rating 1007 · solved 2,054 times · Mate in 1.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: R7d6

Solution: Qe8#


♟			♖
	♟			♟	♚

			♖	♙	♙
		♛
		♟		♔

White to move · rating 1017 · solved 1,606 times · Mate in 2.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Qc3

Solution: g5+ → Kh5 → Rh7#

		♜			♚
				♟		♟
♟			♜
	♟			♟
				♕
♙						♙
	♙				♙	♔

White to move · rating 1019 · solved 2,048 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Rd8

Solution: Qg5+ → Rg6 → Qxd8+


♖			♟
		♟	♚

		♙	♙
	♟	♔

♛			♜

White to move · rating 1091 · solved 2,000 times · Mate in 2.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: a1=Q

Solution: g5+ → Kh5 → Rxh7#

				♚
	♟			♟
♟

		♟			♛
			♖
				♔
			♖

White to move · rating 1099 · solved 1,860 times · 3 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: c4

Solution: Rf8+ → Kh7 → Rh1 → Qxh1+ → Kxh1



				♙
		♖	♟
			♙
♛	♚
			♔

White to move · rating 1114 · solved 2,114 times · 2 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Kxe3

Solution: Rf3+ → Kd2 → Rxd3+


♟	♜			♟
♚						♟
♙		♕		♙
					♙	♔


			♜

White to move · rating 1125 · solved 2,178 times · 3 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Re1

Solution: Qd6+ → Kxb5 → Qxc7 → Rh1+ → Kg3



			♟		♟	♚
			♙
		♙
				♙	♔
♟	♕
♜

Black to move · rating 1193 · solved 1,828 times · 3 solver moves to find.

Reveal line

Opponent's last move: Qb2

Solution: Rg1+ → Kh2 → a1=Q → Qxa1 → Rxa1

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 and rook tactics puzzles by difficulty

Developing level