Skewer Puzzles: Advanced Level

By the numbers

skewer puzzles at advanced level: the numbers

There are 16,529 skewer puzzles at advanced level, solved 22,398,239 times in total. The median rating is 2230.

Often combined with

Endgame tactics · 8,853Middlegame tactics · 7,396Sacrifice · 3,660Exposed king · 3,136Deflection · 2,233Quiet move · 1,559Attraction · 1,488Rook endgame tactics · 1,256

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 251French Defence · 125Italian Game · 122Caro–Kann Defence · 109Queen's Pawn Game · 106Queen's Gambit Declined · 79Scandinavian Defense · 68Indian Defence · 57

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical skewer solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 skewer puzzles at advanced level (12.1% of all 16,529).

10.1% need 2 solver moves, 41.6% need 3 solver moves, 26.4% need 4 solver moves, 22% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 2148 for the shortest solutions, 2356 for the longest.

40.8% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 28.8% and gives check in 55.9%; 0.2% end in checkmate, 22.2% involve a sacrifice, 53.2% 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: h8 (4.2%), h7 (4.1%), f6 (3.8%), g7 (3.8%), h6 (3.1%).

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