X-ray attack Puzzles: Developing Level

By the numbers

x-ray attack puzzles at developing level: the numbers

There are 8,403 x-ray attack puzzles at developing level, solved 27,551,301 times in total. The median rating is 1398.

Often combined with

Checkmate · 5,218Endgame tactics · 4,427Middlegame tactics · 3,943Back-rank mate · 3,642Mate in 2 · 3,581Sacrifice · 1,642Mate in 3 · 1,481Kingside attack · 710Fork · 416

Which openings produce them?

Sicilian Defence · 66French Defence · 36Scotch Game · 22Ruy Lopez · 21Queen's Pawn Game · 21Italian Game · 18Scandinavian Defense · 18Caro–Kann Defence · 13

Counts computed from the full puzzle set.

How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine

What a typical x-ray attack solution looks like

Sample: 2,000 x-ray attack puzzles at developing level (23.8% of all 8,403).

64.8% need 2 solver moves, 32% need 3 solver moves, 3.2% need 4 solver moves. Median rating: 1388 for the shortest solutions, 1445 for the longest.

72.2% open with a queen move. The first move captures in 62.8% and gives check in 84.2%; 62.9% end in checkmate, 80% involve a sacrifice, 48.5% 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: e8 (21.5%), d8 (17.8%), f8 (12%), c8 (10.4%), a8 (5%).

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