Real positions. Quiet practice.

Printable Promotion Puzzles

Real positions from rated games. Narrow them by motif, difficulty or rating, then solve or print each one.

Printable worksheet

12 promotion puzzles, every difficulty, with answer key

Promotion tactics force a pawn through to a new queen — or win decisive material from the threat alone. Deflections, clearances and sacrifices all serve the pawn’s final step.

Solve these online instead Customise: pick difficulty, count and paper size

Positions come from real rated games. The answer key prints on the last page.

Promotion — chess puzzle worksheet Name: ______________ Date: ______________

		♜
							♟
				♟	♚		♝
	♟
			♘	♙
	♙				♙
♙	♙		♟			♙
	♔		♖

#1 · black to move · rating 603

		♜				♚
♖			♖
	♟					♟

	♙	♜		♟
							♙
	♙		♟		♙	♙
						♔

#2 · black to move · rating 907

				♜	♚
		♙		♖
	♟			♔
					♟
♜			♙

#3 · white to move · rating 1135


♙	♖	♟	♟
			♚
	♔
				♟


♜

#4 · white to move · rating 1311


			♚
♟						♙
	♟		♙	♖
	♙
		♟
					♙	♔
		♜

#5 · black to move · rating 1463

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

#6 · white to move · rating 1650


♝	♙	♘
					♚
				♟
			♟	♙
♔

#7 · black to move · rating 1899

				♜	♚
♟	♟	♙			♟	♟

		♕	♟
♙
	♙			♙
	♛			♔	♖

#8 · white to move · rating 2087


♟
			♘
	♙			♟
♙		♖
				♔	♟	♚

♜

#9 · black to move · rating 2261


	♖
♙				♟	♚
		♔	♗


					♟
			♜

#10 · black to move · rating 2465

		♕
					♟		♟
						♟	♚

			♕				♙
♙	♙					♙	♔
			♟
				♛

#11 · black to move · rating 2663

		♖

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

#12 · white to move · rating 2799

Answer key

#1 (puzzle 0ZMBz): Rc1+ → Rxc1 → dxc1=Q#
#2 (puzzle 0C8HD): Rc1+ → Kh2 → d1=Q → Rxd1 → Rxd1
#3 (puzzle 07LpO): Rxg8+ → Kxg8 → e8=Q#
#4 (puzzle 0LI2b): Rb6+ → f6 → Ra6 → Re1 → a8=Q
#5 (puzzle 0NM2d): c2 → h7 → Rh1+ → Kxh1 → c1=Q+ → Kh2 → Qh6+
#6 (puzzle 0HOCl): h7 → c1=Q → h8=Q+ → Ke7 → Qe5+
#7 (puzzle 0SD2s): e3 → Nb5 → e2 → Nxa7 → e1=Q
#8 (puzzle 0T5IU): Kg3 → Qd4 → Qxf8+ → Kxf8 → c8=Q+
#9 (puzzle 0xgMK): Rf1+ → Ke3 → g2 → Nf4+ → Rxf4 → Kxf4 → g1=Q
#10 (puzzle 06F9M): Rxd5+ → Kxd5 → h1=Q+ → Kc5 → g5
#11 (puzzle 0fTsF): Qh1+ → Kg4 → d1=Q+ → Qxd1 → f5+ → Qxf5 → gxf5+ → Kxf5 → Qxd1
#12 (puzzle 0PVny): Rxc6 → Kxc6 → Kf4 → Kb5 → Kg5 → a4 → bxa4+ → Kxa4 → Kxg6 → b5 → Kxh5 → Kxa3 → Kg5 → b4 → h5 → b3 → h6 → b2 → h7 → b1=Q → h8=Q

Positions from real rated games (CC0 data).