Real positions from rated games. Narrow them by motif, difficulty or rating, then solve or print each one.
892 real-game Clearance puzzles in this collection
What is a clearance?
A clearance move vacates a square or line that one of your own pieces needs, often with tempo. The clearing piece may even sacrifice itself so the follow-up lands.
How to spot it
When a winning idea fails only because your own piece is in the way, look for the most forcing way to move it — ideally a move that also checks or captures.
What this set trains
Clearance sets teach coordination: seeing not just where pieces attack, but how they can make room for each other.
How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine
What a typical clearance solution looks like
Sample: 3,930 clearance puzzles (4.9% of all 80,128).
31.7% need 2 solver moves, 46.2% need 3 solver moves, 14.4% need 4 solver moves, 7.7% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 1610 for the shortest solutions, 2384 for the longest.
27% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 42.7% and gives check in 53.4%; 20.2% end in checkmate, 43% involve a sacrifice, 52.4% have White to move.
42.7%first move captures
53.4%first move gives check
20.2%end in checkmate
43%involve a sacrifice
How many moves does the solver need?
2 solver moves
31.7% · median rating 1610
3 solver moves
46.2% · median rating 1872
4 solver moves
14.4% · median rating 2155
5+ solver moves
7.7% · median rating 2384
Which piece plays the key move?
Key move by a rook
27%
Key move by a knight
26%
Key move by a queen
18.1%
Key move by a pawn
13.2%
Key move by a bishop
12.5%
Key move by the king
3.1%
What does the solver win?
Captures nothing along the line
29.6%
Most valuable capture: queen
25.5%
Most valuable capture: rook
19.9%
Most valuable capture: pawn
9.4%
Most valuable capture: knight
8.2%
Most valuable capture: bishop
7.3%
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)
54.7%
Up to 2 pawns’ worth
11.1%
3–4 points (about a minor piece)
18.7%
5–8 points (a rook or more)
12.2%
9 or more points (a queen’s worth)
3.3%
How much is left on the board?
28 or more pieces on the board
5.2%
21–27 pieces
43%
13–20 pieces
45.8%
12 pieces or fewer
6.1%
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 3,930 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: f6 (11.1%), g6 (5.6%), f7 (4.5%), e7 (3.9%), h6 (3.6%).
1
1.2
1.5
2.5
3
2.4
1.1
2
8
1
1.6
2.1
3.9
4.5
2.5
3.1
7
1.4
2.2
2.5
3.5
11.1
5.6
3.6
6
1
1
2.2
3.3
2.5
3
1.7
5
1.2
1.6
2.1
1.1
1
4
1
3
1
2
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Counted from the same 3,930-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.
In the chess glossary
What the glossary says
Clearance
Removal of piece from a square, rank, file or diagonal so that another piece may use it. It often involves sacrificing the piece that blocked the position. See Clearance sacrifice.
Where this page comes from
The text above is adapted from
“Glossary of chess” on Wikipedia,
by its contributors. We kept only the definitions of the terms listed, removed citations, diagrams and navigation templates, and left the wording otherwise unchanged — nothing here was written or rewritten by AI.
The original is published under
CC BY-SA 4.0,
so this section is published under the same licence. You may share and
adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same
licence.
Puzzle positions, ratings and move sequences on this page come from real rated games (CC0 data), not from Wikipedia; theme write-ups and difficulty guides
elsewhere on this site are Chess Puzzle Print's own original work and are not covered by
this licence.
Study positions
The most-solved clearance puzzles, from each difficulty level. Play each one on the board, then open the answer for the full line.
♜
♛
♜
♚
♟
♟
♟
♝
♟
♟
♟
♞
♘
♘
♙
♙
♕
♙
♙
♙
♙
♖
♔
♖
White to move · rating 1072 · solved 10,014 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on h7 with the queen. It gives up the knight (Nf6+) on the way.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Nf5
Solution: Nf6+ → Bxf6 → Qh7#
♚
♜
♟
♗
♟
♟
♟
♙
♞
♙
♝
♙
♙
♛
♜
♕
♘
♙
♙
♖
♖
♔
Black to move · rating 1182 · solved 3,246 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on h5 with the queen. It gives up the knight (Ng3+) on the way.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Bxd6
Solution: Ng3+ → hxg3 → Qh5#
♜
♟
♚
♖
♞
♟
♟
♙
♕
♟
♙
♙
♙
♙
♔
♜
Black to move · rating 1197 · solved 3,633 times
· Mate in 3. It ends in checkmate on f3 with the rook. It gives up the knight (Nxf4+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (pawn, queen).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kh3
Solution: Nxf4+ → gxf4 → R8e3+ → Qf3 → Rxf3#
♜
♟
♚
♛
♜
♖
♟
♟
♟
♕
♙
♙
♟
♙
♙
♙
♔
♖
White to move · rating 1248 · solved 4,645 times
· 3 solver moves to find. It gives up the rook (Rh7) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (rook, queen).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Rf8
Solution: Rxg7 → Qxg7 → Rh7 → Qxh7 → Qxh7+
♜
♜
♟
♟
♚
♞
♟
♟
♘
♟
♙
♘
♙
♕
♙
♛
♙
♔
White to move · rating 1348 · solved 3,719 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on g7 with the queen. It gives up the knight (Ngf6+) on the way.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qxb2
Solution: Ngf6+ → gxf6 → Qg7#
♜
♜
♖
♟
♗
♟
♟
♚
♙
♔
♙
♙
♙
♘
Black to move · rating 1422 · solved 4,673 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a rook.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Bd5
Solution: Rxc6+ → Bxc6 → Rc8
♚
♟
♟
♟
♟
♟
♞
♕
♙
♝
♛
♘
♗
♙
♜
♙
♙
♔
♖
♗
♖
Black to move · rating 1488 · solved 3,326 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on b2 with the queen. The solver captures a rook.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qc4
Solution: Rxb1+ → Nxb1 → Qb2#
♜
♝
♛
♜
♚
♟
♟
♟
♞
♟
♟
♙
♙
♕
♙
♙
♗
♗
♙
♙
♖
♖
♔
Black to move · rating 1653 · solved 1,662 times
· 2 solver moves to find. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qxd4
Solution: Qxd4+ → Bxd4 → Rd8
♜
♚
♛
♟
♟
♟
♟
♟
♝
♘
♙
♞
♕
♙
♙
♗
♙
♙
♖
♔
Black to move · rating 1674 · solved 2,479 times
· Mate in 4. It ends in checkmate on f1 with the rook. It gives up the knight (Nxf2+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (pawn, rook).Reveal line
Black to move · rating 2349 · solved 554 times
· 3 solver moves to find. It gives up the bishop (Bg1+) on the way. The solver captures a rook.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kh2
Solution: Bg1+ → Rxg1 → Qf2+ → Kh3 → Qxg1
Positions and move sequences come from real rated games (CC0 data). Engine evaluations, where shown, are stored evaluations of the position (CC0).
ChessPuzzlePrint