Real positions from rated games. Narrow them by motif, difficulty or rating, then solve or print each one.
2155 real-game Deflection puzzles in this collection
What is a deflection?
Deflection drags a defender away from its duty. By capturing, checking or threatening, you force an enemy piece to abandon the square, line or piece it was guarding, then exploit what it left behind.
How to spot it
Identify which enemy piece holds the position together — the guard of a mating square, a back rank or a loose piece. Any forcing move that attacks that overworked guard is a deflection candidate.
What this set trains
Deflection sets build the habit of asking “what is this piece defending?” before every exchange — a question that exposes hidden wins constantly.
How the solutions work · counted by a rules engine
What a typical deflection solution looks like
Sample: 13,006 deflection puzzles (4.9% of all 263,295).
45.9% need 2 solver moves, 37.4% need 3 solver moves, 11.3% need 4 solver moves, 5.4% need 5 or more solver moves. Median rating: 1323 for the shortest solutions, 2270 for the longest.
34.9% open with a rook move. The first move captures in 28.1% and gives check in 82.4%; 17.7% end in checkmate, 43.2% involve a sacrifice, 53.4% have White to move.
28.1%first move captures
82.4%first move gives check
17.7%end in checkmate
43.2%involve a sacrifice
How many moves does the solver need?
2 solver moves
45.9% · median rating 1323
3 solver moves
37.4% · median rating 1662
4 solver moves
11.3% · median rating 1957
5+ solver moves
5.4% · median rating 2270
Which piece plays the key move?
Key move by a rook
34.9%
Key move by a queen
26.5%
Key move by a pawn
13.9%
Key move by a knight
11.8%
Key move by a bishop
11.7%
Key move by the king
1.3%
What does the solver win?
Most valuable capture: rook
33.5%
Most valuable capture: queen
24.1%
Most valuable capture: pawn
20.2%
Most valuable capture: bishop
10.9%
Most valuable capture: knight
8.8%
Captures nothing along the line
2.6%
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)
15.2%
Up to 2 pawns’ worth
24.1%
3–4 points (about a minor piece)
31.9%
5–8 points (a rook or more)
24.7%
9 or more points (a queen’s worth)
4.1%
How much is left on the board?
28 or more pieces on the board
1.8%
21–27 pieces
25.2%
13–20 pieces
55.3%
12 pieces or fewer
17.7%
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 13,006 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: f7 (6.6%), e8 (5.6%), h7 (4.9%), h6 (4.3%), g6 (4.1%).
1.2
1.1
1.8
3.2
5.6
2.5
1.6
3
8
1.6
1.8
2.3
3.8
6.6
3.6
4.9
7
1
2.2
2.2
3.5
3.7
4.1
4.3
6
1
1.4
2
1.9
2.2
3.9
2.3
5
1.1
1
1.1
1.4
2.1
1.1
4
3
2
1
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Counted from the same 13,006-puzzle sample. Squares under 1% are left blank.
In the chess glossary
What the glossary says
Deflection
A decoy tactic that involves luring an enemy piece away from a good square; typically, away from a square on which it defends another piece or threat. Deflection is thus closely related to overloading.
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 deflection puzzles, from each difficulty level. Play each one on the board, then open the answer for the full line.
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White to move · rating 1098 · solved 14,204 times
· 2 solver moves to find. It gives up the knight (Ne7+) on the way. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qxc3
Solution: Ne7+ → Nxe7 → Qxc3
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Black to move · rating 1121 · solved 16,684 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures a rook.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kh3
Solution: Rh6+ → Kg4 → Rg6+ → Kf5 → Rxg3
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Black to move · rating 1173 · solved 15,509 times
· 2 solver moves to find. It gives up the bishop (Bxc4+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (pawn, pawn).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Ke2
Solution: Bxc4+ → Bxc4 → Rxc2+
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White to move · rating 1281 · solved 6,164 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on f8 with the queen. The solver captures a bishop.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: a1=Q
Solution: h7+ → Kh8 → Qxf8#
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Black to move · rating 1468 · solved 6,094 times
· Mate in 3. It ends in checkmate on d1 with the rook. It gives up the queen (Qxd1+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (rook, bishop).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: dxe5
Solution: Rac8+ → Kb1 → Qxd1+ → Bxd1 → Rxd1#
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White to move · rating 1489 · solved 6,092 times
· Mate in 5. It ends in checkmate on a6 with the rook. The solver captures 2 pieces (rook, pawn).Reveal line
White to move · rating 1620 · solved 2,984 times
· 2 solver moves to find. It gives up the rook (Rd8+) on the way. The solver captures a queen.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Qc2
Solution: Rd8+ → Rxd8 → Qxc2
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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
White to move · rating 1823 · solved 4,651 times
· Mate in 5. It ends in checkmate on f8 with the queen. The solver captures 3 pieces (bishop, pawn, rook).Reveal line
Black to move · rating 2084 · solved 910 times
· 3 solver moves to find. The solver captures a knight.Reveal line
Opponent's last move: Kf5
Solution: Ne7+ → Kf4 → g5+ → Kf3 → Kxe5
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Black to move · rating 2091 · solved 1,276 times
· Mate in 2. It ends in checkmate on h1 with the queen. It gives up the rook (Rxg3+) on the way. The solver captures 2 pieces (pawn, rook).Reveal line
Opponent's last move: a8=Q
Solution: Rxg3+ → Rxg3 → Qxh1#
Positions and move sequences come from real rated games (CC0 data). Engine evaluations, where shown, are stored evaluations of the position (CC0).
Background reading
Deflection (chess)
Deflection in chess is a tactic that forces an opposing piece to leave the square, rank or file it occupies, thus exposing the king or a valuable piece. It is typically used in the context of a combination or attack, where the deflected piece is critical to the defence. Deflection may be used as a gambit to cause an opponent's piece to move to a less suitable square. Deflections are often used as part of a combination which may involve other types of chess tactics as well. If the deflected piece happens to be an overworked piece then the opponent's defense instantly crumbles, making victory imminent to the one who employed the deflection.
See also
* Overloading * Sacrifice
External links
* 101 Chess Tips - Deflection - Relates deflection to an overworked piece * Chess Guru - Learn how to use deflection in chess - A tutorial in the use of deflection to win games * Chess Corner - Deflection - Shows several chess problems involving deflection
Where this page comes from
The text above is adapted from
“Deflection (chess)” on Wikipedia,
by its contributors. We removed reference markers, infoboxes, templates and embedded
media, and kept the prose sections otherwise intact — 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.
ChessPuzzlePrint