10 defensive resources rated between 1200 and 1399, averaging 1313. Each position below is from a real game, with the solution given underneath — so you can check yourself immediately rather than guessing whether you were right.
Defensive puzzles ask for the only move that holds. Finding these matters more for your rating than finding brilliancies does: most decided games are lost by the side that had a defence and did not see it.
These are pitched at 1200-rated players. Puzzle ratings work like player ratings: a puzzle rated 1200 is one that players around 1200 solve about half the time, so if you are getting most of these you should move up a band.
Solving from a page is good for pattern recognition but not for tracking progress. The rated puzzle trainer serves puzzles matched to your own rating and adjusts as you solve, and the Mistake Trainer builds puzzles from positions you actually got wrong in your own games.
Kxc4 Kxa2 d5
Rb4+ Kf3 Rxg4 Kxg4 a5
c1=Q Re2+ Kf6 Rf2+ Kxg6
Rg8+ Kf6 Rxg5 Kxg5 a4
Kb2 Rxe3 cxd5 exd5 Qxd5+
Rc1 Qa8+ Kh7 Qe4+ Qxe4
Kxg5 Ke4 Kg4 Ke3 Kg3
Qxh1+ Kg6 Qxh6+ Kxh6 d4
fxg6+ Kf8 Kh7
Rd8+ Rf8 e7 Rc1+ Kh2
Train defensive move puzzles at your rating →
Defensive puzzles ask for the only move that holds. Finding these matters more for your rating than finding brilliancies does: most decided games are lost by the side that had a defence and did not see it.
Puzzle ratings work like player ratings. A puzzle rated 1200 is one that players rated around 1200 solve roughly half the time. The puzzles on this page average 1313, so they suit 1200-rated players.
Yes. Every puzzle on this page, including its solution, is free to view with no account. The rated trainer that tracks your progress and serves puzzles matched to your rating is part of Chess Ramp Premium.