10 defensive resources rated between 1400 and 1599, averaging 1467. 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 1400-rated players. Puzzle ratings work like player ratings: a puzzle rated 1400 is one that players around 1400 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.
c2 Rc1 Kc3
Rg6+ Kf3 Rxg3+ hxg3+ Kg1
g6 Rh2+ Kg5 Kb5 g7
Kf6 Ke8 Ra8+ Kd7 Rxg8
Kxg7 Kd5 Kf8
Kxd5 Kg4 Be7
g8=Q Rxg8 Rxg8+ Kb7 Rg1
Bc6 Ke7 Bxd7 Kxd7 Kf3
Kd7 Rf8 Rxc5
Bxd7 Kxd7 Kxd5 a4 Kc4
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 1400 is one that players rated around 1400 solve roughly half the time. The puzzles on this page average 1467, so they suit 1400-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.