Daily Chess Puzzle
Daily Chess Puzzle is one chess position a day with a single clear capture to find. Same position all day, worked out on your device. Free, no account.
Daily Chess Puzzle is a position with one piece that can take another. Find the capture.
about 10.7 KB
Works offline after the first visit. No install, no sign-up.
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How to play Daily Chess Puzzle
One capture, one answer
Each day's position has a white piece that can take a black piece, and tapping that black piece is the whole task. It is a single clear move rather than a sequence to calculate, so the answer is never a matter of opinion.
The piece tells you how it moves
The name of the piece is given, and it moves the way that piece always moves: the rook along ranks and files, the bishop on diagonals, the queen either, the knight in its two-and-one jump. Whatever you already know about chess applies unchanged.
The position is built from the date
Which piece, where it stands and where it can capture are all decided by today's date, so the same position is there all day and a different one tomorrow. No server decides anything.
Deliberately not a whole game
This is a puzzle, not an opponent. There is no engine to play against and no rule set for castling, promotion or en passant, because none of those arise in a position with two pieces on it. Leaving them out keeps the page small and the task clear.
You are told when you are wrong, and not why
Tapping the wrong piece marks it and moves on. Looking at the board again is the puzzle — the page will not tell you which piece you should have considered.
Daily Chess Puzzle Tips and Strategy
Read the piece name first
The page names the piece and gives the square it stands on, so part of the work is done before you look at the board. A rook works along ranks and files, a bishop on diagonals, a queen on both, and a knight in its two-and-one jump.
Count files and ranks
Turn the two square names into a file distance and a rank distance. One of them zero points to a rook or queen, equal non-zero distances to a bishop or queen, and one distance of two with the other of one to a knight.
Nothing blocks the way
Only the white piece and its target are on the board, so every square in range is a legal capture and there is no blocking to check. Work outward from the named square along the lines that piece can use and stop at the first black piece you meet.
Daily Chess Puzzle — Frequently Asked Questions
I do not play chess. Can I still do this?
Yes. Everything you need is on the page: the piece is named, and how it moves is how that piece always moves. Nothing about the rest of the game comes into it.
Is there an engine to play against?
No. This is a single position with one capture to find. Playing a full game needs an opponent and a complete rule set, and that is a different thing entirely.
Why only two pieces on the board?
Because the task is to see one capture clearly. A crowded board would make it a calculation exercise rather than a matter of spotting the move.
Why is it the same position when I reload?
It is worked out from today's date rather than drawn at random, and there is no server involved.
Does it need installing or an account?
No. It works offline and nothing leaves your device.
Daily Chess Puzzle — Past Puzzles and Your Record
Positions are dated, not stored
The piece, its square and the square it takes are all worked out from the date, so a past date reproduces the same position. There is no server list that could expire or be revised.
The record lives here
A finished position is one local entry naming this puzzle and the date, kept on this device and sent nowhere. Clear site data or open the page on another device and the strip starts out empty.
Blank means not finished
The date cells cover the last seven days only, so gaps there are ordinary. The generator never reads your record while building a position, which is why today behaves the same whether or not you finished yesterday.