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Alekhine Defense chess puzzles

Alekhine Defense chess puzzles let you punish the early knight chase and the Four Pawns overreach in positions taken from real games. Set your rating on the slider above and start solving.

Want the ideas behind these positions? Read the Alekhine Defense theory guide.

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Chess notation cheat-sheet (for new readers)

Pieces: K king · Q queen · R rook · B bishop · N knight · (a pawn move has no letter)

Actions: x takes · + check · # mate · O-O short castles · O-O-O long castles · e8=Q pawn promotes to queen

Annotations: ! good move · !! brilliant · ? mistake · ?? blunder

Spotting the f7 strike: Bxf7 and Ng5+ tricks in Alekhine Defense chess puzzles

The bishop on c4 staring at f7 is the trap that catches the most points in this opening. A standard sequence runs 2.e5 Nd5 3.Nf3 d6 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bxf7+ (the bishop captures the f7 pawn with check) Kxf7 (the king is forced to recapture) 6.Ng5+ (a knight jumps to g5 and gives check), and that knight check forks back to win the loose g4-bishop or strip the king bare. The same pattern hides in a Scandinavian move order: 2.Nc3 d5 3.exd5 Nxd5 4.Bc4 Nb6 5.Bb3 Nc6 6.Nf3 Bg4 7.Bxf7+ Kxf7 8.Ng5+.

What you are drilling is the trigger, not the moves. Ask whether the black king still sits on e8, whether f7 is defended only by that king, and whether a knight can reach g5 with tempo. When all three line up, the sacrifice usually scores. These positions train you to check those three boxes before you spend a piece.

Punishing the overextended center: e5 and d4 pawn tactics

Black plays this opening to invite White's pawns forward and then knock them down. The e5 and d4 pawns look imposing, but they need constant defense, and that is where the tactics live. After Black plays ...c5 (a pawn push to c5 challenging the d4 pawn) and ...dxe5 (the d-pawn captures on e5), an overworked defender of d4 or a pinned knight on f3 turns a broad center into a pile of weak squares.

One recurring shot comes from the 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 d4 4.Nce2 line (the c3-knight retreats to e2 to dodge the d-pawn), where the d4 pawn cramps White but can also become a target, and the e2-knight sits offside long enough to get hit. I spend most of my own training time here, because reading whether the center is strong or merely big is the skill that decides the middlegame. Solve enough of these and the difference stops being a judgment call and starts being a count of attackers and defenders.

Alekhine Defense chess puzzles: where the Four Pawns and Chase walls crack

Two named lines flood the board with pawns, and both leave a recapture missing once Black breaks. The Four Pawns Attack stacks pawns on e5, d4, c4, and f4; in the puzzles you meet the position right after Black plays ...dxe5 (the d-pawn takes on e5) or ...c5, and the job is to find the pawn that has no neighbor left to take back. The Chase Variation hunts the b6-knight with 4.c5 (a pawn push to c5 attacking the knight); here you are watching for the moment the c5-pawn or the Bg5, Qb3, Bc4 battery (bishop on g5, queen on b3, bishop on c4, all aimed at the kingside) overreaches at f7, which is the cue to strike rather than retreat.

A third trigger is the trapped dark-squared bishop after ...Bb4 (the dark-squared bishop pins from b4), a3, ...Ba5 with b4 coming, so scan that bishop's escape squares before you trade. Every position is computer-verified from real games, filtered to the Alekhine and tuned so most solvers land near three in four. For the move-by-move explanation behind each line, read the Alekhine Defense theory guide.

FAQs

What kinds of Alekhine Defense positions will I drill here?
You drill the motifs that keep recurring after 1.e4 Nf6 (white pushes the king pawn, black answers with the king knight to f6): the f7 strikes with Bxf7 and Ng5+, the center breaks against an overextended e5 and d4, and the named traps in the Four Pawns Attack and Chase Variation. The rating slider runs from about 400 to 2400, so the same motif shows up at a level that fits you. For the move order and ideas behind the opening, see the Alekhine Defense theory guide.
What are the most common traps in the Alekhine Defense?
The Bxf7+ then Ng5+ shot (a bishop sacrifice on f7 followed by a knight check from g5) against an early ...Bg4, the Bg5, Qb3, Bc4 battery hitting f7 in the Chase lines, the offside knight after 2.Nc3 d5 3.e5 d4 4.Nce2, and the trapped dark-squared bishop after ...Bb4, a3, ...Ba5. These puzzles pull all four from real games so you learn the trigger, not a memorized line.
What should I look for in the Four Pawns Attack puzzles?
It stacks pawns on e5, d4, c4, and f4 after 3.d4 d6 4.c4 Nb6 5.f4 (white builds the four-pawn wall while the black knight steps back to b6). In these puzzles you get the position right after ...dxe5 or ...c5, with the job of finding the pawn that can no longer be recaptured once a neighbor is gone. That counting habit is what the Four Pawns puzzles build.
What rating range are these Alekhine Defense puzzles for?
The slider spans roughly 400 to 2400, so beginners and tournament players both find positions that fit. Difficulty is tuned so most people solve about 75 to 80 percent at their chosen level.
Are these Alekhine Defense puzzles from real games?
Yes. Every position is computer-verified and pulled from real games, filtered down to games that actually reached the Alekhine. Three free hints are available per puzzle, the motif first, the piece second, the move third.