How to play

Chess puzzles for your morning coffee. Find the best move.

The puzzles

Each puzzle comes from a real game. Your opponent has just made a mistake; find the move that punishes it.
Some puzzles are one move. Longer ones go back and forth: you move, your opponent replies, and you keep going.
Any checkmate counts, even one the puzzle didn't expect.
Wrong moves spill a cup. You have 3.

1Your opponent just played Qa5, highlighted. You're White, at the bottom of the board, and it's your move.

2Tap a piece to see where it can go, then tap a square. You can also drag it there.

3Re8 is the move: checkmate! The king is walled in by its own pawns.

4A wrong move spills a cup, and you try again. Spill all 3 and the puzzle's over, but you can see the answer.

From a quick Espresso to a slow Cold Brew. In the app, tap ? in any puzzle for a walkthrough.

When you share a result, each of your moves in the puzzle becomes a tile. It never gives the answer away.

Green: right first time.

Yellow: right, after a spill.

Gray: missed, out of cups.

Blank: not reached.

Five new puzzles at midnight, one of each strength. Everyone gets the same ones.
Win the daily puzzle on back-to-back days to build a streak.
Practice with random puzzles: 3 free games a day, unlimited with CoffeeChess+.

Hints: show the piece to move or the square it goes to, 3 of each per game. Free players get hints in one game a day; CoffeeChess+ has them in every game.
Earn XP for every game to level up and unlock badges, confetti and app icons.
Share your result without spoiling the puzzle.

You play the side at the bottom of the board. Your opponent has just moved.
Tap a piece to see where it can go, then tap a square. You can also drag.
A wrong move spills a cup. Spill 3 and the puzzle's over, but you'll see the answer.

Mate in one. A quick shot to start the day.

1Black's queen just left the back rank. Re8 is checkmate: the king can't escape past its own pawns.

Mate in two. Short and strong.

1Rb7 walls off the 7th rank. The king can only shuffle along the back rank, and whatever Black plays next…

2…Ra8 is checkmate. Longer puzzles go back and forth: you move, your opponent replies, and you keep going.

A smooth tactic that wins material.

1Nc7+ forks the king and the rook. The king has to move, and then the knight is free to take the rook.

2Nxa8 wins a whole rook. A Latte is done once the material is yours; it doesn't have to end in mate.

A richer puzzle, two or three moves deep.

1Black's queen just moved to h7, on the same line as its king. Look for a check that uses that.

2Ra7+ is a skewer. The king has to step off the 7th rank, and then the rook takes the queen behind it.

Slow and strong. Take your time.

The hardest puzzle of the day, three to five moves long. Calculate before you move.

1This one's four moves deep. Nf7+ Kg8, then Nh6+ is a double check from the knight and the queen, so the king has to go back to h8.

2Now the surprise: Qg8+! The king can't take, because the knight guards g8, so the rook has to.

3Nf7 is a smothered mate: the king is boxed in by its own rook and pawns. Every move had to be the best one.

Puzzles from the Lichess puzzle database (CC0).