Chess Vocabulary

Closed game

1. A position with few open lines (files or diagonals), generally characterized by interlocking pawn chains, cramped positions with few opportunities to exchange, and extensive maneuvering behind lines. Such a position may later become an Open game. 2. A chess opening that begins with the moves 1.d4 d5.

Bad bishop

A bishop which is hemmed in by the player's own pawns. Note: it is usually of less value, yet there are times that a bad bishop can be a powerful tool.

Bullet chess

A bullet chess game is a game of chess played with very little time on the clock for either player. "Bullet" is defined as anything less than 3 minutes, without time increment (see "increment") for either player. [See also "lightning chess"]

Bye

A bye is something a player requests during a tournament when her/she is unable to play the game that round. A bye must be requested from the Arbiter/Tournament Director (see either "arbiter" or "tournament director") well before the start of the round. Example: "Michael requested a bye for round 2 of the four round chess tournament so that he could go and play his soccer game". The player is usually allowed a half (1/2) point for the round. Also a bye is given to the odd player in a tournament when they cannot be paired. They get a whole point for this yet can be paired with another house player or a player who has a bye in a different section.

Capped piece

A certain piece with which one player tries to deliver checkmate. When the capped piece is a pawn, it is called a pion coiffé (French for capped pawn). Playing with a capped piece is a handicap in chess.

Back-rank mate

A checkmate delivered by a rook or queen along a back rank in which the mated king is unable to move up the board because the king is blocked by friendly pieces (usually pawns) on the second rank. This is also sometimes referred to as a back-row mate.

Bughouse chess

A chess variant played by four players on two adjacent boards. There are two teams of two players - when a player captures a piece he gives it to his partner, who can at any time place the piece on his board rather than moving a piece. This is usually done with blitz time controls (5-minutes).

Bughouse chess

A chess variant played with teams of two or more.

Combination

A clever sequence of moves, often involving a sacrifice, to gain the advantage. The moves of the other player are usually forced, i.e. a combination does not give the opponent too many possible lines of continuation.

Blitz chess

A fast form of chess (Blitz being German for lightning) with a very short time limit, usually 3 or 5 minutes per player for the entire game. With the advent of electronic chess clocks, it is often the case that the time remaining is incremented by 1 or 2 seconds per move.

Closed file

A file on which black and white both have a pawn.

Alekhine's gun

A formation in which a queen backs up two rooks on the same file.

Cheapo

A fun term used to describe a move that is playing for a trick that your opponent is likely to see. This type of tactic (see "tactic") is NOT forced, nor is it usually a logical plan. If your opponent misses this "easy to find and therefore cheap" tactic, then he/she has "fallen for a cheapo"! Playing a cheapo is sometimes called playing "hope chess", because you are hoping your opponent will "fall for it"Slang for a primitive trap, often set in the hope of swindling a win or a draw from a lost position.

Countergambit

A gambit offered by Black, in response to White's offer of a pawn. For example the Greco Counter Gambit, usually called the Latvian Gambit today (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 f5?!) . Many lines of the Two Knights Defense (e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Ng5 and now 4...Bc5!? (the Wilkes-Barre Variation or Traxler Counter-Attack), 4...Nxe4?!, 4...d5 5.exd5 Na5 6.Bb5+ c6 (the main line), 4...d5 5.exd5 Nd4 (the Fritz Variation), and 4...d5 5.exd5 b5 (the Ulvestad Variation).

Classical game

A game played at a long time control in contrast to rapid, blitz or bullet chess.

Armageddon

A game which White must win to win the match, but which Black only needs to draw to win the match. White has more time than Black: the discrepancy can vary, but in FIDE World Championships, White has six minutes, while Black only has five. Typically used in playoff tie-breakers where shorter blitz games have not resolved the tie.

Antipositional

A move or a plan that is not in accordance with the principles of positional play. Antipositional is used to describe moves that are part of an incorrect plan rather than a mistake made when trying to follow a correct plan. Antipositional moves are often pawn moves

Candidate move

A move that seems good upon initial observation of the position, and that warrants further analysis.

Break

A pawn advance or capture that opens a blocked position.

Bishop pawn

A pawn on the bishop's file, i.e. the c-file and f-file.

Central pawn

A pawn on the king's file or queen's file, i.e. on the d-file or e-file. The term "center pawns" can also extend to the f and c pawns as well.

Artificially Isolated

A pawn that has at least one pawn on a neighboring file, but neighboring pawns are unable to guard or be guarded easily (usually one is stuck on a rank where it cannot support).

Backward pawn

A pawn that is behind the pawns of the same color on the adjacent files and that cannot be advanced with the support of another pawn.

Advanced pawn

A pawn that is on the opponent's side of the board (the fifth rank or higher). An advanced pawn may be weak if it is overextended, lacking support and difficult to defend, or strong if itcramps the enemy by limiting mobility. An advanced passed pawn that threatens to promote can be especially strong.

Absolute pin

A pin against the king, called absolute because the pinned piece cannot legally move as it would expose the king to check (see relative pin).

Back rank

A player's first rank (the one on which the pieces stand in the initial array). White's back rank is Black's eighth rank, and vice versa.

Checkmate

A position in which a player's king is in check and the player has no legal move (i.e cannot move out of check). A player whose king is checkmated loses the game.

Checkmating net

A position in which mate is forced. Aka checkmating patterns or "mating nets". See mating net for better definition.

Announced mate

A practice, common in the nineteenth century, where one player would announce a sequence of moves, believed by him to constitute best play by both sides, that led to a forcedcheckmate for the announcing player in a specified number of moves (for example, "mate in five").

Brilliancy prize

A prize awarded at some tournaments for the best brilliancy played in the tournament.

Automaton

A self-operating chess-playing machine. Popular attractions in the 18th and 19th centuries, most of these devices were hoaxes under the control of a human player. The most famous chess-playing automaton was The Turk.

Back-rank weakness

A situation in which a player is under threat of a back-rank mate and having no time/option to create an escape for the king must constantly watch and defend against that threat, e.g. keeping a rook on the back rank.

Bishops on opposite colors

A situation in which one side has only its light-squared bishop remaining while the other has only its dark-squared bishop remaining. In endgames, this often results in a draw if there are no other pieces (only pawns), even if one side has one or two pawns extra, since the bishops control different squares (see opposite-colored bishops endgame). In the middlegame, however, the presence of opposite-colored bishops imbalances the game and can lead to mating attacks, since each bishop attacks squares that cannot be covered by the other.

Castling into it

A situation where one side castles in such a way that the king is in more danger at the destination than on the initial square, either immediately or because lines and diagonals can be more readily opened against it. Because beginners, in line with simplified traditional notions, often falsely assume castling to always improve protection of the king, pre-war grandmaster and leading figure of the hypermodern school Richard Reti therefore exhorted players to "castle because you must, not because you can".

Castling

A special move involving both the king and one rook. Its purpose is generally to protect the king and develop the rook. Castling on the kingside is sometimes called castling short and castling on the queenside is called castling long the difference is based on whether the rook moves a short distance (two squares) or a long distance (three squares).

Brilliancy

A spectacular and beautiful game of chess, generally featuring sacrificial attacks and unexpected moves. Brilliancies are not always required to feature sound play or the best moves by either side.

Blockade

A strategic placement of a minor piece directly in front of an enemy pawn, where it restrains the pawn's advance and gains shelter from attack. Blockading pieces are often overprotected.

Bind

A strong grip or stranglehold on a position that is difficult for the opponent to break. A bind is usually an advantage in space created by advanced pawns. The Maróczy Bind is a well-known example. See also Squeeze. To have a "bind" on your opponent, or to be in a bind, is another way of describing a position where a player is "tied down and struggling to find a good plan for his/her pieces". To be in a bind is generally to have less space (see "space") and/or options for your pieces.

Bronstein delay

A time control method with time delay, invented by David Bronstein. When it becomes a player's turn to move, the clock waits for the delay period before starting to subtract from the player's remaining time.

Clock move

A timed game is played clock move if a move is completed only when the clock has been pressed. It is therefore possible to touch one piece, but then decide to move another piece. This way of playing is common in casual games, in favour of touch move.

Candidates Tournament

A tournament organised by the FIDE, the third and last qualifying cycle of the World Chess Championship. The participants are the top players of the interzonal tournament plus possibly other players selected on the basis of rating or performance in the previous candidates tournament. The top ranking player(s) qualify(ies) for the world championship.

Blunder

A very bad move, an oversight (indicated by "??" in notation).

Attack

An assault, either short-term (e.g., after 1.e4 Nf6, Black is attacking White's pawn on e4) or long-term, for example in the form of a sustained mating attack against the enemy king or a minority attack against the opponent's queenside pawn structure. See defence.

Check

An attack on the king. The attacked king is said to be in check.

Counterattack

An attack that responds to an attack by the other player.

Book ending

An endgame position for which there is a known best way to play.

Book draw

An endgame position known to be a draw with perfect play. The name reflects that traditionally the analysis has been found in the chess endgame literature, but in simplified positions (currently six pieces or fewer) computer analysis in an endgame tablebase can be used.

Book win

An endgame position known to be a win with perfect play. The name reflects that traditionally the analysis has been found in the chess endgame literature, but in simplified positions (currently six pieces or fewer) computer analysis in an endgame tablebase can be used.

Compensation

An imbalanced equivalent return, for example sacrificing material for development or trading a bishop for three pawns.

Book move

An opening move found in the standard reference books on opening theory. A game is said to be "in book" when both players are playing moves found in the opening references. A game is said to be "out of book" when the players have reached the end of the variations analyzed in the opening books or if one of the players deviates with a novelty (or a blunder).

Classical

An opening system geared towards forming a full pawn center.

Anti-Sicilian

An opening variation that White uses against the Sicilian Defense (1.e4 c5) other than the most common plan of 2.Nf3 followed by 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 (the Open Sicilian). Some Anti-Sicilians include the Alapin Variation (2.c3), Moscow Variation (2.Nf3 d6 3.Bb5+), Rossolimo Variation (2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5), Grand Prix Attack (2.Nc3 Nc6 3.f4 g6 4.Nf3 Bg7 and now 5.Bc4 or 5.Bb5), Closed Sicilian (2.Nc3 followed by g3 and Bg2), Smith-Morra Gambit (2.d4 cxd4 3.c3), and Wing Gambit (2.b4).

Cook

An unintended solution of a chess problem. The term may also be used more generally to refer to a refutation to published analysis.

Attraction

If a player sacrifices minor or major pieces to expose the enemy king. For example, if the black king has castled and is on the g8-square, white may attempt to "attract" the king by using forcing moves such as Bxh7+, followed by Ng5+ etc.

Consolidate/Consolidation

In chess, the term "consolidation" refers to the process of "making your position solid or whole again". This means to "regroup" and "re-position" your pieces to better squares then they are currently occupying. Consolidation is "to consolidate" your pieces.

Bishop pair

In open positions, two bishops (on opposite colors) are considered to have an advantage over two knights or a knight and a bishop. (In closed positions knights may be more valuable than bishops.) The player with two bishops is said to have the bishop pair. Some evaluation systems count the bishop pair as being worth half of a pawn, see chess piece relative value#Alternate valuations.

Book opening

Known opening patterns that have been played thousands of times so that the beginning moves can be performed from memory. Some of these, like the Ruy Lopez, have been used over hundreds of years. Other common book openings are: Sicilian, King's Indian, Queen's Gambit, .... These are collected in a 5-volume set called the ECO (Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings)

Centralization

Moving a piece or pieces toward the center of the board. In general, pieces are best placed in or near the center of the board because they control a large number of squares and are available for play on either flank as needed. Rooks placed on the d or e files are centralized, bishops are best placed where they attack the center, not necessarily occupying it. Because of their limited mobility, knights in particular benefit from being centralized. There are several chess aphorisms referring to this principle: "A knight on the rim is dim" (or "grim" instead of "dim") and "A knight on the side cannot abide."

Counting

One of the basic tactical tenets. Involves looking at the attackers and defenders on a piece or square such as the center or back rank. May involve piece values.

Connected passed pawns

Passed pawns on adjacent files. These are considered to be unusually powerful (often worth a minor piece or rook if on the sixth rank or above and not properly blockaded) because they can advance together. Also see connected pawns.

Chess960

Played with the back rank's randomized and both sides mirrored. The only stipulations are that the bishops must be on opposite colors and there must be a rook on either side of the king. Castling is done with the same rules and the K and R land in the standard spots as regular chess. AKA Fischer Random Chess.

Artificial castling

Refers to a maneuver of several single moves by the king and a rook where they end up as if they had castled. Also known as "castling by hand".

Connected pawns

Refers to two or more pawns of the same color on adjacent files. See also isolated pawns.

Clearance

Removal of pieces from a rank, file or diagonal so that a bishop, rook or queen is free to move along it. A related term is "clearing the diagonal": removing pieces from a diagonal so that an enemy bishop, usually a fianchettoed bishop, has no targets to attack.

Capture

Remove the opponent's piece or pawn from the board by taking it with one's own piece or pawn. Except in the case of an en passant capture, the capturing piece or pawn does so by occupying the same square that the captured piece or pawn occupied.

Corresponding squares

Squares of reciprocal (or mutual) Zugzwang often found in king and pawn endgames. Also known as related squares.

Analysis

Study of a position to determine best play for both sides.

Adjournment

Suspension of a chess game with the intention to continue at a later occasion. Was once very common in high-level chess, often soon after the first time control, but the practice has been abandoned due to the advent of computer analysis. See Sealed move.

B

Symbol used for the bishop when recording chess moves in English.

Attrition

The action or process of gradually reducing the strength or effectiveness of someone or something through sustained attack or pressure. A key concept in chess. The exception being the promotion of a pawn.

Base of Pawn Chain

The base of a pawn chain is the pawn at the beginning of the chain. For example, if white has a pawn chain along the squares of f2, e3, d4, and c5 the base pawn is the f2-pawn. This pawn is considered to be the most important pawn in terms of keeping the chain together, and generally it is the hardest pawn for the enemy (in this case black) to attack. [See "pawn chain(s)"]

Black

The designation for the player who moves second, even though the corresponding pieces, referred to as "the black pieces", are sometimes actually some other (usually dark) color. Similarly, the dark-colored squares on the chessboard are often referred to as "the black squares" even though they often are not literally black. See also White, First-move advantage in chess.

Amateur

The distinction between professional and amateur is not very important in chess as amateurs may win prizes, accept appearance fees, and earn any title including World Champion. In the 19th century, "Amateur" was sometimes used in published game scores to conceal the name of the losing player in a Master vs. Amateur contest. It was thought to be impolite to use a player's name without permission, and the professional did not want to risk losing a customer. See also NN or N.N.

Centre/Center

The four squares in the middle of the board (typically the e4, d4, d5, and e5 squares). The center can be described as the literal center (the four squares mentioned before) or it can extend to the squares f4, e4, d4, c4, c5, d5, e5, and f5).

Caïssa

The goddess of chess, occasionally invoked to indicate luck or good fortune: "Caïssa was with me".

Adjucation

The process of a strong chess player deciding on the outcome of an unfinished game. This practice is now uncommon in over the board events, but does happen in online chess when one player refuses to continue after an adjournment.

Activity

The quality of a Chess position that describes mobility or freedom of movement for pieces. An active piece is more likely to have a positive influence in the outcome of a game than an inactive piece (a cramped, blocked, or undeveloped piece). Active pieces is one key quality in assessing a Chess position.

Algebraic notation

The standard way to record a chess game using alphanumeric coordinates for the squares.

Correspondence chess

This is chess played at a long time control by various forms of long-distance correspondence, usually through a correspondence chess server, through email or by the postal system. Typically, one move is transmitted in every correspondence.

Clock time

Time (consumed or remaining) on the chess clock, in a tournament game.

Adjust or j'adoube

To adjust the position of a piece on its square without being required to move it. Adjustment can only be done when it is the player's move and the adjustment is preceded by saying "I adjust" or "j'adoube".

Calculate

To carefully plan a series of moves while considering possible responses.

Cover

To protect a piece or control a square. For example, to checkmate a king on the side of the board, the five squares adjacent to the king must all be covered.

Connected rooks

Two rooks of the same color on the same rank or file with no pawns or pieces between them. Connected rooks are usually desirable. Players often connect rooks on their own first rank or along an open file. Also known as a battery or team depending on the orientation and where the other king is.

Counterplay

Active maneuvering by the player in an inferior or defensive position.

Coffeehouse

Adjective used to describe a move, player, or style of play characterized by risky, positionally dubious play that sets traps for the opponent. The name comes from the notion that one would expect to see such play in skittles games played in a coffeehouse or similar setting, particularly in games played for stakes and/or blitz chess. The Blackburne Shilling Gambitis a typical example of coffeehouse play.

Castling by hand

Because castling is considered to put your king in a very safe position on either g1 or c1, if you have lost the right to castle (by either moving your king or rook) then you may still try to "castle by hand". Castling by hand refers to the idea of trying to get your king to either g1 or h1 (or c1 and b1 on the queenside -- see "queenside"), where it is safest, and get your rooks into the center, even if you can't do it in one move like you can with regular castling.

Boden's Mate

Boden's Mate, named for Samuel Boden, is a checkmate pattern in chess in which the king, usually having castled queenside, is checkmated by two criss-crossing bishops. Immediately prior to delivering the mate, the winning side typically plays a queen sacrifice on c3 or c6 to set up the mating position.

Blindfold chess

Games played without seeing the board. A Chess player who plays one or more opponents without sight of the board.

Castling short

Castling kingside, notated 0-0.

Castling long

Castling queenside, notated 0-0-0.

Caissa or Caïssa

Caïssa = Goddess (muse) of Chess. The name is taken from a nymph in a poem composed by Sir William Jones in 1763. It is based on Vidas Scacchia ludus, in which the nymph is referred to as Scacchis.

Chaturanga

Chaturanga is one of the first and oldest forms of chess. Chaturanga was invented in India around 6th century (a long time ago), and although the rules were a little different than the game of chess we play today, Chaturanga is thought to be the ancester of chess.

Coercion

Coercion occurs when a player forces a piece to a square where it will later come under attack. This tag is designed to differentiate two situations where the attraction tag has been applied in the past. The Attraction tag is to be used where the piece is attracted to a square via a sacrifice. The Coercion tag is to be used when the piece is forced to the square without a sacrifice.

Bust

Colloquial term for a refutation of an opening, or of previously published analysis. A famous example is Bobby Fischer's 1961 article "A Bust to the King's Gambit" in which he wrote, "In my opinion, the King's Gambit is busted. It loses by force." American Chess Quarterly, Summer 1961 (Vol. 1, No. 1), at 3, 4.

Annotation

Commentary on a game using a combination of written comments, chess symbols or notation.

Control of the centre/center

Having one or more pieces that attack any of the four center squares. An important strategy, and one of the main aims of openings.

Active

Describes a piece that is able to move or control many squares. See also passive.

Breakthrough

Destruction of a seemingly strong defense, often by means of a sacrifice.

Battery

Doubling Rooks on a file or a queen and a bishop on a diagonal. Can be on a rank if the opposing king is in line. Otherwise doubled rooks or a queen and rook on the same rank is a team. Alternative definition: An arrangement of two pieces in line with the enemy king on a rank, file, or diagonal so that if the middle piece moves a discovered check will be delivered. The term is also used in cases where moving the middle piece will uncover a threat along the opened line other than a check.