Chess Terms Glossary: 74 Words Every Player Should Know

Chess has its own vocabulary, borrowed from English, German, French and Italian. Here are the terms you will meet most in books, commentary and online, in alphabetical order.

A-C

• Algebraic notation - the standard way to write moves, such as Nf3 or exd5. Full guide.
• Armageddon - a tiebreak game where White has more time but Black wins with a draw.
• Attack - threatening to capture a piece, or building pressure against the king.
• Back rank - a player's first rank (1st for White, 8th for Black). A king trapped there by its own pawns can suffer a back-rank mate. Practise it.
• Backward pawn - a pawn that has fallen behind its neighbours and cannot be protected by them.
• Bad bishop - a bishop hemmed in by its own pawns on its colour.
• Bishop pair - having both bishops when the opponent does not; usually an advantage.
• Blitz - a fast game, 10 minutes or less per player. Time controls.
• Blunder - a very bad move, marked ??.
• Candidate moves - the few moves worth calculating in a position.
• Castling - moving the king two squares towards a rook, which jumps over it. Special moves.
• Centre - the squares d4, e4, d5 and e5.
• Check - an attack on the king. It must be answered at once.
• Checkmate - check with no way out. The game is over.
• Closed position - a position with locked pawn chains and few open lines.
• Combination - a forcing sequence, often with a sacrifice, that wins something.
• Connected rooks - two rooks that defend each other, with nothing between them.

D-F

• Decoy - luring an enemy piece onto a bad square, usually with a sacrifice.
• Deflection - forcing a defender away from what it protects.
• Development - bringing pieces from their starting squares into play.
• Discovered attack - moving one piece to uncover an attack by another. Tactics guide.
• Double check - check from two pieces at once; the king must move.
• Doubled pawns - two pawns of the same colour on the same file.
• Draw - a game with no winner. Every way it happens.
• En passant - a pawn capturing a pawn that has just moved two squares past it.
• En prise - a piece that can be captured for free ("hanging").
• Endgame - the last stage of the game, with few pieces left. Essential endgames.
• Exchange - a trade of pieces; also, specifically, a rook for a minor piece ("winning the exchange"). Piece values.
• FEN - a one-line text description of a position.
• Fianchetto - developing a bishop on b2, g2, b7 or g7, behind a pawn moved one square.
• File - a column of the board, a to h.
• Fork - one piece attacking two or more at once. Practise forks.

G-M

• Gambit - an opening that sacrifices material, usually a pawn, for time or attack.
• GM (Grandmaster) - the highest title in chess, awarded by FIDE for life. Ratings and titles.
• Hanging piece - an undefended piece that can be taken. Practise.
• Increment - seconds added to the clock after each move.
• Initiative - the ability to make threats that the opponent must answer.
• Isolated pawn - a pawn with no friendly pawns on the files beside it ("isolani").
• J'adoube - "I adjust": said before straightening a piece, so touch-move does not apply.
• Kingside - the e-to-h half of the board, where the kings castle short.
• Luft - "air" in German: a pawn move that gives the king an escape square.
• Major pieces - queens and rooks.
• Mate in N - a forced checkmate in N moves. Mate in 2 puzzles.
• Middlegame - the stage after the opening, with most pieces still on the board.
• Minor pieces - bishops and knights.

N-P

• Norm - an exceptional tournament result needed (with a rating) for a GM or IM title.
• Open file - a file with no pawns on it, ideal for rooks.
• Opening - the first stage of the game, when pieces are developed. Opening principles.
• Opposition - kings facing each other with one square between; the side not to move "has the opposition".
• Outpost - a square in enemy territory that no enemy pawn can attack.
• Overloading - giving a defending piece more jobs than it can do.
• Passed pawn - a pawn with no enemy pawns in front of it or on the files beside it.
• Perpetual check - an endless series of checks, ending in a draw.
• PGN - the standard file format for recording games.
• Pin - an attack on a piece that cannot move without exposing a more valuable one behind it. Practise.
• Promotion - a pawn reaching the last rank and becoming another piece.
• Prophylaxis - a move that stops the opponent's plan before it starts.

Q-S

• Queenside - the a-to-d half of the board.
• Quiet move - a strong move that is not a check, capture or direct threat. Quiet move puzzles.
• Rank - a row of the board, 1 to 8.
• Rapid - a game of more than 10 and less than 60 minutes per player.
• Resign - to give up the game.
• Sacrifice - giving up material on purpose for an advantage. Practise.
• Skewer - an attack on a valuable piece that, when it moves, exposes a piece behind it.
• Smothered mate - a knight mate against a king surrounded by its own pieces. Practise.
• Stalemate - no legal move and not in check; a draw.

T-Z

• Tempo - a unit of time: one move. "Gaining a tempo" means making a useful move with a threat.
• Threefold repetition - the same position three times; a draw can be claimed.
• Touch move - the rule that a deliberately touched piece must be moved.
• Underpromotion - promoting to a rook, bishop or knight instead of a queen. Practise.
• Weak square - a square that can no longer be defended by a pawn.
• Windmill - a series of discovered checks that wins material move after move.
• Zugzwang - a position where any move makes things worse, so being forced to move is a disadvantage.
• Zwischenzug - an "in-between move": an unexpected move played before the obvious reply.

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