Author Topic: Chess Glossary  (Read 86 times)

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Offline Shane

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Chess Glossary
« on: November 17, 2013, 08:15:13 am »
Um. This is needed, isn't it? So why not?


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  • Back Rank Mate - A method of delivering checkmate by moving either a rook or a queen to the opponent's first rank, with the enemy king trapped behind a line of pawns.
  • Backward Pawn - A pawn without any allied pawns on adjacent files either behind or alongside it.
  • Bad / Good Bishop - Bad bishops are bishops that are hemmed in by the player's own pawns. Good bishops have high mobility, mainly because the pawns of that player are on squares of a color opposite to that of the bishop.
  • Battery - The alignment of two allied pieces that share a movement direction (two rooks, a rook and a queen, or a bishop and a queen) such that the front piece will be defended by the rear piece after the front piece moves.  Batteries can involve other combinations, if one promotes to a bishop or a rook or a second queen.  A battery formed with two rooks and a queen is a special case known as Alekhine's Gun.
  • Blunder - A mistake.
  • Development - A measure of a player's deployment of his/her pieces from their initial positions to more useful squares.
  • Discovered Attack - A move that exposes an enemy piece to attack by an allied piece other than the one moving.
  • Doubled Pawns - Two allied pawns on the same file.
  • Draw - A tie, which can happen as a result of mutual agreement, threefold repetition, stalemate, or playing fifty moves without either player moving a pawn or capturing a piece.  Worth half a point to each player.
  • Dubious Move - A good move chosen when a much better move was available.
  • En Prise - Describes a piece--protected or otherwise--exposed to a material-winning attack.
  • Endgame - The third and final part of the game, in which most of the pieces have been captured and the outcome of the game is more easily foreseen than in the middlegame.
  • File -  A vertical column relative to the initial positions of Black and White, designated by lower-case letters starting with a at White's leftmost file.
  • Forced - Describes a move made because it was the only move available.
  • Fork - The act of attacking two or more pieces with one piece, simultaneously.
  • Gambit - The act of sacrificing a piece in the opening in order to gain time or space in the center.
  • Hanging - The act--either intentional or unintentional--of leaving a piece under attack and completely unprotected.
  • Isolated Pawn - A pawn without any allied pawns in either adjacent file.
  • Long Diagonal - One of the longest continuous diagonals on the board.  On a standard eight-by-eight board, there are two: a1-h8 and a8-h1.
  • Lost Game - A position where the moving player will eventually lose given correct play.
  • Mate in X - A position where a player can force checkmate in X or fewer moves.
  • Material - A measure of the strength of a player's army, in terms of the quantity and relative value of each piece left on the board.  Roughly, on a standard eight-by-eight board, bishops and knights are worth three pawns apiece, rooks are worth five pawns apiece, queens are worth nine pawns apiece, and (in variants that allow the king to be captured) kings are worth four pawns apiece.
  • Middlegame - The second stage of the game, at which point most of each player's pieces should have left their original positions and both players have generally castled.
  • Passed Pawn - A pawn for which there are no enemy pawns ahead or alongside in either or the adjacent files or the pawn's own file.
  • Open File - A file devoid of pawns.
  • Opening - The first stage of the game, in which the objective is to develop one's pieces to better squares.
  • Pin - The alignment of three pieces--two of one color and one of the other color--such that the middle piece cannot move (or cannot move off of a particular line, if it is a partial pin) without exposing a more valuable piece to attack by the third piece.
  • Rank - A horizontal row relative to the initial positions of Black and White, designated either by absolute numbers starting from 1 at White's king's rank, or ordinal numbers starting from each player's king's initial rank.
  • Resignation - The refusal to make any more moves, resulting in a loss.
  • Sacrifice - The conscious and voluntary offering of a material loss.  Often abbreviated to "sac".
  • Skewer - The alignment of three pieces--two of one color and one of the other color--such that the middle piece must move and expose a less valuable piece behind it to attack by the third piece.
  • Sham Sacrifice - A trap in which what appears to be a sacrifice actually leads to forced material gain for the sacrificing player.
  • Stalemate - A condition where the moving player is not in check but has no legal moves available.  It results in a draw.
  • Swindle - A trap that--if sprung--turns a lost game into an eventual draw or a won game, or turns an eventual draw into a won game.
  • Tempo - The concept of time gained or lost, as a result of a player being forced to take two or more turns for a move that could have been played in one turn, or being forced to play a move of little use.
  • Trap - A position in which one or more appealing moves actually result in a weaker position for the moving player.
  • Undermining - The act of making a piece vulnerable by capturing one of its protectors.
  • Won Game - A position where the moving player can eventually force a win given correct play.
« Last Edit: November 24, 2013, 04:12:13 pm by Shane »
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Offline Dr. Egregious

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Re: Chess Glossary
« Reply #1 on: November 20, 2013, 01:35:07 am »
If any of these definitions are unclear, I can demonstrate using a link to an analysis board.

Offline Shane

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Re: Chess Glossary
« Reply #2 on: November 20, 2013, 01:26:48 pm »
I think I tend to leave my pieces hanging a lot :))
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