L-Z | Back to Terms

A

a-pawn: A player's forwardmost pawn on the a-file. Those on other files are referred to as the b-pawn, c-pawn etc.
Alekhine's gun: A Queen behind doubled rooks. Algebraic Notation: A form of notation whereby the first letter of the moving piece, and then the square to which it moves, is written down - see my Algebraic Notation guide for further details.
Artificial castling: If a player loses the right to castle, he/she may "castle artificially" using several normal moves e.g. 1. Kf2, followed by 2. Rf1 and 3. Kg1.

B

Back-rank mate: A checkmate in which a rook or Queen checkmates a King stuck on the back rank, unable to move away because he has three pawns immediately in front of him.
Bishop: in chess, the Bishop is a piece that can move any number of squares diagonally, but not horizontally or vertically.
Blunder: A terrible move; in algebraic notation, two question marks are used to indicate a blunder. Board: the checked surface on which the game is played - it consists of 64 squares (8x8).

C

Castle: See Rook.
Castling: A once-a-game move in which the King and Rook move simultaneously - for details see the "How to play Chess" guide.
Center: The central area of the board. Many players believe in creating a strong pawn structure in the center.
Chaturanga: An ancient precursor of chess, thought to have originated in India around the 7th century AD.
Check: The situation whereby a King is threatened with capture on the next move. The checked player must move out of check.
Checkmate: A Check situation which cannot be resolved - this results in a win for the checkmating player
Chess: The strategy game that this site is about - the objective is to checkmate the enemy King using certain types of pieces that move in certain ways.
Chess clock: A clock used to time some chess games, especially in competitions. It can be either analogue or digital, and it typically has two faces, so each opponent's remaining time can be timed separately. Once a player has made their move, a player can push a button on the clock, stopping their own clock and starting their opponent's.
Chess notation: See Algebraic Notation.
Classical: A school of chess thought which advocates the creation of a full pawn centre. See also Hypermodern.

D

Desperado piece: A piece which constantly attempts to sacrifice itself, either to bring about stalemate or to cause damage to the opponent's position.
Diagonal: A straight, diagonal line of squares (e.g. from a1 to h8), along which Bishops and Queens are able to move. All squares in a particular diagonal are the same colour.
Discovered attack: An attack that results when a man moves and, in doing so, exposes an opponent's man to attack from a Queen, bishop or rook.
Discovered check: A discovered attack in which the target piece is the enemy King.
Double attack: A discovered attack in which the moving man also targets an enemy man.
Double check: A discovered check in which the moving piece also gives check. This forces the king to move.
Doubling: 1. When two pieces use the same line of attack (e.g. rooks on e1 and e2 are said to be doubled, as both are using the e-file).
2. When two pawns share the same file, they are said to be doubled. Such pawns are often seen as weak, although in some situations they can be useful.

E

Endgame study: A theoretical endgame situation (as opposed to one from an actual game), which is often similar to a problem in that it requires one to analyse the situation to 'paly' as one side (usually White), and obtain either a winning or drawing position, depending on the stipulation. Ending/Endgame: The final phase of the game, in which few men remain on the board. The players often aim to queen a passed pawn, or to achieve a checkmate. It is in this phase that the King is able to competitively join the game, sometimes to escort a passed Pawn.
En passant: The capture of a pawn that has just moved two squares forward (as if it had only moved one) - see the 'How to play Chess' guide for more details.
En prise: A piece which is threatened with capture, but not protected; as a result, the opponent often captures such a piece for nothing unless it is protected/moved immediately.

F

Fifty Moves Rule: The game is drawn if 50 moves are made by each player without a capture or a pawn move.
Files: The vertical columns of squares, lettered a to h.
Flanks: The areas towards the vertical edges of the board.
Fork: A situation in which one pawn or piece simultaneously threatens two or more others.

G

Gambit: An opening sacrifice in material (usually a pawn) which a player makes to gain a positional advantage, such as a lead in development. Two examples are the King's Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.f4, and the Queen's Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4.

H

Half-open file: A file with only one colour of pawn on it.
Helpmate: A type of mating problem in which, rather than trying to avoid mate, the defending side co-operates with the attacking side in order to achieve mate as soon as possible. Hole: A weakness in the opponent's defences.
Hypermodern: A school of thought which became popular in the 1920s. Hypermoderns argue that placing a pawn in the centre makes it a target, and instead concentrate their development around the flanks, in order to control the centre from a distance. See also Classical.

I

Insufficient material: The game is drawn if the material on the board is insufficient to obtain a checkmate e.g. King and Bishop vs. King.
Intermezzo: See Zwischenzug.
Isolated pawn: A pawn which cannot be defended by another pawn.

J

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K

Key: The first move of the solution to a problem. King: A chess piece that can move one space in any direction - it must NOT be captured; to win the game, checkmate it.
Kingside: The e- to h-files.
Kingside castling: Pretty self-explanatory: castling on the kingside. This is represented in algebraic notation my the symbol O-O.
Knight: A chess piece which moves 2 spaces like a Rook, then one to the left or right of that move (i.e. in an 'L'-shape - see the How to play Chess guide for more details).
Kriegspiel: A chess variant in which each player can only see his/her own pieces. It requires three boards: one for each player (with their own pieces on), and a third for a referee (with both sets of pieces on), whose functions include informing the players when a capture has taken place.