A-K | Back to Terms

L

Luft: After castling, a player can avoid a back-rank mate by moving one of the pawns standing in front of his/her King. This process is known as making luft (German for 'air': the process gives the King breathing space).

M

Man: A Pawn or piece.
Mate: See Checkmate
Material: This refers to the numbers of chess men on the board and their relative values: Pawn=1; Knight=3; Bishop=3; Rook=5; Queen=9. The King has no value, as the game is lost when it is checkmated.
Middlegame: The phase of the game between the opening and the endgame. In this phase, the pieces are usually developed, and the player's objective depends on their strategy.
Minor piece: A Bishop or Knight.

N

Notation: A type of code in which chess games are written down. There are several forms of notation, although the most used is algebraic notation.

O

Open file: A file with no pawns on it. Opening: 1. The first phase of the game, in which the players aim to develop their pieces and build up the center.
2. A well-known series of moves intended to be played in the opening phase of the game e.g. the Ruy Lopez or Queen's Gambit.

P

Passed pawn: A pawn that cannot be prevented from promoting by another pawn on the same file, or on an adjacent file.
Pawn: The least powerful man. It can usually only move one space forwards, and capture one space diagonally, although there are conditions under which Pawns can move in different ways; for more information, see the 'How to play Chess' guide.
Pawn Island:An isolated group of pawns, or a single isolated pawn.
Perpetual Check: A threefold repetition situation in which a King is constantly checked.
Pin: A type of tactic, whereby a pawn or piece is unable to move without putting a more valuable piece on the same file/rank/diagonal under threat; the less valuable man is said to be pinned to the more valuable one.
Problem: A theoretical chess position which requires one to analyse the position and 'play' as one side (often, but not always, White) and achieve a certain goal (e.g. "mate in two") as stipulated.
Promotion: When a Pawn reaches the opposite edge of the board, it promotes to any piece other than a King (usually to a Queen).

Q

Queen: A chess piece which moves any number of spaces in any direction - for more details, see my 'How to play chess' guide.
Queening: The promotion of a Pawn to a Queen when it reaches the opponent's end of the board.
Queenside: The a- to d-files.
Queenside castling: Castling on the queenside. This is represented in algebraic notation my the symbol O-O-O.

R

Rating: A system used to compare the performance levels of different players: the higher the rating, the better the player's performance. One popular system is the Elo rating system, in which an average club player may have a rating of about 1500-1600, a master a rating of over 2200, and a World Champion around 2800.
Resignation: A player in a losing position can resign a game, accepting defeat without waiting for checkmate to occur. One way in which a player may indicate resignation is by deliberately knocking over his/her King.
Rook: A chess piece that is able to move any number of spaces horizontally or vertically - for more details, see the 'How to play chess' guide.

S

Skewer: A situation in which a threatened pawn piece is forced to move away from a position, so that one behind it of less or equal value is captured.
Smothered mate: A checkmate in which a King totally surrounded by its own men is checkmated by a knight.
Stalemate: A situation in which one player is unable to legally make a move; such a position results in a draw.
Stipulation: The goal which one must achive in order to solve a problem or study. Examples are "White to play and mate in two" and "Black to play and draw".
Study: See Endgame study.

T

Threefold Repetition: A situation in which the exact same position is repeated three times in a row; such a position is a draw.
Triangulation: An endgame tactic in which a King may make one move more than is necessary to reach a particular square in order to gain an advantage.

U

Underpromotion: The promotion of a pawn to a rook, bishop or knight (usually to force a quicker checkmate than would be possible with a Queen or to avoid a stalemate which would result from queening).

V

Variation: One of a number of possible lines that a game or opening can take e.g. the Alapin Variation, Dragon Variation and Najdorf variation are all variations of the Sicilian Defense.

W

Windmill: A very rare but potentially very destructive tactic which consists of a discovered check, followed by a normal check, followed by a discovered check, and so on.

X

X-ray: An X-ray occurs when a bishop, rook or Queen attacks an enemy piece or square, despite the fact that a third piece (which will later have to move away, revealing the attack) is interposed.

Y

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Z

Zugzwang: A situation in which a player would prefer to do nothing, as any possible move is to his disadvantage, but he cannot legally do so.
Zwischenzug: A German term meaning "in-between move". This occurs when a player delays the expected move by one move, instead creating a threat which the opponent must answer, and then plays the expected move. Usually, but not always, zwischenzugs are checks.