More Chess Terms
There are many terms that are related directly to the game of Chess and below is a short list containing several
of these chess related terms.
Middlegame - The second phase of the game. Most of the action is taking place in the middlegame.
Opening - the first 10-15 moves of the game. It is the first phase of the game.
Opposition - In an endgame a player has the opposition if his King is placed opposite to the enemy King in the same file, rank (or diagonal, in the case of the
diagonal opposition) with 1, 3 or 5 squares in-between. The opposition is of significance importance is certain endings.
Patzer - A player who can not improve his play, though he is playing for years. A patzer is blundering all the time.
Pawn majority - To have more pawns than the opponent has in a wing.
Pin - to make a move that prevents an enemy piece from moving, or if it does, another enemy piece behind it (lying in the same rank, file or diagonal) can be captured. The pin is an absolute pin if the second piece is the King; in this case the pinned piece can not move at all.
Plan - The result of a mental process concerning how one should proceed in a position. It consists of moves sequences, intended piece locations and other observations. A plan often uses general concepts.
Positional - Anything relevant to the pieces positioning and to how it affects the evaluation of a certain position.
Practical chess - Chess played at tournaments mainly. In practical chess a player needs not only care about the best move he can find, but also about time issues, psychology etc.
Rank - a row in the chessboard.
Sacrifice - A purposed loss of material in order to bring in (usually after a combination) a bigger advantage.
Staunton - Past World Class player. A particular set of pieces is named after him.
Simplification - One or more exchanges lead to simplification of the position.
Stalemate - A player is stalemated if he has no valid moves at his disposal, but he also is not in check. The game is drawn in this case.
Strategy - The methods one player is using in order to accomplish a plan. Must be based on the strategic factors that are present.
Tactics - When several captures, threats, pawn thrusts etc. may take place, a position is said to have tactical possibilities. To play correctly, the players need to examine the tactics (calculate or count the variations).
Tempo - The time to play a move. To win a tempo means to proceed in such a way, that it is as if one was making two moves instead of one. This may happen, for example, when threatening the enemy Queen, whilst proceeding in development; the opponent will have to move the Queen and delay his own development by one tempo.
Threat - A move that practically forces the opponent to defend against, or he will lose something.
Time-trouble - The situation where a player must make a number of moves in a short time.
Trap - A move that is trying to induce a mistake.
Variation - A possible sequence of moves that arises from a position.
Waiting move - A move that leads to zugzwang.
Wing, Side - The board can be divided into two halves - the queens wing or queenside (including files a-d) and the kings wing or kingside (including files e-h).
Zugzwang - A move that leads to defeat and is such that, if one could avoid making (say if he could pass), he would not lose.