Algebraic notation
Algebraic notation records chess moves using piece letters, destination squares, captures, and additional symbols…
Learn the term100 ESSENTIAL CHESS TERMS / A–Z
Chess Glossary: 100 Essential Terms
Learn 100 chess terms with clear definitions, practical examples, study tips, related concepts, and illustrated learning cards. Search the glossary A–Z.
100 chess terms
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Back-rank mate
Back-rank mate is a mating pattern in which a rook or queen checks along the opponent's home rank while escape…
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Backward pawn
A backward pawn lags behind neighboring friendly pawns and cannot advance safely, often becoming a target on a…
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Bishop
A bishop moves diagonally and remains on the same color of square throughout the…
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Blitz chess
Blitz chess is a fast format classified in the FIDE Laws as ten minutes or less per player when base time and…
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Bullet chess
Bullet chess is a common online label for extremely short time controls, often around one minute per player, with…
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Caro-Kann Defense
The Caro-Kann Defense begins 1.e4 c6, usually preparing d5 while retaining a different structure from the French…
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Castling
Castling is a special king-and-rook move that relocates the king two squares toward a rook and brings the rook…
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Center
The center usually means d4, e4, d5, and e5, the four central squares that influence movement across the…
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Check
Check means that a king is under attack. The player in check must make a legal move that removes the…
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Checkmate
Checkmate occurs when a king is in check and the side to move has no legal way to escape that…
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Chess engine
A chess engine is software that searches legal continuations and evaluates positions to recommend moves or compare…
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Chessboard
A chessboard is an eight-by-eight grid of 64 alternating light and dark squares on which a standard chess game is…
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Classical chess
Classical chess generally refers to slower, standard-rated chess, providing more thinking time than rapid or blitz…
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Combination
A combination is a connected sequence of tactical ideas, often involving a sacrifice, that aims at a specific…
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Compensation
Compensation is the collection of positional or tactical benefits that offset a disadvantage, often a material…
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Decoy
A decoy is a tactic that attracts an opposing piece to a particular square where a further tactic becomes…
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Deflection
Deflection is a tactic that draws a defender away from a piece, square, or line it needs to…
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Development
Development is the process of bringing pieces from their starting squares into useful, coordinated…
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Diagonal
A diagonal is a line of squares meeting corner to corner. Every square on a single diagonal has the same…
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Discovered attack
A discovered attack occurs when moving one piece opens an attack by another piece behind…
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Discovered check
Discovered check is a check delivered by a piece whose line is opened when another friendly piece moves…
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Double check
Double check means that two pieces attack the opposing king simultaneously after one…
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Doubled pawns
Doubled pawns are two friendly pawns on the same file, usually created by a…
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Draw
A draw is a tied chess result. It may arise through agreement or through specific rules such as stalemate,…
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Elo rating
An Elo rating is a numerical estimate of playing strength within a defined rating pool, updated using results…
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En passant
En passant is a special pawn capture available immediately after an opposing pawn advances two squares past a pawn…
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Endgame
An endgame is a phase with reduced material in which king activity, pawn promotion, and precise technical play…
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English Opening
The English Opening starts with 1.c4 and often aims to influence the d5 square from the…
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Evaluation
A chess evaluation is an assessment of a position, expressed verbally or numerically, considering factors such as…
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Exchange sacrifice
An exchange sacrifice gives up a rook for a bishop or knight, usually to gain activity, structure, or attacking…
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FEN
Forsyth-Edwards Notation, or FEN, describes one chess position rather than the entire history of a…
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Fianchetto
A fianchetto develops a bishop to b2, g2, b7, or g7 after moving the adjacent pawn, placing the bishop on a long…
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FIDE
FIDE is the International Chess Federation, which publishes official international rating lists and maintains…
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File
A file is a vertical column of eight squares, identified by a letter from a to h in algebraic…
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Fork
A fork is a move that attacks two or more targets at the same time with one piece or…
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Fortress
A fortress is a defensive arrangement that the stronger side cannot penetrate despite a material advantage,…
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French Defense
The French Defense begins 1.e4 e6 and commonly continues 2.d4 d5, directly challenging White's central…
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Gambit
A gambit is an opening offer of material, often a pawn, in return for time, activity, central control, or…
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Grandmaster
Grandmaster, abbreviated GM, is a FIDE chess title awarded under formal title regulations, not simply a nickname…
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Increment
Increment is time added to a player's clock after a move according to the event's clock…
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Initiative
The initiative is the ability to create threats or set problems that make the opponent respond rather than pursue…
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Interference
Interference is the obstruction of a defensive line, reducing the coordination between opposing…
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International Master
International Master, abbreviated IM, is a FIDE title awarded through defined qualification routes and formal…
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Isolated pawn
An isolated pawn has no friendly pawn on either adjacent file, so it cannot be protected by another…
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Italian Game
The Italian Game begins 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4, developing White's bishop toward the sensitive f7…
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King
The king moves one square in any direction and must never be left under attack. Checkmating the opposing king is…
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King activity
King activity describes how effectively the king participates in controlling squares, attacking pawns, and…
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King's Indian Defense
The King's Indian Defense is a setup in which Black commonly combines Nf6, g6, Bg7, and d6 against White's d-pawn…
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Knight
A knight moves two squares in one direction and one square perpendicular to that direction. It can jump over…
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London System
The London System is a family of d-pawn setups commonly featuring d4, Nf3, and an early…
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Lucena position
The Lucena position is a fundamental winning rook-and-pawn endgame pattern in which the stronger side can often…
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Material
Material is the collection of pieces and pawns a player possesses, often compared using approximate piece…
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Middlegame
The middlegame is the phase in which developed pieces and established pawn structures support attacks,…
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Minority attack
A minority attack uses fewer pawns against a larger opposing pawn group to create a weakness rather than simply…
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Novelty
A novelty is a move or idea presented as new within a known opening position or body of previous…
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Open file
An open file contains no pawns of either color, allowing rooks and queens to operate along it more…
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Opening
The opening is the initial phase of a chess game, when players establish pawn structures, develop pieces, and…
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Opening repertoire
An opening repertoire is a practical collection of opening choices and associated plans for both White and…
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Opposition
Opposition is a king-endgame relationship in which the kings face each other across an odd number of squares and…
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Outpost
An outpost is a useful square, often in or near enemy territory, where a piece can remain securely and exert…
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Overloading
Overloading occurs when one defending piece has more responsibilities than it can successfully perform at the same…
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Passed pawn
A passed pawn has no opposing pawn ahead of it on its own file or either adjacent file that could prevent its…
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Pawn
A pawn moves forward but captures one square diagonally forward. On its initial square, it may advance two squares…
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Pawn chain
A pawn chain is a diagonal group of pawns that protect one another, with each pawn supporting the next from…
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Pawn majority
A pawn majority is a numerical advantage in pawns on one part of the board, often the kingside or…
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Pawn structure
Pawn structure is the arrangement of pawns and the lasting patterns of strengths, weaknesses, and available breaks…
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Perpetual check
Perpetual check describes a checking sequence that the opponent cannot escape without accepting an unfavorable…
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PGN
Portable Game Notation, or PGN, is a text format for recording chess games, typically including descriptive tags…
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Philidor position
The Philidor position is a standard drawing method in rook-and-pawn endgames, commonly using a rook to restrict…
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Pin
A pin restricts a piece because moving it would expose a more valuable piece or an important square behind…
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Principal variation
The principal variation, or PV, is the engine's current best line of play under its search assumptions and…
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Promotion
Promotion occurs when a pawn reaches the farthest rank and is replaced by a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the…
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Prophylaxis
Prophylaxis means anticipating the opponent's useful ideas and taking measures to prevent or reduce their…
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Queen
The queen combines the rook's straight-line movement with the bishop's diagonal movement, traveling any…
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Queen's Gambit
The Queen's Gambit starts 1.d4 d5 2.c4, offering a wing pawn to challenge Black's central d5…
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Rank
A rank is a horizontal row of eight squares, numbered from one to eight from White's…
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Rapid chess
Rapid chess is a faster form of chess; under the FIDE Laws' time classification, each player's time is more than…
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Rating performance
A performance rating summarizes the strength of a set of tournament results against a particular group of…
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Resignation
Resignation is a player's decision to concede a game rather than continue playing…
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Rook
A rook moves along ranks and files through any number of unobstructed squares. Rooks become especially effective…
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Rule of the square
The rule of the square is a visual shortcut for deciding whether a lone king can catch an unsupported passed pawn…
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S
Sacrifice
A sacrifice gives up material voluntarily to obtain a concrete tactical result or longer-term positional…
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Semi-open file
A semi-open file is a file on which one side has no pawn while the opponent still has at least one…
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Sicilian Defense
The Sicilian Defense begins 1.e4 c5, giving Black an asymmetrical way to challenge White's central…
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Skewer
A skewer attacks a valuable piece positioned in front of another target, hoping to win the piece behind when the…
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Smothered mate
Smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight against a king whose surrounding escape squares are occupied…
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Space
Space is the amount of useful territory a side controls for maneuvering its pieces, often supported by advanced…
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Stalemate
Stalemate is a drawn position in which the player to move is not in check but has no legal…
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Stockfish
Stockfish is an open-source chess engine that combines sophisticated search with position evaluation and…
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Tablebase
An endgame tablebase is a database of solved positions for specified material sets, providing exact results within…
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Tactics
Chess tactics are concrete sequences that exploit immediate features such as exposed kings, loose pieces,…
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Tempo
A tempo is a unit of time in chess, usually represented by one move that advances a useful…
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Transposition
A transposition occurs when different move orders reach the same chess position, with the same relevant legal…
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Triangulation
Triangulation is a maneuver, often by a king, that returns to a comparable square configuration while changing…
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Underpromotion
Underpromotion means promoting a pawn to a rook, bishop, or knight instead of a…
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Weak square
A weak square is a square that is difficult to defend effectively, often because nearby pawns can no longer…
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Zugzwang
Zugzwang is a position in which having to make a move worsens a player's situation because every legal choice…
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Zwischenzug
Zwischenzug, or an in-between move, is an unexpected intermediate move played before an apparently natural…
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