Chessboard and Pieces
Active Piece:A piece with the ability to move and threaten a number of squares during its next move.
Back Rank:The rearmost horizontal rank where all of the major pieces will be placed on the board.
Bishop:A chess piece with the ability to move and capture diagonally.
Black:The darker-colored pieces. Black typically makes the second move in a chess match.
Center File:The king’s and queen’s starting file (d and e).
Center:Four squares in the very middle of the board. The expanded center is the middle 16 squares.
Chessboard:Used to play a game of chess. It has a checkered pattern with 64 squares.
Files:A chessboard’s vertical columns. Signified by the lowercase letters a through h, the a file is located on the left of white and the right of black.
Isolated Pawns:Pawns without other same-colored pawns on adjacent files.
King:The most important piece in chess, the king can move one space in any direction, per turn.
Knight:A piece with the ability to move in a L-shape. In one turn, knights are permitted to move two spaces in one direction and one space in a perpendicular direction.
Major Pieces:Queens and rooks.
Minor Pieces:Bishops and knights.
Open File:A file without pawns in it.
Passive Piece:A piece that is unable to make significant movements on its next turn.
Pawn:A piece with the ability to move one space forward per turn. Pawns may capture by moving one space in a forward diagonal direction.
Queen:The most powerful piece on the board, the queen can move any number of spaces in any direction horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
Ranks:A chessboard’s horizontal rows. Numbered 1 through 8, the number 1 starts on white’s side.
Rook:A piece with the ability to move diagonally any number of spaces.
White:Light-colored chess pieces. White makes the opening move in a chess match.
Gameplay
Action Chess:Action chess is a form of quick chess in which players have 30 minutes to make all of the moves in the game.
Attack: An attack is a term referring to when a piece is placed in danger of being captured, such as being directly diagonal to a queen or in the L-shaped path of a knight.
Back Rank-Mate: A back-rank mate is a checkmate that occurs in one of the two back ranks of the board, either the first rank or the eighth rank.
Battery: A battery is when two of a player's pieces that can move in a similar direction line up with each other (for example, a queen and bishop or a queen and rook).
Blitz Chess: A fast-paced type of chess that is also known as “fast chess” or “speed chess.” Blitz chess matches typically last around five minutes, and players must make their moves within seconds of each other.
Blockade:A blockade is the act of placing a piece directly in front of an enemy pawn, which both keeps that pawn from proceeding forward and gives the blockading piece a layer of defense.
Blunder: A blunder is a massive mistake made by one player during a chess match. One or more blunders typically lead to losing or forced resignation.
Book: Book moves in chess are moves made in a standardized style that the player has memorized, usually one of the common forms of attack or defense.
Bughouse: Bughouse chess is a type of chess with two players per side, playing on two chessboards. In this type of chess, whenever one player on either side captures a piece, their partner receives it and can decide whether to add it to their board.
Bye: A bye is a game that a chess player cannot play in while still playing in the tournament. Byes can award points to a player but do not affect ratings.
Capture: Capturing, also known as “taking,” is the act of using a chess piece to remove an opponent’s piece from the board via an attack.
Castling: Castling is a special move that can be performed by a king and a rook that have not yet moved in the game. The king moves two spaces towards the rook, and the rook moves to the other side of the king, giving it an extra layer of defense.
Check: A check is a direct threat of attack upon a king by placing it in the attack range of a piece. A check is commonly announced by the attacking player saying, “Check.”
Checkmate: A checkmate occurs when one player forces their opponent’s king into a place where it can no longer make any legal moves, thus ending the game and securing victory.
Chess Clock:A chess clock is a device used to measure time per turn in chess, consisting of two timers linked by buttons, which players hit after each move to start the timer for their opponent to respond.
Correspondence Chess:Correspondence chess is a type of chess where players exchange “moves” via email, text, mail, or some other form of communication.
Counterattack: A counterattack is an attack that directly responds to an attack the opponent has just made.
Cross-Check:Cross-checking is when a player checks their opponent’s king immediately after being checked by that player and escaping the check.
Defense: A defense in chess is a type of action meant to protect one’s pieces, particularly the king, from the opponent.
Desperado: A desperado is when a player sacrifices one of their high-ranking pieces knowing that it was going to be captured at a future point.
Discovery: A discovery occurs when a player receives an opening to attack due to the movement of an opponent’s piece.
Double Attack: A double attack is when a player makes one move that puts an opponent’s piece in danger from two directions.
Doubled Pawns: Doubled pawns are pawns of the same color that are in the same file (column) as a result of one having captured an enemy piece.
Doubled Rooks: Doubled rooks occur when both of a player's rooks are in the same row or column, forming a battery.
Draw: A draw is a chess match that has ended with no winner.
Endgame: The endgame is the final stage of a chess match, often when one player’s king is near to being checkmated and must begin attacking pieces itself.
En Prise: An en prise is a piece that is considered a free capture due to it being left unguarded.
En Passant: An en passant capture is a type of capture involving pawns where a pawn that has advanced three spaces can capture a pawn directly beside it after it has moved two spaces on its opening turn.
Exchange: An exchange is when players give each other pieces, typically pieces that are equal in value to each other.
Fianchetto: A fianchetto is when a player makes use of their bishop on the long diagonal of the board.
Fifty-Move Rule: The fifty-move rule is a rule in chess that ends a match in a draw when neither player has captured a piece or moved a pawn in 50 moves.
Flag: A flag is a part of a chess clock that alerts players when their time to make a move is up, which will lose them the game if they do not make a move.
Fool’s Mate: A Fool’s Mate is a type of blunder made by the white side in chess that allows the black side to checkmate in only two moves.
Forfeit: A forfeit is a conceded chess match that occurs when one player does not appear in an agreed-upon game.
Fork: A fork is a double attack using a knight and a pawn, which resembles a fork in the road.
Gambit: A gambit is a type of quick opening in chess where a player attacks fast and offers up a number of pawns early in order to develop the game quickly.
Illegal Move: An illegal move occurs whenever a player attempts to move a piece in an improper way or to an improper place.
Match: A chess match can either be a term for one single game or chess or a series of gamers between the same players.
Material: A player’s material is the total value of all the pieces they currently have on the board, commonly expressed by how valuable pieces are in pawns or other lesser pieces.
Middlegame: The middlegame is the phase in a game of chess that follows the opening and precedes the endgame, often involving the majority of the action.
Notation: Chess Notation is a system of writing out the moves made by each player in a chess match using abbreviations and symbols, typically starting with the piece moved and followed by the file and rank of the square it moves to, with other symbols used for capturing and other actions.
Opening: The opening is the beginning of a game of chess, typically considered to last about 12 moves per player.
Pin: A pin is an attack made on a piece that should not move due to the fact that it guards a higher-ranked piece, with the attack being made by a rook, bishop, or queen. The attacked piece may move if it guards the king in order to avoid a check.
Ply: A single move by a single player. When both players take a single turn it is called two ply, or one full move.
Promotion: Promotion is the process through which a pawn can become a piece of a higher rank. For promotion to happen, the pawn must completely cross the chessboard, landing on the opposite side from the position it began the game on.
Resigning: Dropping out of a chess match because you feel you are at such a tactical disadvantage that you cannot win.
Sacrifice: Intentionally allowing the capture of your piece to achieve a specific result later in the game.
Skittles: A form of recreational chess played without a game clock. Skittles is a popular method of entertainment for competitive players waiting between rounds of a chess tournament.
Stalemate: A game ending in which a player isn’t in check but cannot make a legal move. A stalemate is a type of draw, but not all stalemates are draws.
Sudden Death: A chess game structured within a specific time frame. In sudden death games, a player that fails to finish their turns within the allotted schedule will lose.
Touch-Move: A rule requiring players to move a piece if they touch it.
Zugzwang: A term for a situation where a player is required to move their piece, even though doing so will not end in their favor.
Ratings and Federations
Amateur: A chess amateur is a player who has not yet earned a high enough Elo Rating to reach the level of a master. Chess amateurs have Elo scores below 2000.
Chess Club:Local organizations where people gather to play chess.
CTD: CTD is an abbreviation for Chess Tournament Director.
ECF: ECF stands for the English Chess Federation. ECF is the governing body of chess that regulates competitions in England.
Elo Rating System: The official rating system used by FIDE to measure the skill level of individual chess players. The system scores and sorts players into classes, eventually earning the title of master. The highest ranking in the elo system is a Grandmaster.
Expert: A chess player who has obtained an Elo Rating score of 2000-2199. Also referred to as a National Candidate Master.
FIDE: FIDE stands for The International Chess Federation. FIDE is an international governing body and regulates the game in worldwide competitions.
FIDE Candidate Master: A chess player who has earned an Elo Rating score of 2200-2300.
FIDE Master: A chess player who has earned an Elo Rating score of 2300-2400.
International Master: The Elo Rating level directly below Grandmaster, a player who has earned a score of 2400-2500.
Grandmaster: A chess player who possesses the highest Elo Rating, a score of 2500+. Grandmasters are the most accomplished chess players in the world.
Unrated: Players who have not participated in regulated, rated games are unrated players as they have not been assigned an official chess rating.
USCF: USCF standsfor the United States Chess Federation. This organization is based in the United States and is a non-profit tasked with assigning national player ratings and hosting national tournaments.
