Chess Terms Explained

Tactics

Short, forcing patterns that win material or deliver mate.

• Back-rank mate

  A back-rank mate is checkmate delivered along the first or eighth rank against a king trapped behind its own unmoved pawns.

• Discovered attack

  A discovered attack is when moving one piece unveils an attack from a long-range piece behind it.

• Discovered check

  A discovered check is a discovered attack where the unveiled piece gives check, forcing an immediate response.

• Fork

  A fork is a single piece attacking two or more enemy pieces at the same time, so the opponent can only save one.

• Greek gift sacrifice

  The Greek gift is a bishop sacrifice on h7 that rips open the castled king before a knight and queen attack.

• Overloaded piece

  An overloaded piece is defending too many things at once, so attacking one of its jobs wins the other.

• Pin

  A pin is when a piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it on the same line.

• Skewer

  A skewer attacks a valuable piece so that when it moves away, a less valuable piece behind it is captured.

• Smothered mate

  A smothered mate is checkmate by a knight against a king completely surrounded by its own pieces.

• Windmill

  A windmill is a repeating cycle of discovered checks that harvests material with each turn of the wheel.

• Zwischenzug

  A zwischenzug is a forcing in-between move played before the expected recapture, changing the outcome of an exchange.

Strategy

Long-term ideas about position, structure and timing.

• Battery

  A battery is two or more long-range pieces stacked on the same line so their power combines.

• Initiative

  The initiative is being the player making threats while your opponent is forced to react.

• Outpost

  An outpost is an advanced square, defended by your pawn, that no enemy pawn can ever attack.

• Prophylaxis

  Prophylaxis is preventing your opponent's plan before they can carry it out.

• Tempo

  A tempo is a single unit of time — one move — and gaining or losing one often decides the opening.

• The exchange

  The exchange refers specifically to the difference between a rook and a minor piece — about two points.

Rules

How the game actually works — including the rules people get wrong.

• Castling

  Castling moves the king two squares toward a rook and jumps the rook to the king's other side — the only move where two pieces move at once.

• Check

  Check is a direct attack on the king that must be answered immediately.

• En passant

  En passant lets a pawn capture an enemy pawn that has just advanced two squares past it, as if it had moved only one.

• Promotion

  Promotion is a pawn reaching the far end of the board and becoming any piece you choose — almost always a queen.

• Stalemate

  Stalemate is when the player to move has no legal move and is not in check — the game is an immediate draw.

• Underpromotion

  Underpromotion is promoting a pawn to something other than a queen — usually a knight.

Endgames

Techniques that decide games once most pieces have come off.

• Opposition

  The opposition is a king-versus-king standoff where the player who does not have to move controls the key squares.

• Zugzwang

  Zugzwang is being forced to move when every available move makes your position worse.

Openings

Ideas that shape the first phase of the game.

• Fianchetto

  A fianchetto develops a bishop onto the long diagonal after advancing the knight's pawn one square.

• Gambit

  A gambit is a deliberate sacrifice, usually of a pawn, offered early for development, open lines or attacking chances.

Learn these patterns on the board

Reading a definition is the start. To actually recognise these patterns in your own games, drill them: solve tactics puzzles that use them, review your games to see which ones you missed, or ask the coach about any position you do not understand.