Kid Chess™ Academy: Glossary of Chess Terms

Advantage: Having a better game because of piece development, space, king safety, material advantage, etc.

Active: A move or series of moves more aggressive than other choices on the board.

Active Piece: A piece that has free range of the board. White's bishop on c4 is active; black's bishop on f8 is not. (Diagram) 

Analysis: Figuring out, either during or after a game, the best series of moves for a given position.

Annotation: (Usually written) analysis of the moves played in a game and their variations.

Attack: The process of going after your opponent's king or vulnerability win the game.

Backward Pawn: A pawn that has lagged behind and cannot be protected by other pawns. Usually considered a weakness. (Diagram)

Battery: (Diagram) Two long range pieces (such as a queen and bishop) lined up and pointed in the same direction along a rank, file, or diagonal. 

Bind: A stranglehold or grip caused by one side which restricts space for the other side.

Bishop Pair: Situation when you retain both bishops, while your opponent has a bishop and knight, or even two knights. The "bishop pair" is considered better, especially when the board is relatively uncluttered with other pieces.

Blockade: The act of placing a piece in the path of a "passed pawn" to keep it from promoting.

Blunder: A really poor move that costs you a lot of material or even the game itself.

Book: Refers to the overall collection of published chess theory. 

Pawn Break: A move that frees up pieces from a cramped position.

Brilliancy: A really good game or combination that includes a piece sacrifice to win.

Center: The squares d4, e4, d5, and e5. (Diagram) Basic center (4 green squares) broader center (16 yellow squares)

Centralize: To place pieces and pawns so they attack the center.

Check: To directly attack or threaten to capture your opponent's king. Your opponent must then immediately drop whatever he was doing to fix the problem.

Checkmate: To "check" your opponent's king with no way for him to get out. "Checkmate" ends the game.

Classical: Style of play which encourages direct control of the center and a systematic approach to strategy. Compare to 'hypermodern'.

Closed Game: A position with few, if any, pawn trades where pieces are somewhat restricted in their movement.

Colle': Opening piece formation for white arising out of moving the queen pawn instead of the king pawn. (Diagram)

Combination: Series of moves designed to improve your overall position, usually involving surprise and maybe even a piece "sacrifice".

Compensation: A positional or tactical advantage gained in exchange for sacrificed pieces/pawns; or, piece value equality in a trade, as in 3 pawns for a knight.

Connected Passed Pawns: Two or more passed pawns of the same color that are on files next to each other. (Diagram)

Control: Domination of an important square or group of squares (such as the "Center").

Counterplay: Situation when an opponent on defense starts an attack of his own.

Cramp: A space disadvantage that restricts piece movement.

Critical Position: Any decisive turning point in a game that ultimately affects the outcome.

Defense: One or more moves to counter your opponent's threats or attacks.

Development: The process of bringing your pieces into play in the opening to get ready for the middlegame.

Double Attack: Involves two different pieces of your own that simultaneously attack two different enemy pieces. (Diagram)

Doubled Pawns:  
(Diagram) Two pawns lined up one directly behind the other. Doubled pawns cannot protect one another and are weak in that regard. 

Dragon: An opening piece formation for black. (Diagram)

Draw: End of the game where neither side wins and neither side loses. See also "stalemate".

Edge: A small advantage, positional or tactical, in a game.

Endgame: The final part of a game when both sides are down to kings and a few pawns, and maybe one or two pieces per side.

En Passant (Pronounced 'ahn pass-SAHNT'): (Diagrams) French term for a special capture move between two pawns. A pawn which on its first move advances two squares and passes an enemy pawn on an adjacent file that has advanced to its 5th rank, may be captured by that enemy pawn as if the first pawn had moved only one square. (Click here for an interactive illustration.) 

En Prise (Pronounced 'ahn pree'): French for "In Take". Describes a piece or pawn that is unprotected and may be captured for free. 

Equality: When neither white nor black has any material or positional advantage.

Exchange: A trade or swap of pieces. Bishop for bishop or knight for knight is considered a "swap". Bishop for knight can also sometimes be called a "swap".

Exchange, The: Expressing the difference in piece value between a rook and your opponent's bishop or knight. Gaining a rook for your own bishop or knight is called "winning the exchange".

Fianchetto: (diagram) Pronounced "fee-an-KETT-toe".When you develop your bishops to b2, g2, b7, or g7. A necessary part of building a "house". 

FIDE: French abbreviation for "Federation Internationale des Echecs", that is, the World Chess Federation.

File: A row of eight vertical squares. 

Force: general term for all your pieces and pawns.

Forced: A move or series of moves you must play to avoid a bad game.

Fork: Situation when a piece or pawn attacks two or more of your opponent's pieces at the same time, but not along a rank, file, or diagonal. (Diagram)

Forfeit: Not to be confused with 'resigns', a player 'forfeits' a game when he doesn't even bother to show up to play at the pre-arranged time and place. Generally regarded as very poor sportsmanship.

Gambit: A pawn sacrifice made in the opening to gain the initiative or advantage in development.

GCA: Georgia Chess Association.

General Principles: "words of wisdom" to serve a a guide in selecting a move. Such as in the opening: Activate your pieces, Be safe (castle), and Control the center.

Grandmaster: The highest permanent title that can be given to a chess player.

Hanging: An unprotected piece or pawn. Same as "En prise".

Hold: To successfully defend.

Hole: An important square that cannot be defended by pawns.

House: The kingside formation of a centrally-developed knight, fianchetto'ed bishop, and castled king.. (Diagram)

Hypermodern: A style of play which claims that indirect or long distance control of the center is more effective than direct occupation. Compare to 'classical'.

Initiative: When you have an advantage in time and space, while your opponent is on the defensive.

Interpose: (Diagrams) Placing a usually lesser-valued piece in front of a more-valuable one to block its capture by your opponent. Typically used more than not to get your king out of check.

Isolated Pawn: A pawn with no friendly pawns next to it on adjoining files.

Kingside: The e-h files. The right half of the board where the queens and the bishops, knights, and rooks next to them initially start. (Diagram) Compare to 'queenside'.

Major Pieces: Name given to the queens and rooks. 

Maneuver: A quiet redeployment of pieces to a hopefully better position.

Master: A strong player who has achieved a USCF rating of 2200 or higher.

Mate: Short for "checkmate".

Material: Any or all of your pieces and pawns, except the king.

Mating Attack: An series of moves made against your opponent with the specific goal of checkmating the king.

Middlegame: The part of the game that comes after the Opening and before the endgame, where both sides seek advantage. Arrived at upon completion of development of back-row pieces

Minor Pieces: Name given to the bishops and knights. 

Minority Attack: Two or more pawns used as battering rams to weaken your opponent's change of three or more pawns.

Mobility: The freedom of movement that your pieces hopefully have.

Occupation: Posting a piece or pawn on a square. Also used to describe temporary or permanent control of a file or rank, as in "two rooks occupying the 7th rank".

Open: A type of tournament in which any player may play regardless of qualification.

Open File: A vertical row of 8 squares containing no pawns. Rooks typically should move to open files. (Diagram)

Open Game: A position which in which pieces can move freely (ususally because some pawns have been exchanged), with the possibility of sudden attacks or combinations.

Opening: The beginning of the game where the most important things to do are 1) Activate your pieces off the back rank, 2) Be Safe (castle), and 3) Control the Center.

Openings: Known sequence of moves, usually published in a chess book. The Sicilian Scheveningen and The Colle' are examples of openings.

Opposite-color Bishops: Situation where each player has only one of his two bishops left, each of which is on a different color square, so that they cannot come in contact with one another.

Overextended: A position that is weak due to an unsuccessful attack or combination.

Overprotection: Grandmaster Aaron Nimzovich's term for giving a piece or square more protection from your pieces or pawns than is immediately needed to guard it.

Passive: A move that does nothing to fight for initiative; or, a position lacking activity.

Passed Pawn: A pawn that has moved beyond capture by the other side's pawns and has no other pawns in front of it. (Diagram)

Pawn Center: Situation when the center is occupied by a player's pawns.

Pawn Chain: Two or more pawns of the same color linked together diagonally. (Diagram)

Pawn Island: A group of pawns separated from other pawns of the same color. It is generally hard to defend a lot of pawn islands. (Diagram)

Pawn Structure: The more-or-less fixed overall position of the pawns in an opening formation.

Pigs on the 7th: Two rooks acting together on the 7th rank. "Pigs on the 7th" typically gobble up all of your opponent's pawns on that rank. (Diagram)

Pin: When a piece cannot move without exposing a higher-valued piece to immediate capture, that piece is said to be "pinned". (Diagram)

Poisoned Pawn: Any pawn that appears to be free for the taking but which will set off a trap against you if you do.

Positional: A move or series of moves which is subtle or sneaky in nature, rather than being outwardly aggressive.

Prepared Variation: An opening line prepared by you in advance to use against an opponent you are going to play.

Problem Child: referring to a bishop (usually Black's queenside bishop) which is often unable to develop freely because other things are in the way.

Promotion: Making a new queen or other piece when a pawn reaches the 8th rank.

Protected Passed Pawn: A passed pawn that is protected by a friendly pawn. (Diagram)

Queenside: The a-d files. The left half of the board where the queens and the bishops, knights, and rooks next to them initially start. 

Rank: A row of eight horizontal squares.
 (Diagram)

Rating. A number that comes from a formula devised by Dr. Arpad Elo which indicates a player's strength, based on his win-loss record against other rated players.

Resigns: To give up the game and concede defeat before getting checkmated. Not to be confused with 'forfeit'.

Risk:  A move or combination that aims for advantage in a game while carrying the danger of ending up with a poor position. 

Sacrifice: To exchange a piece for a lesser-valued opponent's piece in order to gain a positional or tactical advantage.

Semi-Open Game: Type of position resulting when white plays 1. e4 and black replies with anything other than 1...e5. (Diagram)

Sharp: A move that boldly attempts to grab the initiative, involving commitment and bridge-burning, that is, "there's no going back now!".

Shot: An unexpected and sudden strong move that surprises your opponent.

Simplify: Act of exchanging pieces in a game to reduce complexity or stop an enemy attack.

Skewer: A tactic where you attack two of your opponents pieces at the same time along a rank, file, or diagonal, and the more-valuable piece is attacked first. (Diagram)

Space: The territory (squares) controlled and occupied by each player's pieces and pawns.

Speculative: Describing a sacrifice where you can't be completely sure of the outcome.

Stalemate: Position where a player "on move" is not in "check", but also has no legal move. Such a game is considered to be a "draw". (Diagram)

Strategy:  Your long range master plan. The main idea behind your moves, which guides your thinking during the game.

Symmetry: When you copy your opponent's moves or he copies yours in the opening. That is, a position where both sides are arranged the same. Example 1. Nf3 Nf6, 2. g3 g6, 3. Bg2 Bg7, 4. O-O O-O arrives at a symmetrical position. (Diagram)

Tactics: Different types of moves or situations that arise where you can gain material or positional advantage at the expense of your opponent.

Tempo: (Latin for "time".) Amount of relative time represented by a move. That is, you can open a game by moving your king pawn two squares and get to the e4 square in one move . Or you can spend two moves playing 1. e3, followed by 2. e4, and lose a tempo accomplishing the same thing.

Time Control: The amount of time you have on your clock to either complete your game or make a given number of moves. Exceeding the time control means you lose the game.

Transposition: A series of moves that results in the same position as another series of moves. Example: 1. e4 Nc6, 2. Nf3 e5 give the same position as 1. e4 e5, 2. Nf3 Nc6.

Trap: The tactic of offering the apparent capture of a hanging piece or pawn to get your opponent to make a mistake in his position.

Underpromotion: Moving a pawn to the 8th rank and replacing it with a knight, bishop, or rook; instead of a queen.

USCF: United States Chess Federation.

Weakness: A square or pawn that is difficult or impossible to defend.