Short explanations of terms you will often hear in chess books, broadcasts and tournaments. You can find more detail on each in the related guide articles.
- Blitz: chess with less than 10 minutes per player.
- Checkmate: the king is attacked and cannot escape; the game ends.
- Castling: the king and a rook move in the same turn.
- Discovered attack: moving one piece unveils an attack by another behind it.
- En passant: capturing a pawn that has just advanced two squares beside your pawn.
- Exchange: the difference in value between a rook and a minor piece. 'Winning the exchange' means winning a rook for a knight or bishop.
- Fianchetto: developing a bishop to b2/g2 (b7/g7 for Black) after advancing the knight pawn one square.
- Fork: one piece attacking two or more pieces at once.
- Gambit: deliberately giving a pawn (sometimes a piece) in the opening for development or attack, such as the Queen's Gambit or King's Gambit.
- Intermezzo: an in-between move inserted before the expected reply.
- Isolated pawn: a pawn with no friendly pawns on adjacent files; usually a weakness.
- Open file: a file with no pawns on it; ideal for rooks.
- Opposition: two kings facing each other with one square between them.
- Passed pawn: a pawn with no enemy pawns in front of it on its own or adjacent files.
- Pin: a piece cannot move because a more valuable piece stands behind it.
- Promotion: a pawn reaching the last rank turns into another piece.
- Rapid: chess with 10–60 minutes per player.
- Skewer: an attack where a valuable piece moves away and the piece behind it is captured.
- Square rule: a method to tell whether a king can catch a lone passed pawn.
- Stalemate: the player to move has no legal move but is not in check; a draw.
- Tempo: one move's worth of time; 'gaining a tempo' means developing while forcing the opponent to respond.
- Time trouble: having very little time left on the clock.
- Zugzwang: a position where having to move is a disadvantage; every move makes things worse.
💡 The best way to learn the terms is to see them in positions. When solving puzzles, ask yourself which tactical theme the solution is based on: fork, pin or skewer.