Glossary of Chess Terminology

Glossary of chess terminology Blockade is a tactical method. With this special type of decoy the player forces his/her opponent to block the way of another, more important piece (often the king) of their own, which then becomes an object of attack. 1...Kg8-h8 2.Ne5-f7+ Kh8-g8 3.Nf7-h6++ Kg8h8 4.Qd5-g8+! Re8xg8 5.Nh6-f7# Breaking the shelter of the king can be realized by sacrifices. Starting point for combinations like this are weaknesses caused by the pushing of the pawns on the wing the opponent has castled to. Another reason could be a disadvantage in the development of the opponent's pieces and a lack of space. 1.Rh4xh7+ Kh8xh7 2.Qf7-h5#

Catching of a piece is a tactical method which aims at limiting the moving possibilities of a piece of the opponent. This piece will be finally lost. 1...Ne7-g6!

Chasing: attacking a piece of the opponent continuously which cannot escape from these attacks and has to move to a bad place. This method leads to a draw in the end. Most frequently the result of persecution is a perpetual check (the king is object of  persecution). 1.Qg6-f5 Bh5-g4 2.Qf5-g6 Bg4-h5 =

Check is the direct attack of the opponent's king by one of the player's pieces.

Chess combination: a sacrifice and forced sequence of moves to gain a certain advantage.

Decoy is a tactical method which is used to force a piece of the opponent to move to an unfavourable square. Once occupying this square, this piece will soon be lost or it disturbs the coordination of other pieces so that one of  those will be conquered by the player. 1.Rg4-g8+ Kf8xg8 2.Qf6-g7#

Deflection: is a tactical method used to distract a piece of the opponent from the defence of an important square, file or the protection of  another piece. 1.Rh4-h8+ Kg8xh8 2.Qd5xf7

Discovered attack: by moving away a certain piece the player opens the way for another piece which immediately gets attacking possibilities. 1.Bd5xf7+ Kg8xf7 2.Rd4xd8

Double attack: simultaneous attack of two pieces of the opponent by a pawn or any other piece.

Elimination of a defending piece is a tactical method which liquidates defending pieces of the opponent. The piece in question can be cleared away by means of exchange or sacrifice. 1.Rf4xf8+ Kg8xf8 2.Qg4xd7

Interception: the aim of this tactical method consists in disturbing the coordination of the pieces of the opponent standing in the same file or to prevent that the opponent's pieces reach important squares. 1.Nd5-e7 Bd6-e7 2.Qg6xg7# Intermediate move is a move of the player which was not considered by the opponent in calculating his/her variation or combination. Intermediate move can disturb our calculations, change plans or cause the failure of combinations. 1.e5-e6 Qc7xf4 2.e6xd7+ Ke8xd7 Ng6xf4

Mate: a piece of the player checks the opponent's king against which no defence is possible. To mate the opponent is the aim of  every chess game.

Open file: an open file is a vertical line in which

no pawn is left (neither own nor opponent's). Opening of a file: sometimes an own piece blocks a certain file or diagonal and thereby disturbs the efficiency of another piece in this file (diagonal). The aim of this tactical method consists in moving away this piece to open the file (diagonal) for the other piece. As a result the player may win an important square, shift a piece to a more active position or prepare a threat. Overloading: a piece is overloaded when it has to protect two or more other pieces, squares or threats at the same time. In situations like this opportunities often arise to benefit from the overloading by distracting the piece from one or several of its protecting tasks. 1.Nd6-f5 Qe7xc5 2.Rd4xd8# Passed pawn:is a free running pawn. The opponent has no pawn on the same or the adjoining files. A passed pawn is usually a big advantage because of its capacity - in certain cases - to limit the moving possibilities of the opponent's pieces and to be the topic of a combination. 1...Qe4xe1+ 2.Qd1xe1 d3-d2 3.Qe1-e2(d1) Rc5c1+ Pawn breakthrough: one or several pawns are sacrificed in order to create a passed pawn which cannot be stopped from conversion. (Die Könige seien so weit entfernt, daß sie nicht in den kampf eingreifen können) 1.g5-g6! f7xg6 (oder 1...h7xg6 2.f5-f6! g7xf6 3.h5-h6) 2.h5-h6! g7xh6 3.f5-f6

Perpetual check: the king of the opponent is exposed to a sequence of checks from which he cannot hide. Usually this method is used by a player with worse position in order not to loose the game. Perpetual check is the most frequent type of the chasing. 1.Kg1-h2 Qe1-h4+ 2.Kh2-g1 Qh4-e1+

Pinning: a piece or pawn is pinned when it cannot move away because a more valuable piece then would be lost, a key square would be attacked (unechte? pin) or the king would be standing in the check (echte? pin).

Play for stalemate: a player, usually with worse position, plays for a stalemate by sacrificing his/her last pieces in order to reach a stalemate position. 1...Rf5-g5! 2.Rg4xg5 stalemate

Sacrifice: material is voluntarily given up to the opponent in order to obtain other kinds of  advantages, e.g. attack, open king etc. Space clearance: similar to the opening of a file this method is used when an own piece occupies a square urgently needed by another piece. The piece disturbing should be moved away, preferably without losing time. This means that the piece checks the opponent, attacks a piece of the opponent or is even sacrificed. In this way the opponent hasn't got the time to take any steps of defence. 1.Rg7-h7+ Kh8xh7 3.Qg5-g7#

Stalemate: the player to move has no legal moves with his/her pieces and pawns and his/her king is not checked.

Weakness of the back rank: very often the insufficient protection of the first (last) rank by heavy pieces or the missing of a square of  escape give an opportunity for combinations, resulting in material disadvantage or mate. 1...Re4xe2 2.Re1xe2 Rd5-d1#

X-ray: bishop, rook or queen are attacking pieces, pawns or squares of the opponent on the long file or diagonal while they (file, diagonal) are still closed by own or opponent's pieces. 1.Qf4-f8+ Re8xf8 2.Rd8xf8#