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CHESS GLOSSARY
Absolute Champion: An award given to Michail Botwinnik by Russian Chess Federation because of his successes in tournaments and matches.
Absolute Pin: Pin against the king.
Accumulation of Advantages: Steinitz’s theory about changing small advantages to bigger ones.
Adjourned Game: Simply means to play a game another time at a different place. In that case, game is not completed. The player making a move last writes his moves, adds it to the notation and puts it to the envelope. Also the time each player spent is also written to a paper and put to the envelope, given to the referee. After, the game must be completed in a sensible time.
Adjudication: The selection of the winner of an unfinished chess game made by a qualified, impartial expert.
Agar Chessmen: A chess set of rock-chrystal made in 12th or 13th century, which is maintained at the parish church of Agar in Catalonia.
AIPE: L’ Association Internationale de la Presse Echiquienne ( the International Association of the Chess Press) founded by Jorgi Puig in 1968. It disseminates Chess news and selects the outstanding male and female players of the year.
Ajeeb: A chess machine just looks like “Turk”.
Alekhine:4th Official World Champion.
Alekhine's Block: A block implemented by Alekhine by placing a piece in front of enemy pawn.
Amateur World Championship: World Chess Championship which only amateurs can compete. The first one winning that was Mattison of Latvia. Euwe was also a winner. Then that Championship was abolished.
Amaurosis Scacchistica: Tarrasch’s term for explaining some of his mistakes in World Championship against Lasker.
American Chess Bulletin: A famous chess magazine in previous years.
American Chess Journal: A famous chess magazine.The articles are all of very high quality,and cover every conceivable topic that relates to chess.
Amsterdam Olympiad;
Analyze: To examine a position
Anastasia's Mate: A checkmate which got its name from a novel called "Anastasia and Chess" by W.Heinse in 1803. Anastasia mate involves a knight and rook working against the enemy king.
Anderssen's Mate: A checkmate which corner is used by a white rook or queen to trap the enemy king, with support from a pawn or a bishop on the long diagonal.
Anglo Soviet Radio Match: That match was a famous match between Russia and England plyed by the help of radio. Russia beat England 14:6.
Annotation: A term used to anlyze the games.
Antagonism of Pieces: Lasker’s expression for the equilibrium.
Arabian Mate: A nice checkmate with a knight, enemy king is trapped in the corner. Rook operates either on files or ranks, knights is 2 diagonal squares away from the enemy king.
Arbiter: A person who ensures that the rules are observed, supervises the games, enforces the rules and his decisions regarding them and imposes penalties on players infringing the rules.
Automaton: A machine which can play chess without human assistance.
AVRO: A famous radio company which was sponsor of many World Championship Tournaments.
Back Rank Mate: A mate which is done by rook or queen by moving to the back rank and the enemy king is unable to move because of his pawns.
Backward Pawn: A pawn which is behind of other pawns and not protected by any other pawns. So its open to all easy attacks.
Bad Bishop: The bishop whose moving ability is limited by his or opponents pawns.
BCF Grading System: British Rating System.
Berlin System: A system which breaks the draw in team matches and award the higher place to the team which scores higher on top boards.
Bilguer: A very famous chess theories book.
Blackburne's Mate: A checkmate which combines the forces of three minor pieces, converging on the enemy castled king. One of the bishops can operate at a grea distance, but the other two pieces must be close to th target. The rook plays an important role in eliminating a flight square at f7. This mating pattern is comparatively rare, but threatining Blackburne's mate can force Black to weaken the position.
Blindfold Chess: There are some chess players who can play without looking the chess board. We call this blindfold game, the game without a chess board. The players who can play blindfold chess know all squares, openings and possible positions. Sometimes, they can play 20 games at the same time. Simultaneous game is hard. There are few Grandmasters and masters playing it. In some countries, blindfold game is forbidden. Doctors say its tiring and harmful to health. Its said that the first player playing blindfold chess was Said Ybni Cubayir. But this is a tale and not proved. Blindfold Simultaneous games records are Paul Morphy (8), Zuckertort (10), Pillsbury (12). In this century, the best simultaneous games records are Pillsbury (21), Reti (24), Breyer (25), Alehin (26), Reti (29), Koltanowsky (30), Alehin (32), Hajdorf (45), Janos Flesch (62).
Blitz Game: We call this also as flash game. Players play very fast and make moves immediately in blitz game. Blitz games are 1, 2 and 5 minute games. The most played blitz game is 5 min game.
Block: To lock opponent in an important area.
Blunder: A bad move which results in mate, the loss of material or a seriously weakened position.
Boden's Mate: A checkmate uses two bishops against a king whose escape is blocked by his own pieces. This checkmate is named after a famous game by Boden.
Book Move: Standard move.
Botvinnik: 6th Official World Champion.
Brevity: A short game usually about 20 moves or less.
Brilliancy Prize: an award given to the best brilliancy at a tournament. The first brilliancy prize was awarded to Bird in 1886 for his win over Mason.
Brilliancy: A game containing original, innovative, sometimes surprising moves.
Brinkmate: A form of blocking an exit for an enemy piece of king.
British Chess Magazine: A very old chess magazine.
Buchholtz Score: A tie breaking system applicable to Swiss Tournaments.
Buenos Aires Olympiad (i);
Buenos Aires Olympiad (ii);
Bug House: A variant of chess played on two boards by two teams each consisting of a pair of players.
c3/c4 (c6/d5) Pawns: Isolated Queens pawns must be exchanged with those. If the c3/c4 ( c6/d5) pawns are blocked well, they will be weak. But, if blocking is not enough and if these pawns can move forward, they can change to an active pawn formation. The player playing against those pawns must block them well and the pieces controlling these pawns must be free to move.
C4/d4 (c5/d5) Pawns: These pawns must be used in modern games. These pawn structures are used in Queens Gambit Opening , Queen Indian Defense or Mimzowitsch Defense. These pawns can be weak or strong. They can control the center very well, provides using pieces actively and attacking opponents king. But on the other hand, they can be weak too. Because they must be protected by other pieces and if the game becomes simple, they become weaker. The player using these pawns must avoid making the game simple, he must not play open games, must prefer closed games. Also, he must have good tactics for middlegame, try to attack opponents king and must forward one of these pawns when the opponent is unable to block them. The player playing against these pawns must try to make game simple, must reduce his opponents attacks to his king and must increase his opponents pawns weakness. He must try to force his opponent to move one only one of those pawns and must block the new pawn structure. Making good moves with these pawns changes due to the players style. Keres and Spassky use these pawns very well.
Café De La Régence: A famous café in Paris which very famous persons like Voltaire, Diderot, Rousseau, Franklin, Rebespierre, Napoleon, La Bourdonnais, Deschapelles, Kieseritsky, Philodor and Morphy had visited.
Caissa: The Goddess of Chess.
Candidate Tournament:Tournament held by FIDE to choose challanger against World Champion.
Candidates Matches: Held by FIDE to choose the challanger against World Champion.
Capablanca: 3rd Official World Champion.
Centeralization: The act of bringing pieces to the center.
Central Squares: d4, e4, d5, e5 squares are called central squares.
Chatarunga: The name of the first game from which modern chess is derived.
Chatrang: The name given by Persians to early version of chess.
Cheapo: Expression for a cheap trick.
Check: Threatening the King
Chess Blindness: A players being unable to see a good move or missing mate. Chess blindness is even seen in masters and grandmasters sometimes.
Chess Chow: A famous American Chess Magazine.
Chess Clock: Chess Clocks are used in all official tournaments, team games and trainings. Usually, all players are allowed to make 40 moves in 2 hours. The player making the move pushes the button of his clock. Both clocks of the players are connected to each other by a mechanism. The players clock pushing the button stops and his opponents clock start to work.
Chess Life: Official Magazine of U.S. Chess Federation.
Chess Machine: Chess Machine was invented by a Hungarian Machine Engineer, Baron W. von. Kempelen in 1769. This machine was first shown in Maria Theresia’s palace who was the Austrian Queen. There was a table in that machine and on the table there was a chessboard with the pieces and just to next to it, there was a mechanic man with tidy clothes called “Turk”. This machine was nearly shown in capitals of all European countries. The machine was even shown in New York in 1826. Before each show, inside of the machine was shown to spectators. But, nobody was able to understand its secrets. Its secret was that: That mechanic man called Turk was controlled by a chess master who was hiding inside the mechanisms of that machine. About that machine, many books were published in English, French, Italian and German. It was even considered as a topic for the movies. Turk’s famous opponents were King Friedrich, 2nd Voltaire and Napoleon. This machine burned in Philadelphia, during Chine Museum Fire in 1854.
Chess Magazine: English Chess Magazine published from 1906 to 1930.
Chess Monthly (US) : A famous American Chess Magazine.
Chess Monthly ( UK): A famous British Chess Magazine.
Chess Oscar: Award given by the Association of Chess Journalists for the outstanding male and female players of the year.
Chess Problem: Artificial positions which ends in few moves with mate.
Chess Review: A famous American Chess Magaine.
Chessist: Someone who is intereted in chess.
Chessman: Term refers to both pieces and pawns.
Choking: A form of blocking an exit for an enemy piece of king.
Classic Pawn Stalemate: The most common stalemate. Observed in King and Pawns endgames.
Classical Style: Style which has rapid improvement and control of center with pawns.
Closed Decade: The decade having no sides pawns.
Combination: A series of forced moves which leads to an advantage for the initating player.
Combination: Forced variations which end in positional or conditional advantage, material advantage or mate for a player.
Compound: Complex pawn formation.
Congdon's Stalemate: One kind of stalemate when Queen and a pawn aoids enemy king's all legal moves.
Congress: a large chess competition which comprises more than one tournament and has players from more than one club or location.
Connect: To move rooks on the same color on to the same rank, unseperated by pieces or pawns.
Consolidate: To maintain an established advantage.
Consultation Chess: a game in which at least one side consists of two or more players who consult with each other in the play of the game.
Coons Score: A tie-breaking system.
Corner Mate: A checkmate which the king is stuck in the corner, with a rook or queen cutting off escape toward the center, and a knight delivering the fatal blow. The corner mate is seen frequently.
Correspondence Chess: Chess games played by mail. Its useful to improve in chess, learning openings and analyzing positions.
Corridor Mate: Another name for Backrank Mate.
Cozio's Mate: An upside down version of the Dovetail mate, Thr 1766 study by Cozio gave it its name.
Cramped position: Position in which the pieces have little room to move.
Creeping move: Kotov’s term for an unexpected move which appears to contain no threat but in fact contributes to a winning position.
Critical position: The point ina game where the decisive series of moves begin.
Cross: Double pin.
Crosstable: A chart which lists the complete results of a tournament.
Decoy sacrifice: A sacrifice which entices the movement of an opponents’s piece.
Deflection: Forcing a piece to leave its post, usually removing a defender, so to make the enemy defensive formation fall apart.
Desperado: a piece which is trapped or must inevitably captured or which is moved in order to inflict the greatest possible damage to the opposing side.
Diagram: A drwaing of a chess position.
Discovered attack: The movement of a piece or pawn which results in an attack by a piece not moved.
Discovered check: The movement of a piece or pawn which results in a check by a piece not moved.
Damiano's Mate: One of the oldest checkmates.It was published as a study by Damiano in 1512. It involves rooks sacrifices.
Damiano's Bishop Mate: A standard mate with queen and bishop.
David and Goliath Mate: A checkmate with a pawn.
Double Bishop Mate: A checkamte with thwo bishops against enemy king left by only a lowly pawn and stuck in the corner.
Double Lever: Kmoch's term for the situation where a pawn may be captured by either of two pawns, each in a different lever.
Double Round Robin: Tournament where each contestant plays two games (one as White and one as Black) with every other contestant.
Double-check: Check by two pieces at the same time
Doubled Pawns: Two pawns of the same color on the same file, which are nearly always a positional weakness.
Double-Move Chess: Chess variant where each player makes two consecutive moves.
Dovetail Mate: Checkmate with a Queen supported by a pawn behind against the enemy king left with a Rook and a lowly pawn.
Drawing Master: Deprecating term used to describe a strong player who draws an inordinate number of games.
Dresden 1926: Tournament won by Nimzowitsch (scoring 8-1/2 out of 9), 1-1/2 points ahead of Alekhine.
Dubai Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1986, won by USSR. Women's team winner was also USSR.
Dubai Olympiad;
Dubrovnik Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1950. Top men's teams: 1. Yugoslavia, 2. Argentina, 3. West Germany.
Dubrovnik Olympiad;
Duffer: Disparaging term to describe a very poor player.
Dundee 1867: Tournament held by the Dundee Chess Club (at that time, the strongest in Scotland). For the first time, draws were counted in the score. Neumann beat Steinitz by half a point with a score of 7-1/2.
Dynanism: Type of play where positional weaknesses are permitted in favor of aggressive counterplay. Dynamism developed out of the hypermodern school of Chess play.
Easy Mate: A short mate in 3 moves. Its notation is 1.e3, Nc6, 2.g3, Ne5, 3.Ne2, Nf3++
Edge: The "outside" squares of the Chess board, namely the first and eighth ranks and the a- and h-files.
EG: Endgame magazine published quarterly in England.
ELO Scale: System for ranking Chess players in order of relative strength based upon results in rated games. The important factor in comparing two players is the difference in their Elo ratings, not the absolute level of either rating. The Elo system was adopted by the USCF in 1960 and by FIDE in 1970. The system was devised by physicist Arpad Elo.
ELO System: A rating system which measures players playing power. ELO System was invited by Arpad E.Elo, Physics Professor of Milwaukee University. Its an international rating system.
Emmen Olympiad: System for ranking Chess players in order of relative strength based upon results in rated games. The important factor in comparing two players is the difference in their Elo ratings, not the absolute level of either rating. The Elo system was adopted by the USCF in 1960 and by FIDE in 1970. The system was devised by physicist Arpad Elo.
Emmen Olympiad;
En Prise: French for "in a position to be taken". A Chessman is en prise if it is left or moved to a square where it can be captured without loss to the capturing player.
Encyclopia of Chess Openings: Five volume collection of opening analysis edited by Matanovic. Originally published in the 1970s, it continues to be issued in revised form.
Endgame Study: A composed Chess position in which White must locate the unique win (sometimes a draw) according to the requirements set out by the composer. Studies tend to be more realistic than problems. Enthusiasts of studies value those of great originality and beauty.
Endgame: Also called the ending, this is the final state of the game, characterized by the relatively few Chessmen on the board. The king is typically used more aggressively in the ending than in the opening or middle-game. One of the most common concerns in the endgame is promotion of pawns.
Englisch Stalemate: An unusual stalemate, but it reflects a common theme of sacrficing all remaining metarial once the king is in stalemate position. It is named after a German, explaining the odd spelling.
En-Passant: French for "in passing". The capture of a pawn which has moved two squares forward by an opponent's pawn on the fifth rank. This move can only be made immediately following the move of the pawn two squares forward. The capturing pawn moves diagonally forward one square, and "captures" the pawn as if it had moved only one square forward. An en passant capture is sometimes recorded with "e.p.", e.g.: exd5 e.p.
Epaulet (Epaulette) Mate: Checkmate where the losing king is on the edge of the board with one of his own Chessmen on both sides of the king on the edge. Usually seen in back rank, sometimes in the center when one side castles late in the game, Queen mates the King who has no flight squares.
Equalize: To achieve a position where the opponent's initiative is negated. For example, White usually has the initiative in the opening and Black works to equalize, or overcome this initiative.
Escape Square: A square to which a king in check can move.
Etude: Artificial positions which includes a question like “white plays and win” or “white plays and gets the draw” and doesnt look for a number of moves of mate.
Euler: A closed Knight’s tour.
Europa Cup: Award presented by FIDE to the winning team in the European Team Championship. The award was first made in 1957.
Europe-Echecs: Monthly French magazine established in 1959 by Raoul Bertolo.
Europian Club Cup: Annual tournament begun in 1974 in which European clubs which have won their national club championship or which have been nominated by their national Chess federations compete.
Europian Junior Championship: International tournament held annually in Groningen, the Netherlands. First held in 1971, the tournament is open to the top European players aged 21 and under.
Europian-Team Championship: A championship team tournament played by teams of eight players. It is held every four years. Originally played as a round-robin, in 1989 it was changed to a Swiss System event.
ALIGN="JUSTIFY">Euwe: 5th Official World Champion.
Evergreen Game: Game between Anderssen and Dufresne in 1852. Steinitz gave the game the name "evergreen" because he felt it would remain forever fresh.
Exchange: The capture of a piece or a pawn while giving up material of equal strength. When capturing a rook while giving up only a bishop or a knight, one is said to "win the exchange".
Falnak Openings: Openings where White does not makes early advances of the d- or e-pawns, but develops on the a-, b-, and c-files or f-, g-, and h-files. The fianchetto is a common motif in flank openings.
Family Check: Bogoljubow's lighthearted term for a knight fork which includes an attack on the king.
Fegatello: Another term for the Fried Liver Attack, a line in the Two Knights Defense. Fegatello is derived from the Italian word for liver (fegato) and in the context of the opening refers to guts or courage.
Fers: The medieval name for the piece we now call the queen, derived from the Persian word vizier.
FIDE Master: Title below that of International Master. A player with a FIDE Master title usually has an Elo rating of at least 2350.
FIDE: Fédération Internationale des Échecs, the international Chess federation founded on 20 July 1924 in Paris. FIDE has more than 120 member countries, and concerns itself with all aspects of the game of Chess.
Fianchetto: The placement of a bishop on b2 or g2 for White, b7 or g7 for black. The term is derived from the Italian fiancata, meaning "moves played on the flank".
Fifty Move Rule: Chess rule which declares a game drawn when a player demonstrates that 50 moves have been played without the move of a pawn or without any captures. There are a small number of positions (for example, king and two knights versus king and pawn) where the number of moves before a draw can be declared is extended past 50 moves.
Figurine Notation: A system of recording the moves of a Chess game similar to Algebraic Notation except that small pictures of the pieces and pawns are substituted for their names. This method has been popularized by published articles in newspapers and other periodicals.
File: Any of the eight columns on a Chess board, denoted by its algebraic notation letter, for example "the a-file".
Fingerfehler: German for finger-slip, a description of an obvious but bad move made without thinking.
First Board: Also called top board, a term to describe the board in a team match which usually has each team's strongest player.
Fischer: 11th Official World Champion.
Fischer Clock: A clock which, in addition to serving the usual functions of a Chess clock, adds a certain amount of time to each player's clock after each move, in order to avoid desperate time scrambles at the end of a game, which often result in poor moves.
Fish: Derogatory term for a Chess player of little skill or experience.
Fixed Piece: The piece which cant be moved because of being in front of king or an important piece.
Flag: Part of an analog Chess clock. As the minute hand on the clock nears the 12, the flat is pushed upward. When the minute hand reaches 12 it no longer holds up the flag and it falls. The falling of the flag indicates that the player's time has expired, and if the requisite number of moves have not been played, the player is said to "lose the game on time" (i.e. the game is lost because time ran out, not because of the position on the board, although many games are lost on time when the position is poor and the losing player uses large amounts of time in an effort to try to find a way to save the game).
Flank Development: Developing pieces on either flank, for example to fianchetto a bishop.
Flank. Sometimes called wing, it is the a-, b-, and c-files or the f-, g-, and h-files.
Flight Square: A square to which a king in check can move.
Fluid Pawn Center: Any position where the center pawns can be advanced or exchanged.
FM: Fidemaster, the title given to players who play very well.
Folkestone Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1933. Top men's teams: 1. USA, 2. Czechoslovakia, 3. Poland.
Folkestone Olympiad;
Fool Mate: A very short mate resulting by three very wrong moves of a player. Its notation is 1.e3, f5, 2.d4, g5, 3.Qh5++
Fools Mate: The shortest possible Chess game ending in checkmate:
Forced Move: A move for which there is only one reply (or if more than one reply, all but one are undesirable).
Fork: An attack on two enemy Chessmen at the same time.
Fork: Threading two pieces at the same time.
Forsythe Notation: Compact and simple means of recording a Chess position, devised by Scottish player David Forsythe. Beginning at the top, left-hand corner of the board (a8) the position of the Chessmen as well as the unoccupied squares are recorded, rank by rank. White's men are recorded with capital letters, and Black's with lowercase letters.
French Bishop: Black's light-squared bishop in the French Defense, which tends to be very weak because of the pawn on e6.
Fried Chicken Tournament: Tournament in San Antonio, Texas held in 1972, won jointly by Karpov, Petrosyan, and Portisch who each scored 10-1/2 out of 15. The tournament got its name because it was sponsored by Bill Church, chairman of Church's Fried Chicken Inc. The tournament organizer was George Koltanowski.
Friends of Chess: British fund-raising organization founded in 1969 to promote and strengthen British Chess.
Frontier Line: Nimzowitsch's term for an imaginary line running between the fourth and fifth ranks.
Frontspan: Kmoch's expression for the squares on a file in front of a pawn.
Front-Twin: Kmoch's term for the more advanced pawn in a set of doubled pawns.
Gambit: Any opening which contains a planned sacrifice of material, usually to promote rapid development or control of the center.
Gambit: Gambit is an opening which one player sacrifices a piece.
Game of the Century: Widely-used, descriptive term for the Fischer-Byrne game (a Grünfeld Defense) in the 1956 Rosenwald tournament. Fischer, 13 year's old at the time, mated IM Byrne using a queen and rook sacrifice. Kmoch used the term "Game of the Century" in his Chess Life article to refer narrowly to Chess played by youngsters.
Gelbfuhs Score: Tie-breaking system applicable to tournaments where players do not all play the same number of rounds. An individual's Gelbfuhs Score equals the sum of scores of the players beaten, divided by the number of games played; plus one-half the sum of scores of players with whom draws were scored, divided by the number of games played. The Gebfuhs Score is equal to the Sonneborn-Berger score when all players play the same number of games.
Gens una Sumus: Latin for "we are one family". The official motto of FIDE.
German Four Masters Tournament 1937: A four-player, double-round robin tournament played in July of 1937 in Bad Nauheim, Stuttgart, and Garmisch-Partenkirchen. Euwe won with 4 points, Alekhine and Bogoljubow each scored 3-1/2, and Sämisch ended with one point.
Giuoco Pianissimo: Giuoco Pianissimo means "quietest game" in Italian.
Giuoco Piano: Giuoco Piano is Italian for quiet game. This opening is sometimes referred to as the Italian Game. It is one of the oldest openings on record.
GM: Abbreviation for International Grandmaster.
GM: Grandmaster. The top title given by FIDE. The players who are very strong, more than 2450+ rated are awarded by “Grandmaster” title.
Good Bishop: A bishop unhindered by its own pawns and thus is very mobile.
Good Pawn: The bishop whose moving ability is not limited by any pawn.
Goteborg 1920: Tournament held in Sweden and won by Réti (9-1/2), followed by Rubinstein (9), and Bogoljubow (8).
Gottingen Manuscript: A Latin document of 33 pages containing analysis of openings and Chess problems.
Grading: A numerical representation of the strength of a Chess player based upon his results in games against other graded players. In the US, the term rating is used in place of grading.
Grandmaster Draw: Deprecating term for a short, drawn game between grandmasters where it is obvious that neither player has made any attempt at playing for a win.
Grandmaster of Chess: Title bestowed by Czar Nicholas II upon the finalists of the 1914 St. Petersburg tournament: Alekhine, Capablanca, Lasker, Marshall, and Tarrasch.
Grandmaster of Russia among Women: Title established in 1975 by the USSR State Committee for Physical Education and Sport. The first person awarded the title was Nona Gaprindashvili.
Grandmasters Association: An organization founded in 1987 to promote in interests of Grandmaster. Often referred to by its abbreviation, GMA.
Great Bare King: Type of win where the victor checkmates the opponent on the same move that also leaves the loser with a bare king.
Greco's Mate: An old mate with a Queen and Bishop against the King in the corner left by a pawn in cross.
Greek Gift: The sacrifice of a bishop for black's pawn on h7, leading to a forced win.
Grob’s Attack: An irregular opening named after the Swiss (but born in Bohemia) IM Henry Grob (1904- 74). This opening is sometimes called the Spike.
Groningen 1946: An all-play-all tournament of 20 players won by Botvinnik (12-1/2), followed by Euwe (12). Other results included: Smyslov (12-1/2), Najdorf and Szabo (11-1/2). Many were surprised that such a large event could be organized in the Netherlands only 15 months after the conclusion of the war.
Gueridon: French for pedestal table. A position where a checkmated king has two defenders on diagonally adjacent squares and is attacked by the enemy queen which sits on an immediately adjacent square.
H-File Mate: A Checkmate where a Rook and Bishop are against a king and a pawn. Arises from fianchetto formation against the castled king. King pawn blocks King's only escaping square at f7.The way to this mate invloves sacrifices through kingside.
Hafia Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1976. Top men's teams: 1. USA, Netherlands, England won by USA. Top women's teams: 1. Israel, 2. England, 3. Spain.
Hague, The Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1928. Top men's teams: 1. Hungary, 2. USA, 3. Poland.
Hague, the Olympiad;
Haifa Olympiad;
Half-Open File: A file on which only one of the players has a pawn or pawns.
Hamburg Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1930. Top men's teams: 1. Poland, 2. Hungary, 3. Germany.
Hamburg Olympiad;
Hamilton- Russell Cup: Gold-plated trophy donated in 1927 by F.G. Hamilton-Russell for the winner of the International Team tournament (now Olympiad).
Handbuch Das Schachspiels: One of the most influential Chess books ever published. It was begun by Bilguer, completed by von der Lasa, and first published in 1843. The first edition was some 500 pages and by its eighth revision (1916--with the appendix completed in 1923) it was 1040 pages long. Often referred to simply as "Handbuch". It became less popular as the Hypermodern school of Chess developed.
Handicap: A means of trying to equalize chances in a game played between opponents of greatly different strengths. There are numerous methods of implementing a handicap; the stronger player might (among other things): treat a draw as a loss; play several opponents at the same time; give his opponent more time on the clock; give his opponent two moves in a row at the opening of the game; or remove one or more of his men from the board before play begins.
Hanging Pawns: Steinitz's term for two adjacent pawns which are on the fourth rank, cannot be supported by other pawns, are not passed pawns, and which are on half-open files.
Hanging: Slang term to describe a piece left en prise.
Harkness Score: Tie-breaking system applicable to Swiss tournaments. The scores of the opponents of each of the tied players are summed, first leaving out the highest and lowest scores. In tournaments with a large number of rounds, two or more of the highest and lowest scores may be deleted. Also called the Median Score.
Harassment: Threating an enemy piece, attacking to an enemy piece.
Hastings 1895: The strongest English tournament ever held (up to that time) and still one of the strongest tournaments ever held in England. The tournament was an all-play-all with 22 players. Pillsbury was unknown going into the tournament, and was the surprising winner with 16-1/2 points. Others finishing at the top were Chigorin (16), Lasker (15-1/2), and Tarrasch (14).
Hastings: A town in Sussex, England, on the south coast. Since 1920, a Chess congress is held there which begins in late December.
Hauptturinier: German for major tournament. Begun in 1908, it was an annual tournament for strong regional players. Winners were permitted to play in a master tournament and those who scored 33% or better in the master tournament were awarded the Master title.
Havana Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1966. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. USA, 3. Hungary.
Havana Olympiad;
Heavy Piece: A queen or rook. Sometimes called a major piece.
Heavy Pieces: Rooks and Queen
Helpmate: A special Chess problem invented by Max Lange where both sides cooperate in mating the black king.
Helsinki Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1952. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Argentina, 3. Yugoslavia.
Helsinki Olympiad;
Hole: Steinitz's term for the square directly in front of a backward pawn, where an opponent's piece cannot be attacked by a pawn.
Home Pawns: Kmoch's term for the pawns in front of the castled king.
Home Side: Kmoch's term for the flank which contains the castled king.
Hoogoven: Dutch ironworks firm which has sponsored international Chess tournaments since 1938. The tournaments were held in Beverwijk until 1968 when the site was moved to Wijk ann Zee.
Hook Mate: A checkmate with a rook, knight and a pawn in a suitable place against the King who has lost his last flight square because of his lonely pawn.
Housed in the University of Göttingen Library, it is believed to have been written by Lucena, circa 1500.
Hypermodern: A school of thought developed after World War I in reaction to the views of Steinitz and Tarrasch. The most important idea of the hypermodern school is that control of the center isn't vital, rather one can put pressure on the center or even just carefully monitor it, and still win. The leaders of the hypermodern movement--Nimzowitsch, Réti, Breyer, Grünfeld, and Tartakower--were strong players and often witty writers. Many hypermodern ideas are still considered valid today, but so are many of the ideas of Steinitz and Tarrasch.
ICCF: International Correspondence Chess Federation.
Illegal Move: A move which is in violation of the Laws of Chess. If an illegal move is discovered during the course of a game, the game will be returned to the point it was before the illegal move was made. The player who made the illegal move must move the piece he had previously moved illegally, if he can make a legal move with that piece. Otherwise, he is permitted to make any legal move.
Illegal Position: A position which is not the result of a series of legal moves. Thus, an illegal move necessarily leads to an illegal position. Other sources of illegal positions include: incorrect positioning of the Chess board and incorrect arrangement of the Chessmen either at the beginning of the game or at the time an adjourned game is resumed. If it is possible, the position must be corrected, otherwise a new game must be played.
IM: Abbreviation for International Master.
IM: International master. The title given to players who gained many successes in tournaments and play very well.
Immortal Game: Name given to the Anderssen-Kieseritsky game of 1851, a spectacular example of the King's Bishop Gambit. The game was played in one of London's great Chess salons, Simpson's-in-the-Strand.
Indian Defenses: Hypermodern defenses to 1.d4 beginning with 1...Nf6. Indian defenses commonly employ a bishop fianchetto and slow development. Its name comes from this slow development, which was common in India, which only permitted pawn moves of a single square, long after Europe had adopted the option of a two-square advance on the first move of a pawn.
Inner Lever: Kmoch's term for a lever which slopes toward the center. An inner lever for one player will be an outer lever for the other.
Inner Pawn: Kmoch's term for a pawn on any file except the a- or h-file.
Inside Chess: Chess magazine founded in 1988, with Yasser Seirawan as editor. It is published in Seattle, Washington (USA).Its an excellent national magazine for serious amateurs.It reports on all the most important chess events as soon as they happen.
Interference: A tactic which is based on placing a piece on a rank, file or diagonal, so that it can stop the communication between the enemy pieces.
Intermezzo: In-between move. Ignoring an enemy piece's threat and creating a threat to an eenemy piece with a diffeent piece as a reply.
International Arbiter: A title first awarded by FIDE in 1951. A candidate is nominated by his federation, and may be selected by the qualification committee if he: has a complete knowledge of the rules of Chess and FIDE regulations; is objective; has knowledge of at least two FIDE languages (English, French, German, Spanish, and Russian); has experience in controlling four important tournaments, two of which must be international.
International Chess Magazine: Magazine founded and edited by Wilhelm Steinitz and published in New York from 1885 to 1891. Steinitz wrote most of the material himself.
International Computer Chess Association ( ICCA ) : The association which organizes the World Computer Chess Championship held every three years, and the World Microcomputer Chess Championship held every year.
International Grandmaster: Title established in 1950 and awarded by FIDE. FIDE has detailed requirements for the title, which is awarded to only the best players in the world. A player with a FIDE Grandmaster title, often abbreviated GM, usually has an Elo rating of at least 2500.
International Master: Title established and awarded by FIDE, often abbreviated IM. An IM is a stronger player than a FIDE Master, but not as strong as an International Grandmaster, and usually has an Elo rating of at least 2400.
International Rating List: A list of the world's strongest players, compiled by FIDE using the Elo rating scale. It was first published in July 1971.
International Woman Grandmaster: Title established in 1976 and awarded by FIDE to the world's strongest women players.
Internet Chess Server: Any of several computers on the Internet (an international computer network) which permit computer users to play real-time Chess games with other players on the Internet. People connected to the ICS can also observe other games in progress and communicate with each other.
Interposition: The movement of a piece in between a piece which is attacked and its attacker.
Interspan: Kmoch's expression to denote the number of squares on a file that separate pawns of opposite color. The greatest interspan occurs at the beginning of the game.
Interzonal Tournament: One tournament in a series of competitions held by FIDE to select a challenger to the World Champion. Winners of the 14 Zonal championships compete in the Interzonal tournaments, which were first held in 1948. The top players from the Interzonals play in the Candidate matches which conclude when a challenger emerges.
Isolated Pawn: A pawn whose adjacent files contain no pawns of the same color. An isolated pawns is weak because it, and the square in front of it, cannot be defended by other pawns.
Isolated Pawn: The pawn being separated from other pawns.
Isolated Queens Pawn: The pawn which is in front of the queen, its used to create complicated positions, moved forward to limit opponents moving and attacking ability, gaining area advantage, having better development, attacking king and creating combinations. Isolated Queens pawns advantage ends in the end game and becomes weak. The player playing against isolated queens pawn always tries to make the game simple, prefers open game. Player using isolated queens pawn must protect it well and avoid its being captured to use its advantages in middlegame. The player playing against isolated pawn must try to block it, sacrifice a piece to end its power or exchange it with weak pawns.
Ynitiative: Term to describe the advantage held by the player who has the ability to control the action and flow of the game thus forcing the opponent to play defensively.
J’ adoube: French for "I adjust". Expression used by a player on the move before touching a Chessman, generally to move it to the center of its square. A piece or pawn so adjusted does not have to be the man which will be the subject of the player's official move.
Joke Opening: Alekhine's derogatory term for the Modern Defense.
K: Abbreviation for king.
Kagan’s Neueste Schachnachrichten: German Chess periodical ("Kagan’s Chess Newssheet") published by Bernhard Kagan from 1921 until his death in 1932.
Karnamak: Persian epic written about 600 AD. Possibly the first piece of literature to refer to Chess.
Karpov: 12th Official World Champion.
Kasparov: 13th Official World Champion.
Key: The unique, first move in the solution to a Chess problem.
Kibitz: To comment during a game, or during analysis following a game, within the hearing of the players. The term is often used in a pejorative sense, and is in many occasions applied to the comments of a spectator for whom the players have little respect.
Kibitzer: One who kibitzes.
King's Head Stalemate: A rare stalemate which occurs in the middle of the board.
King Hunt: A prolonged attack on the opponent's king which usually dislodges it from a shielded, defensive position with a series of checks and sacrifices. A successful king-hunt ends in checkmate.
King Pawn Opening: Any opening beginning with 1.e4.
King Wing: f, g, h decades are called king wing.
King: The most important of the Chessman, and consequently usually the largest. The king may move one square in any direction, and a game is over when the king is checkmated.
King’s Fianchetto Defense: Another name for the Robatsch Defense.
King’s Fianchetto Opening: Another name for the Benko Opening.
King’s Field Sacrifice: A sacrifice in the vicinity of the castled king, usually against the f-, g-, or h-pawn.
Kingpin: British satirical Chess magazine published three times a year.
Kingside: The half of the board with the e-, f-, g-, and h-files.
Knight Fork: Any double attack by a knight.
Knight: A Chess piece which moves either two squares vertically and one square horizontally or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. In the first step of this move, the knight may pass "through" squares already occupied. The knight's move has not changed since Chess was devised.
Knight’s Tour: A Chess puzzle whereby the knight is moved 64 times, landing on each square only once. A solution is called "re-entrant" if the knight finishes on a square which is a knight's move away from the square where it began.
Kolibri Opening: Another name for Grob's Attack.
L’ Echiquier: Belgian magazine published from 1925 to 1939. It was the first to use Figurine Notation.
La Strategy: French Chess magazine published from 1867 to 1940.
Ladder: A fluid method of ranking Chess players within a club or other group. The ladder is usually established by listing players according to their Chess rating. Any player may challenge someone one step above them on the ladder (sometimes two or more places). If the challenger wins, he moves up the ladder and his opponent moves down.
Larsen Attack: Also called Larsen's Opening, the Nimzowitsch Attack or the Queen's Fianchetto Opening.
Las Palmas: Port city of the Grand Canary Island in the Canary Isles of Spain. Site of an annual international Chess tournament since 1972.
Lasker: 2nd Official World Champion.
Lasker Trap: A trap in the Albin Counter-Gambit, resulting in a winning position for Black:
Lasker’s Manuel of Chess: Chess textbook aimed at intermediate-strength players and above, written by World Champion Emanuel Lasker. The English edition was translated by the author himself, first appearing in 1932.
Last Knight of The King’s Gambit: Term sometimes applied to Rudolf Spielmann.
Laws of Chess: The rules which govern the play of the game. During the 1850s, Staunton was one of many players who first sought to establish a unified set of Chess laws. FIDE established its own laws of Chess in 1929.
Le Palamede: The first Chess magazine, published in Paris from 1836 to 1840. La Bourdonnais was the editor and claimed he had 236 subscribers.
Lee: Kmoch's expression for the part of a rank divided by a pawn having the fewer number of squares.
Legal Move: Move permitted by the Laws of Chess.
Legal’s Mate: A mating sequence appearing in the game between M. de Kermar Légal and Saint Brie in about 1750. Its not seen much, it can only appear after very few openings. Black must make a terrible blunder.
Leipzig Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1960. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. USA, 3. Yugoslavia.
Leipzig Olympiad;
Leningrad: Site of half of the 1941 USSR Absolute Championship (other half held in Moscow) and the second half of the 1986 World Championship (first half held in London).
Leucopenia: Kmoch's expression for a lack of control of the light squares.
Lever: Kmoch's term for a white and a black pawn which are diagonally adjacent so that either can capture the other.
Lewis Chessmen: Chess pieces made of walrus tusk discovered on the Isle of Lewis (outer Hebrides) in 1831. They were probably made in the 11th or 12th century and now are on display in the British Museum.
Libraries: Libraries distinguished by their volumes on Chess include the Cleveland Public Library (containing the J.G. White Collection) and the Royal Library in The Hague (containing the Van der Linde-Niemeijer Collection).
Light Bishop: A bishop which moves on light-colored squares.
Light Piece: Another expression for minor piece: a bishop or a knight.
Lightining Chess: Another term for speed or Blitz Chess.
Linares: Small city in south-central Spain which has been the site of numerous strong, international tournaments.
Liquidation: The exchange of Chessmen to stunt an opponent's attack or to solidify one's own advantages or improve one's own position.
Little Bare King: A win which includes baring the king, but in which the capture which bares the king does not also deliver checkmate.
Little Olympiad: A team tournament held in 1926 in Bucharest. It was meant to be a proper Olympiad, but the delay in issuing invitations resulted in participation of only four counties sending one team each.
Liverpool Mercury: The first English newspaper to feature a Chess column. The paper published the column from July 1813 to August 1814.
Living Chess: The performance of a Chess game where the pawns and pieces are represented by real people. The performance may be a re-enactment of a famous game or a new game.
Lolli's Mate: A checkmate by Queen and a pawn. Usually invloves sacrifice at h-file, so that the queen can come to h6 with gain of tempo.
London 1851: The first international Chess tournament. Staunton suggested holding the tournament and also raised the prize fund. The tournament had a knockout structure and 16 players. Anderssen won, with Wyvill, Williams, and Staunton also faring well. This tournament is also known as the Great Exhibition Tournament.
London 1862: The first international round robin tournament. It was also the first tournament to have a time control: 20 moves in two hours. Draws did not count and all drawn games were replayed. Anderssen won the 14-player tournament, followed by Paulsen, Owen, MacDonell, Dubois, and Steinitz.
London 1883: An international tournament with a prize fund of over £1,000--the highest of its time. Zukertort won, followed by Steinitz and Blackburne.
London 1899: A double-round robin tournament with 15 players, one of the strongest tournaments ever held. Lasker won the tournament with a score of 22-1/2. Other strong performances were made by Janowski (18), Marøczy (18), Pillsbury (18), Schlechter (17), Blackburne (15-1/2), and Chigorin (15).
London 1922: A 16-player tournament won by Capablanca (13) followed by Alekhine (11-1/2). This was Capablanca's first tournament after winning the World Championship.
London 1927: International tournament featuring seven top international players and five top British players. Top scores: Nimzowitsch (8), Tartakower (8), Marshall (7-1/2), Vidmar (7), and Bogoljubow (6-1/2).
London Chess Club: One of the top Chess clubs of the 19th century, it lasted from 1807 to 1870. By the mid-nineteenth century it has lost some of its prestige with the formation of the St. George's Club which had Staunton as its leading member.
London Olympiad: The first Olympiad, held in 1927, won by Hungary. Denmark was second, England third.
London Olympiad;
Lone Pine: A town in Eastern California and the site of an annual international tournament since 1971, often featuring some of the world's strongest players.
Long Algebraic Notation: A form of algebraic notation. A move is designated by a letter indicating the piece moved, plus the square the piece moves from as well as the square the piece moves to (e.g. Bc1-g5). Pawn moves are designated by the starting square an the destination square (e.g. e2-e4).
Long Castling: Expression sometimes used to describe castling queen-side.
Longest Game: The longest game played by top players was played in Belgrade in 1989. I. Nikolic and Arsovic drew in 269 moves.
Loose Lever: Kmoch's term for a lever such that either side have the option of capturing or moving past the opponent's pawn.
Lopez Bishop: White's light-squared bishop in the Ruy Lopez (Spanish Game). It often reaches a position where it puts pressure on Black's center and/or Kingside.
Losing on Time: A player loses on time if he has not completed the required number of moves in the allotted time. If the opponent does not have sufficient material to prove a win, the game is drawn.
Losing the Exchange: To exchange a rook for either a bishop or knight.
Lublin Olympiad: Women's Olympiad held in 1969. Top teams: 1. USSR, 2. Hungary, 3. Czechoslovakia.
Lublin Olympiad;
Lucena Position: A well-known and well-analyzed rook and pawn ending first analyzed in a book by Lucena, published in 1497.It isn't by Lucena at all.It also takes place in a book called 2nd Puttino by Dr Alessandro Salvio published in 1634.
Lucerne Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1982, won by USSR. Women's team winner was also USSR.
Lucerne Olympiad;
Luff: Kmoch's expression for the part of a rank divided by a pawn having the greater number of squares.
Luft: German for "air", a flight square for the king.
Lugano Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1968. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. Bulgaria.
Lugano Olympiad;
Madrid 1973: One of the strongest tournaments ever held in Spain, or at least the mainland of that country, won by Karpov (11), followed by Tukmakov (10-1/2), Furman (10), and Hort and Uhlmann (9-1/2).
Magnus Smith Trap: A trap which can arise in some lines of the Sicilian Defense.
Mahrisch – Ostrau 1923: A tournament in which Lasker first met some of the leading exponents of the Hypermodern school. The tournament was won by Em. Lasker (10-1/2), ahead of Reti (9-1/2), and Grünfeld (8-1/2). Playing with Black, Lasker won his game against Reti.
Maiden’s Game: A Chess variant where a capture must be made whenever it is possible.
Major Piece: A queen or a rook.
Majority: A player's numerical superiority of pawns on one flank. Such a majority is important because it may lead to the creation of a passed pawn.
Malta Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1980, won by USSR. Women's team winner was also USSR.
Malta Olympiad;
Maltese Cross: A double pin which exploits pins on a rank and a file. Its rare.
Manchester Chess Club: Oldest Chess club in continuous existence in Great Britain, founded in 1817.
Mandarins of the Yellow Button: A group of Boston Chess players at the end of the 19th century. The "Yellow Button" refers to a symbol of status in the Chinese civil service. The group has since been replaced with the Deschapelles Chess Club of Boston.
Manhattan Chess Club: Oldest Chess club the US, founded in 1877. Club members organized important New York tournaments in 1924 and 1927.
Manila 1974: Philippine tournament won by Vasiukov (10-1/2) followed by Petrosyan (9-1/2), and Larsen (9).
Mannheim 1914: An 18-player tournament which was abruptly halted because of the outbreak of war. At the time the tournament was halted (after round 11 of a planned 17) Alekhine was the leader (9-1/2) and was in fact named tournament victor, followed by Vidmar (8-1/2), Spielmann (8), Breyer, Marshall, and Reti (7).
Mar Del Plata: Resort city in Argentina which has been the site of many international tournaments.
Marienbad 1925: Tournament won by Rubinstein and Nimzowitsch, followed by Marshall, Torre, Reti, and Tartakower.
Maroczy Bind: White's control of the center white squares--which "binds" Black--that may result from certain lines in either the Sicilian Defense or the English Opening.
Marseillaise Chess: A Chess variant where each player makes two consecutive moves.
Marshall Chess Club: New York City Chess club founded by Frank Marshall in 1915 (originally named the Chess Divan); rival of the Manhattan Chess Club.
Marshall Swindle: Another expression for swindle, so named because Marshall was well-known for finding ways to play on in what seemed like lost positions. He named a collection of his games "Chess Swindles".
Master Tournament: A tournament held simultaneously with another tournament of greater strength, the latter usually containing many grandmasters as participants. The winner of the master tournament is often granted an invitation to the following year's higher level tournament.
Master: Title offered by many national Chess federations to strong players.
Masters of the Chess Board: Book by Reti about 17 very strong players, including biographical information, game analysis, and some of Reti's own theory. Published in 1933.
Mat du Bergier: French for "Shepherd's Mate". Called Scholar's Mate in English.
Mat Etouffe: That is a kind of mate. In that kind of mate, knight mates the opponents king in a position that king cant move and escape, because its pressed in the corner by his own pieces.
Match of the Century: The 1970 match between the USSR and the Rest of the World which was played in Belgrade. The match consisted of four games on each of 10 boards. The USSR team won by 20-1/2 to 19-1/2. The individual scores were as follows (Soviet players listed first): Spassky and Stein 1-1/2, Larsen 2-1/2; Petrosyan 1, Fischer 3; Korchnoi 1-1/2, Portisch 2-1/2; Polugayevsky 1-1/2, Hort 2-1/2; Geller 2-1/2, Gligoric 1-1/2; Smyslov 2-1/2, Reshevsky and Olafsson 1-1/2; Taimanov 2-1/2, Uhlmann 1-1/2; Botvinnik 2-1/2, Matulovic 1-1/2; Tal 2, Najdorf 2; Keres 3, Ivkov 1.
Match Tournament: A tournament where contestants play matches with all other participants in the tournament. Such matches are generally four games or more.
Match: (i) A contest between two players only, as distinguished from a tournament. The term often refers to a contest of many games, but is sometimes used to describe a single game. The first major Chess match was between La Bourdonnais and McDonnel in 1834.
Mate Net: Kings facing many dangerous and strong attacks at an unsafe place.
Mate: Short for checkmate.
Mating Attack: An attack which aims at checkmate.
Mating Net: A position where one player has mating threats.
Mating Sacrifice: A material sacrifice made to achieve checkmate.
Mattison's Stalemate: This stalemating pattern involves a king trapped by a queen (or rook), a king and a knight. Mattison's stalemate is very uncommon, but can easily be overlooked.
Max Lange Attack: Line which arises out of either the Two Knights Defense or the Giuoco Piano:
Max Lange's Mate: Usually the result of some tactical operation. The queen and bishop are used together to checkmate an enemy king trapped by two of its own pawns or pieces. The queen arrives via the back rank, and often after a discovered check when the bishop has forced the king to the corner, as in the following example.
MCO: Abbreviation for Modern Chess Openings.
Mechanical Move: A move made with little thought because it seems to be obvious.
Medellin Olympiad: Women's Olympiad held in 1974. Top teams: 1. USSR, 2. Romania, 3. Bulgaria.
Medellin Olympiad;
Median Score: A tie-breaking system applicable to Swiss tournaments. The scores of the opponents of each of the tied players are summed, first leaving out the highest and lowest scores. In tournaments with a large number of rounds, two or more of the highest and lowest scores may be deleted. Also called the Harkness Score.
Melanpenia: Kmoch's expression for a lack of control of the light squares.
Mephisto: Constructed by Charles Godfrey Gumpel and first demonstrated in London in 1878, Mephisto was described as a Chess playing automaton. It was in fact a device which contained a person who played Chess. Operated by Isidor Gunsberg, it was the first automaton to win a Chess tournament.
Meredith: Any Chess problem which has between eight and 12 pieces, named after problemist William Meredith.
Miami Capablancas: Chess team which included Arnold Denker and which helped to establish the National Chess League in the US.
Middle-Game: The part of a Chess game which follows the opening and comes before the endgame.
Mikenas Variation: A subline of the Anglo-Indian line of the English Opening.
Milan 1975: A 12-player tournament, the strongest of the year, which began with a round-robin. The top four players then participated in a match play-off. Portisch scored highest in the first part but lost in the play-off to Karpov.
Miniature: (i) Also called brevity, a short game—usually about 20 moves or less. Many writers use the term only for entertaining games and therefore do not generally include draws in this category.
Minor Exchange: Tarrasch's term for the exchange of a knight for a bishop. Because he preferred bishops, he described the player who gave up the knight as winning the minor exchange.
Minor Piece: A bishop or a knight.
Minor Piece Mate: A checkmate with only a knight and bishop against the king even its protected by his pieces.
Minority Attack: The advance of one or more pawns on a flank where the opponent has a pawn majority.
Mobility: The ability to move one's pieces to important parts of the board quickly and easily.
Modena School: A school of thought developed by Ercole del Rio, Giambattista Lolli, and Domenico Ponziani during the 18th century. They advocated rapid development and the dynamic use of pieces.
Modern Chess Openings: An influential encyclopedia of Chess openings first published during the 1930s and regularly updated. Its editors have included R.C. Griffith, J.H. White, Ruben Fine, and Larry Evans.
Moller Attack: Line in the Gioco Piano.
Monaco: The site of two important series of tournaments. In 1901 through 1904, winners of the Monaco tournaments were Janowski, Marøczy, Tarrasch, and Marøczy. The second series of Monaco tournaments were held in Monte Carlo in 1967 and 1968. In 1967 Fischer won ahead of Smyslov, Geller, and Larsen. In 1968 Larsen finished first ahead of Botvinnik, Hort, and Smyslov.
Monochromy: Kmoch's expression for insufficient control of the squares of one color.
Monte Carlo 1967: A ten-player tournament won by Fischer (7/9). Other high finishers were Smyslov (6-1/2), Geller and Larsen (6), Matanovic (5), and Gligoric and Lombardy (4-1/2).
Monte Carlo 1968: Strong tournament won by Larsen (9-1/2/14). Other high finishers were Botvinnik (9), Hort and Smyslov (8-1/2), and Byrne (8).
Montpellier 1985: City in southern France and site of the 1985 Candidates Tournament. The four top players--Yusupov, Vaganian, Sokolov, and Timman--advanced to the next round of the world championship cycle.
Montreal 1979: Ten-player double-round robin tournament. Tal and Karpov both earned 12 points, followed by Portisch with 10-1/2.
Morals of Chess: 1779 essay by Benjamin Franklin outlining the merits of Chess and advocating a specific set of rules of etiquette for play.
Morphy: A famous American unofficial World Champion.
Morphy’s Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez:
Morphy's Mate: A checkmate with a Rook and Bishop found by Paul Morphy.
Morra Gambit: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Moscow 1925: A 21-player tournament won by Bogoljubow (15-1/2), followed by Em. Lasker (14), Capablanca (13-1/2), and Marshall (12-1/2).
Moscow 1935: A 20-player tournament, with 12 Soviet players and eight foreign players, including Vera Menchik. Botvinnik and Flohr tied for first place (13), ahead of Em. Lasker (12-1/2), Capablanca (12), and Spielmann (11).
Moscow 1936: A ten-player double-round robin played by five Soviets and five foreign players won by Capablanca (13), ahead of Botvinnik (12), Florh (9-1/2), and Lilienthal (9).
Moscow 1956: A 16-player tournament won by Botvinnik and Smyslov (11), ahead of Taimanov (10-1/2), Gligoric (10), Bronstein (9-1/1), and Najdorf (9).
Moscow 1964: A FIDE zonal tournament (a double-round robin) won by Spassky (7), ahead of Bronstein and Stein (6-1/2), Kholmov (6).
Moscow 1967: Named the "50th Jubilee Tournament", this all-play-all tournament featured 18 players and was won by Stein (11) followed by Gipslis, Bobotsov, Smyslov, and Tal (10).
Moscow 1971: Called the "Alekhine Memorial", this 18-player all-play-all was won jointly by Karpov and Stein (11) followed by Smyslov (10-1/2), and Tukmakov and Petrosyan (10).
Moscow 1981: A 14-player all-play-all tournament won by Karpov (9), followed by Polugayevsky, Smyslov, and Kasparov (7-1/2).
Moscow Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1956. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. Hungary.
Moscow Olympiad;
Motzko Variation: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Muller-Zhuravlev Gambit: Line in the French Defense.
Munich International Junior Team Tournament 1972: Team tournament held along with the Munich Olympics of 1972. It was a Swiss System tournament with the final result based on match scores rather than the cumulative game scores of each team. England took first place.
Munich Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1958. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. Argentina.
Munich Olympiad;
Muse of Chess: Another term for Caissa.
Mute Chain Lever: Kmoch's term for a chain lever in which neither side's base pawn is under attack.
Muzio Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
Muzio- Polerio Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
My 60 Memorable Games: Bobby Fischer's collection of his best games from 1957 to 1967. The book contains not only Fischer's own analysis of each game, but an introduction to each game written by Larry Evans.
My Best Games of Chess 1908-1923: Alekhine's collection of 100 of his best games. Together with the sequel "My Best Games of Chess 1924-37", they are considered among the greatest collections published.
My Best Games of Chess 1924-37: Volume two of Alekhine's own collection of Chess games, this volume containing 140 games including his world championship matches.
My System: Aaron Nimzowitsch's immensely influential work describing his theory of Chess, first published in English in 1929.
Mysterious Rook Move: The movement of a rook to a closed file to discourage the opponent from making a freeing move because such a move would bring the rook into play, a strategy advocated by Nimzowitsch.
N: Abbreviation for knight.
Najdorf Variation: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
National Chess Day: October 9th, 1976. US President Gerald Ford set the day aside "to give special recognition to a game that generates challenge, intellectual stimulation, and enjoyment for citizens of all ages."
National Master: Title granted by national federations to strong players, usually those with a sustained ELO rating of 2200 or above.
Neo-Catalan System: Line in the Catalan Opening.
Neo-Indian Defense: Another name for the Queen's Indian Defense.
Neo-Orthodox Variation: Line in the Orthodox Variation to the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Neo-Romantic: A style of play developed in the twentieth century. This style incorporates the romantic tradition of aggressive attack, and couples this aspect of play with a strong defense.
Nerves: Nerves are very important for chess. A good chess player must not very surprised after a move of his opponent that he was not waiting. Being calm is very important.
Neustadtl Score: Another name for the Sonneborn-Berger Score.
New in Chess: Monthly Chess magazine edited by Jan Timman and quarterly volumes edited by Gennadi Sosonko published in Holland since 1984.This magazine has lots of games analyzed by grandmasters,plus interviews with the movers and shakers of the chess world.
New York 1857: The first US championship tournament, won decisively by Morphy.
New York 1889: Officially called the Sixth American Chess Congress, but unlike the previous five congresses, this one included several foreign players. There were 20 players, each scheduled to play all others twice (a third game was added if the second game was drawn). Chigorin and Weiss won the two-month long tournament with 29 points, followed by Gunsberg 28-1/2, and Blackburne 27.
New York 1924: An 11-player double-round robin tournament won by Em. Lasker (16), followed by Capablanca (14-1/2), Alekhine (12), Marshall (11), and Reti (10-1/2).
New York 1927: A six-player tournament originally scheduled to determine a challenger to Capablanca. (Capablanca agreed to play Alekhine for the world championship before this tournament took place.) Capablanca won the tournament, followed by Alekhine and Nimzowitsch.
Nice Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1974. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. USA.
Nice Olympiad;
Nimzowitsch Attack: Also called Nimzowitsch-Larsen Attack, Larsen’s Opening, Larsen Attack, or the Queen's Fianchetto Opening.
Nimzowitsch Line ( Nimzo Indian Defense): Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Nimzowitsch Variation ( Benoni): Line in the Benoni Defense.
Nimzowitsch Variation ( French Defense): Line in the French Defense. Usually called the Winawer Variation.
Noordwijk 1938: A small, strong tournament won by Eliskases (7-1/2) followed by Keres (6-1/2), Pirc (5-1/2), and Euwe (5).
Norm: The number of points a player in an international tournament must score to gain one qualification for a FIDE title. The weaker the tournament, the more points a player must score for any given norm.
Normal Opening: An old name for the French Defense.
Normal Position: A position in Evans Gambit.
Notation: Any means of recording a Chess game.
Nottingham 1936: One of the strongest tournaments ever held in Great Britain. This all-play-all event was Emanuel Lasker's last tournament. Botvinnik and Capablanca tied for first place.
Novice: A beginning Chess player.
Nuremberg Variation: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Nuremburg 1896: A 19-player tournament won by Lasker (13-1/2) followed by Marøczy (12-1/2), Pillsbury (12), and Tarrasch (12).
Oberhausen Olympiad: Women's Olympiad held in 1966. Top teams: 1. USSR, 2. Romania, 3. East Germany.
Oberhausen Olympiad;
Oblique Cross: A pin which involves a diagonal pin, but has a rank or file pin as its partner.
Obstructive Sacrifice: A material sacrifice to hinder an opponent's development.
Official Rules of Chess: Official FIDE publication setting forth the Laws of Chess.
Old Benoni: Also known as the Czech Benoni.
Old Indian Defense: Also known as the Chigorin Indian Defense.
Olympiad: Tournaments organized by FIDE, now held every two years in which teams from FIDE member countries compete. The first Chess Olympiad was held in London in 1927L48. The first Olympiad for women Chess players was held in 1957.
Opatija Variation ( Pirc Defense): Line in the Pirc Defense. Also known as the Panov Variation.
Open Decade: The decade having no pawns. Open decades arise after an exchanging, a capture by a pawn, a pawns being captured, pressure or a sacrifice. Heavy pieces must use open decades, especially they must attack and try to move to opponents 7th and 8th squares. Heavy pieces must attack the king, try to create combinations about 8th square and gaining material advantages. Simply open decade must be controlled, heavy pieces must be moved to 7th and 8th square and then a tactical attack must be implemented. Strategic advantage must be enlarged by tactics. Attacking to open decades and using tactical and positional arts shows a players real skill.
Open Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez. Also known as the Tarrasch Defense.
Open File: A file which has no pawns. Sometimes called an open line.
Open Game: A term usually used to denote games beginning 1.e4 e5, and which is characterized by piece mobility.
Open game: The games starting with the openings 1.e4, e5. And having less complicated positions are called open games.
Open Tournament: A tournament which is open to any player.
Open Variation ( Ruy Lopez ) : Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Opening: The beginning part of a Chess game, during which the players develop all or most of their pieces. The opening is followed by the middle-game.
Opera Mate: White uses a rook on the back rank, supported by a bishop which also cuts off the escape route of the enemy king. An enemy pawn or piece, other than a knight, occupies the other possible flight square. The opera mate is named after a famous game played by Paul Morphy against royal opposition at the Paris Opera during 1858.
Opposition: A position where the two kings are on the same rank, file, or diagonal. When only one square separates the kings, they are said to be in direct opposition. When there are three to five squares separating them, they are said to be in distant opposition. A player is said to "have the opposition" if the kings are in direction opposition and his opponent must move, thus allowing the player with the opposition to advance his king.
Opposition: Positional strategic war of kings in the endgame.
Orangutan: 1.b4. Also known as Sokolsky's Opening, Polish Opening, and Polish Attack.
Organic Weakness: Any permanent imperfection in a pawn structure.
Orthodox Variation ( Queen’s Gambit Declined): Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Ostend 1905: A 14-contestant double-round robin won by Marøczy (19-1/2) followed by Janowski and Tarrasch (18), and Schlechter (15-1/2). Twelve brilliancy prizes were awarded at this tournament.
Ostend 1907: A 6-player match tournament, each contestant playing four games with each of the other contestants. Tarrasch won with 12-1/2 points, followed by Schlechter (12), Janowski and Marshall (11-1/2), Burn (8), and Chigorin (4-1/2).
Outer Lever: Kmoch's term for a lever which slopes away from the center. An outer lever for one player will be an inner lever for the other.
Outpost: Term coined by Nimzowitsch; a piece placed on a square (on an open or half-open file) on the opponent's side of the board, protected by a pawn, which cannot be attacked by an enemy pawn. The power of the piece on the outpost can be so strong the opponent may be forced to exchange it, even at the cost of material or positional loss.
Outside Passed Pawn: A passed pawn away from most of the other pawns on the board.
Over the Board: A description of games played face to face, as opposed to correspondence Chess.
Overload: A situation where a pawn or piece must perform too many defensive functions, so that if one it is forced to perform one function a weakness will be created.
Over-Protection: Nimzowitsch's concept of concentrating many pieces and/or pawns--even more than might seem necessary--on an important square. This creates a strong square which interacts beneficially with the over-protecting pieces.
Owen’s Defense: 1.e4 b6.
Oxford-Cambridge Matches: Regular match between a team from Oxford and a team from Cambridge. Proposed by Staunton in 1853, the first match took place in 1871 and is now held annually.
P: Abbreviation for pawn in descriptive notion. It is also sometimes employed by analysts who use Algebraic Notation, not in the recording of the game, but in annotations to make clear that the writer is describing a particular pawn (e.g. Pe5) and not a particular square.
Pairings: A listing of who plays whom at a tournament.
Palamede: The first Chess magazine. It was founded in 1836 by La Bourdonnais and named after the ancient Greek inventor Palamedes. Publication ceased in 1847.
Panov- Botwinnik Attack ( Caro Kann): Line in the Caro-Kann.
Panov Variation ( Alekhine’s Defense): Line in Alekhine's Defense.
Panov Variation ( Pirc Defense ) : Line in the Pirc Defense. Also known as the Opatija Variation.
Paris 1867: A 13-player double-round robin tournament won by Kolisch (20), followed by Winawer (19), and Steinitz (18).
Paris 1878: Tournament held in conjunction with the World Exhibition. Top scores included: Zukertort and Winawer (16-1/2) (Zukertort won the playoff), Blackburne (14-1/2), Bird and Mackenzie (13), Anderssen (12-1/2). This was Anderssen's last tournament.
Paris 1924: Amateur tournament held at the same time as the Chess Olympiad, won by Mattison (5-1/2) of Latvia, followed by Apscheneek (5) and Colle (4-1/2).
Paris 1990: Tournament held in conjunction with the World Exhibition, won by world champion Emanuel Lasker (14-1/2), followed by Pillsbury (12-1/2), Marøczy and Marshall (12).
Paris Defense: Line in the Giuoco Piano.
Paris Defense: Line in the Giuoco Piano.
Parry a Check: To place a Chessman between the king in check and the checking piece. This is one of three ways to meet a check, the other two being moving the king or capturing the checking piece. If a player in check cannot employ one of these three ways to meet the check, the king is checkmated and the game is over.
Partie: French for game.
Passed Pawn: A pawn which has no enemy pawn opposing it on its own file or on any immediately adjacent file.
Passive: (i) Description of a move which contains no threats; (ii) Description of a piece with limited mobility, i.e. a piece which is not active.
Patzer: A weak player. Sometimes used more specifically to describe a weak player who either does not recognize his deficiencies or who may boast of his ability.
Pawn Chain: A diagonal set of pawns which protect each other.
Paulsen's Stalemate: A stalemate seen when a king and a bishop avoids the enemy king's all legal moves.
Pawn Chain: Pawns being connected and defending each other is called a “pawn chain”. Pawn chains are used in French Defense, Caro Kann Defense, Benoni Defense and so on.. Nimzowitsch has serious studies about pawn chains.
Pawn Grabbing: Deprecating term to describe the act of winning pawns at the expense of development or countering an opponent’s attack.
Pawn Power in Chess: Han Kmoch’s book analyzing the strength and use of pawns in Chess.
Pawn Push: Another term for Pawn Storm.
Pawn Roller: Another term for Pawn Storm.
Pawn Storm: The general advance of two or more connected pawns. A pawn storm may be employed to attack the king, to promote one of the pawns, to keep some of the opponents’ pieces away from another part of the board, among other things.
Pawn Structure: Description of the overall position of one player's pawns on the board.
Pawn: Physically, the smallest unit on the Chessboard. A pawn moves straight ahead but captures diagonally. Originally, a pawn could only ever move a single square forward. During the renaissance a player was given the option of moving a pawn forward two squares on its first move. If a pawn reaches the eighth rank, it must be promoted to another piece.
PCA Candidates Matches: Matches organized by the PCA to select a challenger for Kasparov, who won the first PCA world championship in 1993.
PCA: Abbreviation for Professional Chess Association.
Perfect Cross: Double absolute pins.
Perfect Score: Term to describe the score of a player who wins all his games in a tournament or match.
Perpetual Check: A position where one player can continue to place his opponent's king in check without threatening checkmate. Such a game is drawn because either the player with perpetual check will eventually be able to make a threefold repetition of the position or both players will agree to a draw.
Petrosian: 9th Official World Champion.
Petrosian System: Line in the King's Indian Defense.
Phalanx: Pawn structure where two or more pawns of the same color are side-by-side, i.e. on the same rank and on adjacent files.
Philodor Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
Philodor’s Lagency: A form of smothered mate.
Philodor's Position: A frequent endgame with rooks and pawns.
Philodorian: First English-language Chess magazine, published in England from 1837 to 1838 and edited by G. Walker.
Piatigorsky Cup 1963: The first of two tournaments sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation. Held in Los Angeles, the tournament was won by Keres and Petrosyan (8-1/2) followed by Najdorf and Olafsson (7-1/2).
Piatigorsky Cup 1966: The second of two tournaments sponsored by the Piatigorsky Foundation. Held in Santa Monica, California, the tournament was won by Spassky (11-1/2), followed by Fischer (11), and Larsen (10).
Piece: A king, queen, rook, bishop, or knight.
Pillsbury Attack: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Pillsbury's Mate: A bishop and Rook against the King, a Rook and two pawns. The mating position is usually achieved with a discovered check, with the bishop retreating to open up the file, but it is sometimes seen with a capture at g6.
Pillsbury Variation: Line in Petroff's Defense.
Pin: A piece or pawn which is immobilized because it stands between its king (or other piece) and an opponent's piece which would otherwise be attacking the king (or the other piece).
Pincer Lever: Kmoch's term for two levers which in tandem attack a pawn chain at two points, include its base.
Pirc Variation: Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Pistyan 1912: An 18-competitor tournament won by Rubinstein (14), followed by Spielmann (11-1/2), and Marshall (10-1/2).
Pistyan 1922: A 19-player tournament won by Bogoljubow (15), followed by Alekhine and Spielmann (14-1/2).
Play-Off: A method of breaking a tie where the tied players play one or more games against each other.
Pocket Chess Set: A small, portable Chess set. Such a set usually folds, and most have either:
Poisoned Pawn: A pawn (often White's pawn on b2) which is undefended during the opening but which if taken, often permits the player who gave up the pawn to engage in a strong attack or to later win the piece taking the pawn.
Polerio Variation: Line in the Two Knights Defense.
Polish Attack: 1.b4. Also known as Orangutan, Sokolsky's Opening, and Polish Opening.
Polish Gambit: 1.Nf3 d5 2.e4. Also known as the Zukertort Gambit, Abonyi Gambit, Lemberg Gambit, Lvov Gambit, and the Tennyson Gambit.
Polish Opening: 1.b4. Also known as Orangutan, Sokolsky's Opening, and Polish Attack.
Positional Sacrifice: A sacrifice of material which improves the position of the sacrificing player.
Postalite: Informal term for a player of postal or correspondence Chess.
Post-Mortem: The discussion of a game after it has been completed. A post-mortem may be made by the two players (alone or with others), may be made by one of the players with other interested parties, or may be made by people who were not involved in the game.
Practical Work: Playing many games with any level of rated players.
Prague 1908: Tournament held in conjunction with the Prague Trade and Commerce Exhibition, won by Duras and Schlechter (13-1/2) followed by Vidmar (13), Rubinstein (12-1/2), and Teichmann (12).
Prague 1942: Tournament held to celebrate the 60th birthday of Duras, won by Alekhine and Junge (8-12/), followed by Foltys (7), and Opocensky and Zita (6-12/).
Prague 1946: Tournament won by Najdorf (12-1/2), followed by Stolz and Trifunovic (9), and Foltys and Gligoric (8-12/).
Prague Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1931. Top men's teams: 1. USA, 2. Poland, 3. Czechoslovakia.
Prague Olympiad;
Praxis: German for practice and commonly used in Chess literature because of the great influence of Nimzowitsch’s book Chess Praxis.
Prepared Variation: An opening line which a player discovered in study before a tournament and which the player only makes public when played over the board.
Preventive Sacrifice: Sacrifice made to prevent the opponent from castling. Also known as Anti-Castling Sacrifice.
Professional Chess Associaiton: Organization founded by Garry Kasparov and Nigel Short in 1993 when they decided not to play for the world championship under the auspices of FIDE.
Promotion: When a pawn reaches the eighth rank it must immediately become a piece of its own color (except a king) at the player's choice--regardless of what pieces he may still have on the board. Generally, a player will promote a pawn to a queen.
Prophylaxis: Nimzowitsch's expression for positional play strategy where the opponent’s position is kept constricted.
Protected Passed Pawn: A passed pawn which is protected by another pawn.
Pseudo-Austrian Attack: Line in the Modern Defense.
Psychological Tactic: A tactic implemented by grandmasters and masters. When the opponent is not an unusual one, playing with openings which the opponent will face difficulties because of his different style, creating positional conditions with tactical game.
Pterodactyl Variation: Line in the Modern Defense.
Pursuit: Attacking, threating an enemy piece.
Q: Abbreviation for queen.
Quaade Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
Quality Advantage: Having more valuable pieces than the opponent.
Queen Wing: a, b, c decades are called queen wing.
Queen: The strongest piece on the board (but second in size to the king) and which combines the moves of the bishop and the rook, namely is able to move along diagonals, ranks, or files as far as such lines are unobstructed.
Queen and Pawn Mate: A checkmate by a Queen supported by a pawn at cross behind.
Queen Corner Stalemate: One of the simplest stalemates. The White king is trapped in the corner by an unassisted queen.
Queen’s Fianchetto Opening: 1.b3. Also called Larsen Attack or the Nimzowitsch Attack.
Queen’s Gambit Accepted: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 dxc4.
Queen’s Gambit Declined: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 e6.
Queen’s Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4
Queen’s Indian Defense: 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 b6.
Queen’s Pawn Counter Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 d5.
Queen’s Pawn Opening: 1.d4.
Queening Square: The 8th rank square to which a pawn is moved, and then must be promoted. This promotion square is called the queening square because the promotion choice is nearly always a queen.
Queenside: The a-, b-, c-, and d-files.
Quiet Move: A move which contains no immediate threat, which does not make a capture, and which is not a check.
R: Abbreviation for rook.
Ragozin: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Rank: Any horizontal row on a Chessboard.
Rapid Chess: A Chess game where each player has 30 minutes in which complete the game; previously called Active Chess by FIDE. In the US, the preferred term is Action Chess and in the UK the expression Quick Play is employed.
Rat: Another name for the Modern Defense.
Rating: A numerical representation of the strength of a Chess player based upon his results in games against other graded players. In the UK, the term grading is used in place of rating.
Rearspan: The squares of a file which lie behind a pawn.
Rec.games.Chess: A Chess discussion group on the Internet (an international computer network) where subjects discussed include tournament results (recent and old, local and international), openings, player biographies, computers, the Internet Chess Server, magazines, and Chess controversies.
Recording a Game: The process of writing down all the moves of a game, generally done at or near the time each move is played.
Refute: To prove that a previously accepted move, line, or opening is deficient when best play is pursued by both sides.
Relative Pin: A pin which involves a pinned piece that is of greater value than the piece it shields.
Remus: German for draw.
Repetition of Position: A player may claim a draw if he can demonstrate that a three-fold repetition of the position has occurred, with the same player having the move each time.
Resign: To admit defeat of a game before being checkmated. The resigning player commonly tips over his king to signal resignation or says “I resign” to the opponent. Resignation immediately ends the game.
Reti Gambit: Line in the Reti. 1.Nf3 d5 2.b4.
Reti Opening: 1.Nf3 d5. Also known simply as the Reti.
Reti: 1.Nf3 d5. This opening is known both as the Reti or Reti's Opening.
Reti's Mate: A checkmate requires the corporation of four pieces which must occupy four flight squares. The bishop controls the diagonal squares, and a rook or queen covers the open files and protects the bishop.
Retrograde Analysis: To analyze a position to deduce previous moves or to explain how the position was reached.
Reykjavik 1988: An 18-player all-play-all won by Kasparov (11), followed by Beliavsky (10-1/2), and Tal (10).
Reynold’s Variation: Line in the Meran Defense of the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Rice Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
Richter Attack: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Bg5.
Richter-Rauzer: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Riga Variation: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Rimpawn: Kmoch’s term for a pawn on the a- or h-file.
Rio de Janeiro Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 Nf6. Also called the Berlin Defense.
Robatsch Defense: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 (or 1.d4 g6 2.e4 Bg7). Also called Modern Defense or Ufimtsev Defense.
Roget’s Knight’s Tour: A type of knight’s tour where the board is divided into quarters and the knight is moved to every square of one quarter before proceeding to the next quarter.
Romanishin Variation: Line in the Scotch Game.
Romih Variation: Line in the Semi-Meran.
Rook: A heavy piece which moves along the ranks and files.
Rook Pawn Stalemate: A common stalemating pattern.
Rotterdam 1989: A 16-player round robin won by Timman (10-1/2), followed by Karpov (9-1/2), Vaganian (9), and Nunn (8-1/2).
Round Robin: Tournament where each contestant plays one game with every other contestant.
Royal Game: Commonly used description for the game of Chess.
Rubinstein System: Line in the French Defense.
Rubinstein Variation: Line in the English Opening.
Rubinstein: Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Russian Defense: Old name for the Slav Defense.
Russian System: Line in the Grünfeld Defense.
Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. One of the oldest Chess openings. Also known as the Spanish Game, it was analyzed by Ruy Lopez in his 1561 book "Libro del Ajedrez".
Sacrifice: To deliberately give up material to achieve an advantage. The advantage gained might be an attack, gain in tempo, greater board control, creating an outpost, etc.
Salvio Gambit: Line in the King's Gambit.
Samisch Variation (2): Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Samisch Variation: Line in the King's Indian Defense.
San Antonio 1972: One of the strongest tournaments held in the US, won by Petrosyan, Portisch, and Karpov (10-1/2), followed by Gligoric (10), and Keres (9-1/2).
San Remo 1930: Tournament won by Alekhine, who scored 14/15, followed by Nimzowitsch (10-1/2), and Rubinstein (10).
San Sebastian 1911: A 15-competitor round robin held in Spain and won by Capablanca (9-1/2), followed by Rubinstein and Vidmar (9), and Marshall (8-12/). Organized by Mieses, this and San Sebastian 1912 were the first tournaments which all players were provided travel money and living expenses.
San Sebastian 1912: An 11-competitor round robin held in Spain and won by Rubinstein (12-1/2), followed by Nimzowitsch and Spielmann (12).
Sandglass: Early form of Chess clock, also known as an hourglass. Each player was given his own sandglass, which was set upright on the player’s move and sand would fall. After the move was made, the sandglass was set on its side so no more sand would fall and the opponent’s sandglass was set on its end.
Saragossa Opening: 1.c3.
Scandinavian Defense: 1.e4 d5. Also known as the Center Counter Defense.
Scandinavian Variation: Line in the King's Gambit. 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4 3.Nf3 d5.
Schacchia Ludus: Medieval poem by Vida (the title means "The Game of Chess"), written in 1513. It inspired Sir William Jones's 1763 poem "Caissa".
Schakend Nederland: Dutch Chess magazine which became the continuation of Tijdschrift van de Koninklijke Nederlandse Schaakbond, the latter founded in the 19th century.
Scheveningen 1923: A 20-player tournament, ten players being foreign and ten being Dutch. Top players: Spielmann and P. Johner (8-1/2), Colle, Marøczy, Réti (8), and Mieses and Yates (7).
Scheveningen: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Schlechter Variation (2): Line in the Slav Defense to the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Schlechter Variation: Line in the King's Gambit.
Schlechter’s Variation: Line the Three Knights Game.
Schlechter-Rubinstein Variation: Line in the Tarrasch Defense.
Schliemann Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 f5. Also called the Jänisch Defense.
Schliemann Deferred: Line in the Ruy Lopez. See also Schliemann Defense.
Schmid Benoni: 1.d4 c5.
Scholar’s Mate: Fool Mate.
School Mates: A chess magazine of US Chess Federation devoted just for kids.
Schwalbe: German word for swallow. A German Chess problem magazine.
Score Sheet: The paper on which a Chess score is recorded.
Score: (i) a written record of a game containing all the moves; (ii) a player’s result in a game, match, or tournament.
Scotch Four Knights: Line in the Four Knight's Game.
Scotch Gambit: Line in the Scotch Game.
Scotch Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4.
Sealed Move: The last move made before a game is adjourned. The move is not played on the board, but recorded on the player’s score sheet. Both players’ score sheets are then placed in an envelope which is sealed and presented to the arbiter.
Second: Term for someone who assists a Chess player, generally providing advice on openings and assisting with analysis. The assistance may be in preparation for a match or tournament or may take place during a match or tournament (before an adjourned game is resumed, for example) or both.
See-saw: Term to describe a series of alternating direct and discovered checks.
Semi-Meran: Line in the Meran Variation Semi-Slav Defense.
Semi-Open Decade: The decade having only one sides pawns
Semi-Open Game: A term used to describe a game where one player’s position is open and the other player’s position is closed.
Semi-Slav Defense: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Semmering 1926: An 18-competitor tournament won by Spielmann (13), followed by Alekhine (12-1/2), Vidmar (12), Nimzowitsch and Tartakower (11-1/2).
Semmering-Baden 1937: An eight-player double-round robin won by Keres (9), followed by Fine (8), Capablanca and Reshevsky (7-1/2).
Seven Stars of Berlin: Another term for the Berlin Pleiades.
Seventh Rank: The rank on which an opponent’s pawns are placed at the beginning of the game. The seventh rank is an important location for rook placement.
Shakhmatny Bulletin: Soviet Chess magazine established in 1955.
Shakmatny USSR: Soviet monthly Chess magazine.
Sham Sacrifice: A move which on the face of it appears to be a sacrifice, but if accepted will yield the player offering the piece a gain in material or a strong positional advantage.
Sharp: Descriptive term applied to a move or a series of moves which could be considered risky.
Shiny Game: A game which includes very good moves.
Short Castling: Castling on the kingside.
Shot: Colloquial term for a very strong and unexpected move.
Sicillian Defense: 1.e4 c5.
Siegen Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1970. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Hungary, 3. Yugoslavia.
Siegen Olympiad;
Simagin’s Improved Variation: Line in the Grünfeld Defense.
Simagin’s Lesser Variation: Line in the Grünfeld Defense.
Simplify: To exchange material in order to reduce the possibility of an opponent’s attack. The player with the better position is more likely to simplify than the player with the worse position.
Simul: Another term for Simultaneous Display.
Simultaneous Chess: Grandmasters or masters sometimes play 25-40 players at the same time. We call this simultaneous game. The master or grandmaster starts from the first table and makes a move in every time one by one. After completing his first move in all tables, he again goes to first table and makes his 2nd move there, then makes his 2nd move in 2nd table, then 3rd and so on. Games rules are just like in normal games, but you only ought to play when the master or grandmaster comes to your table, you cant make a move before he comes to your table. But its obvious that master will come to your table quickly after defeating others. Also, you must again have to move the piece you touched just like in normal game. Simultaneous game records are Capablanca 103, Marschall 155, Najdorf 250, Koltanowsky 271, Bohm 460.
Simultaneous Display: Event where a single player (commonly a strong player) play several people all at the same time. Numerous boards are set up, in a circle or rectangle, and the single player stands “inside” this area, moving from board to board, usually playing a single move at a time. Also known as Simultaneous Exhibition or Simul.
Singleton: Kmoch’s term for an Isolated Pawn.
Skelleftea 1989: A 16-player tournament held in Sweden and won by Karpov and Kasparov (9-1/2), followed by Portisch, Seirawan, and Short (8-1/2).
Skewer: An attack on a piece which results in the win of another, less valuable piece which is on the same rank, file, or diagonal, after the attacked piece is moved.
Skittles: Informal or casual Chess games, often played quickly.
Skopje 1967: Tournament won by Fischer (13-1/2), followed by Geller and Matulovic (13), and Kholmov (11-12/).
Skopje 1976: Tournament won by Karpov (12-1/2), followed by Uhlmann (11), and Timman (10-1/2).
Skopje Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1972. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Hungary, 3. Yugoslavia. Women's results: USSR, Romania, Hungary.
Skopje Olympiad;
Slav Accepted: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Slav Declined: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined.
Slav Defense: 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6.
Sliac 1932: Tournament won by Flohr and Vidmar (9-1/2), followed by Pirc (8-1/2), Canal, Marøczy, and Spielmann (8).
Smith-Morra Gambit: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Smothered Mate: A form of checkmate where the king is unable to move because all the squares around him are occupied by Chessmen.Mate is done by a knight and the king is pressed in the corner, unable to move anywhere.
Smyslow: 7th Official World Champion.
Smyslow Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Smyslow System (2): Line in the King's Indian Defense.
Smyslow System: Line in the Grünfeld Defense.
Sokolsky’s Opening: 1.b4. Also known as the Orangutan or the Polish Opening.
Solkoff Score: A tie-breaking system applicable to Swiss tournaments. A player's Solkoff Score is equal to the scores off all his opponents.
Sonneborn-Berger Score: A tie-breaking system. An individual's Sonneborn-Berger score equals the sum of the scores of the players beaten plus half the sum of the scores of players with whom draws were scored.
Soul of Chess: Philidor’s description of pawns in Analyse du Jeu des Echecs (Analysis of Chess).
Sozin Attack: Line in the Sicilian Defense. Also known as the Velimirovic Attack.
Span: Kmoch’s expression for the squares in front of and behind a pawn.
Spanish Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. Also known as the Ruy Lopez. One of the oldest Chess openings, it was analyzed by Ruy Lopez in his 1561 book "Libro del Ajedrez".
Spassky: 10th Official World Champion.
Spassky Variation: Line in the Dutch Defense. 1.d4 f5 2.Nf3 e6 3.g3 d5. Usually called the Leningrad Dutch.
Speculative: Description of a move or series of moves when the outcome cannot be known.
Spielmann Variation: Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Spike: 1.g4. Also known as Grob's Attack or the Kolibri Opening.
Spite Check: A check by a player facing a mating attack which does not prevent the mating attack but only delays it.
Split Olympiad: Women's Olympiad held in 1963. Top teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. East German.
Split Olympiad;
St.Andrew's Cross: double pin against enemy king and another against a second piece.
St.George’s Defense: 1.e4 a6.
St.Petersburg 1895-96: A four-player match tournament where each player met the others six times. Lasker won with 11-1/2 points, followed by Steinitz (9-1/2), Pillsbury (8), and Chigorin (7).
St.Petersburg 1909: A 19-player tournament (a memorial to Chigorin) won by Lasker and Rubinstein (14-1/2), followed by Duras and Spielmann (11), and Bernstein (10-1/2).
St.Petersburg 1914: Two stage tournament which began with 11 competitors. The top five finishers moved on to play in the second stage, and here Lasker won the tournament. The top five were also awarded the title Grandmasters of Chess by Czar Nicholas II, thus becoming the first grandmasters.
Stalemate: Situation where a player on the move is not in check but cannot make a legal move. For over 100 years this has been deemed a draw. Before that, stalemate was treated differently in different places, for example it has been held to be a win, a loss, and illegal, among others.
Staunton Chessmen: Chessmen designed in 1835 by Nathaniel Cook who convinced Howard Staunton in 1852 that they should be designated Staunton Chessmen. They are the Chessmen required by FIDE.
Staunton Gambit: Line in the Dutch Defense. 1.d4 f5 2.e4 fxe4.
Steamroller: Another term for Pawn Storm.
Steinitz: First official World Champion.
Steinitz Defense Deferred: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Steinitz Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 d6.
Steinitz Gambit: Line in the Vienna Game.
Steinitz Variation (2): Line in the Scotch Game.
Steinitz Variation: Line in Petroff's Defense.
Stenitz Variation (3): Line in the Two Knights Defense.
Stockholm Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1937. Top men's teams: 1. USA, 2. Hungary, 3. Poland.
Stockholm Olympiad;
Stonewall Dutch: Line in the Dutch Defense.
Stone-Ware Defense: Line in the Evans Gambit.
Strategy: The overall, long-range plan for a Chess game.
Strategy: The plan to gain advantage.
Student Mate: A short mate in 4 moves. 1.e4, e5, 2.Bc4, Bc5, 3.Qf3, d6, 4.QXf3++
Suffocation Mate: Similar to Smothered Mate.The knight will attack the enemy king from a safe distance. The king can not escape with his own pieces and an enemy bishop depriving him of air, even in the corner of the board.
Suicide Mate: A very short mate resulting by two very wrong moves of a player. Its notation is 1.f3, e5, 2.g4, Qh4++
Svenonius Variation: Line in the French Defense.
Svensson Score: Another name for the Sonneborn-Berger Score.
Sveshnikov Sicillian: Line in the Sicilian Defense. Also known as the Lasker-Pelikan, the Pelikan, or Lasker's Defense.
Swallow-Tail Mate: Also known as the Gueridon Mate. It is similar to the epaulette mate except that the Black pieces are pushed back a rank.
Swedish Variation: Line in the Tarrasch Defense.
Swindle: A combination employed by a player with a losing position which converts his position into a win or draw. Such a combination is generally considered to be either avoidable by the opponent or the result of luck.
Swiss System: A method of pairing players at a tournament, developed in Switzerland in the 19th century by Dr. Julius Muller and first employed in 1895. The three fundamental rules of the Swiss System are: (i) No player meets the same opponent twice; (ii) Pairings should match players with scores which are as similar as possible; (iii) The number of games as White and as Black for each player should be kept as close as possible to equal throughout the tournament.
Swiss Variation: Line in the French Defense.
Switzerland System: The system which is used to organize tournaments. When there are many players joining a tournament, players are matched with each other by their ELO points.
Symmetrical Defense: Line in the Queen's Gambit. 1.d4 d5 2.c4 c5.
Symmetrical Pawn Structure: Position where the pawns of one side mirrors the position of the pawns of the other side.
Symmetrical Variation: Line in the English Opening.
Symmetry: Position where the Chessmen of one side mirrors the position of the Chessmen of the other side.
Symslow’s System: Line in the Ruy Lopez.
Tactic: The art of implementing plan by using the forces.
Tactics: A move or moves which are expected to yield benefits in the short-term.
Taimanov Sicillian: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Taimanov Variation: Line in the Nimzo-Indian Defense.
Tal: 8th Official World Champion.
Tarrasch Defense: Line in the Ruy Lopez. Also known as the Open Defense.
Tarrasch Variation: Line in the French Defense. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nd2.
Tartakower System: Line in the Queen's Gambit Declined. Also called the Makagonov-Bondarevsky.
Tartakower Variation (2): Line in the Caro-Kann.
Tartakower Variation: Line in Alekhine's Defense.
TD: Abbreviation for tournament director.
Technique: Technique is the sum of chess knowledge and experience. Its shortly the art of winning a won game.
Tel Aviv Olympiad;
Tel-Aviv Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1964. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. West Germany.
Tempo: A players attacking his opponent immediately when he is more powerful than him in the game is called tempo. Tempo means gaining a move, not waiting even one second for attacking, its changing an advantage to a bigger one.
Tempo: Latin for time. Generally, to lose a tempo is disadvantageous and a general rule of thumb is that the loss of three tempi is equivalent to the loss of a pawn.
Tennyson Gambit: 1.Nf3 d52.e4. Also known as the Zukertort Gambit, Abonyi Gambit, Lemberg Gambit, Lvov Gambit, and the Polish Gambit.
Terminal Pin: A pin which is against a mating square, if the piece is moved, the other side mates and the game ends.
Text Move: In annotations, a reference to the move actually played or the main line being analyzed.
Thematic Move: A move which is consistent with the overall strategy pursued by the player.
Theoretical Work: Studying openings, strategies, tactics, problems and analyzing games by the help of chess books.
Theory: Term to refer the general body of accepted Chess knowledge.
Therkatz Variation: Line in the Giuoco Piano.
Thessaloniki Olympiad (2): Olympiad held in 1988, won by USSR. Women's team winner was Hungary.
Thessaloniki Olympiad (i);
Thessaloniki Olympiad (ii);
Thessaloniki Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1984, won by USSR. Women's team winner was also USSR.
Threat: A move which contains an implied or expressed attack on a piece or pawn or the position of the opponent.
Three Knights Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3.
Tie-Breaking System: A method used to determine a single winner when tournament play produces a tie. One tie-break is the play-off, but due to the time it takes to play additional games, this is often not feasible. Ties are sometimes resolved in favor of the player who won the most games, the player who won the individual game between the tied players, or the player who had Black if the individual game between the players was drawn.
Tietz System: A tie-breaking system sometimes used to spread out the prize fund in a round robin tournament.
Tight Lever: Kmoch's term for a lever where one pawn is also opposed by a pawn of his opponent.
Time Limit: The amount of time allocated to each player in which a prescribed number of moves must be made. Failure to make all the moves within the time allotted results in a loss (or a draw in a small number of situations).
Time Trouble: Situation where a player has a small amount of time to make a large number of moves.
TN: Abbreviation for theoretical novelty -- a new move in an established opening.
Top Board: In a team match, the player who competes against the strongest opponents. Sometimes referred to as first board.
Torre Attack: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 e6 3.Bg5.
Touch Move: Chess rule which requires a player who touches a piece to actually move that piece (if it is his own) or take that piece (if it belongs to his opponent). If the piece touched cannot be legally moved or captured, then the player may make any move. A player may touch and piece and not be compelled to move or capture it if he first announces J’adoube or I adjus”.
Tournament Book: A collection of all the games of a tournament (or selected games if the tournament is very large). Generally a tournament book will also include some or all of the following: crosstables, complete or partial results, annotations of interesting or important games, background information on players or the tournament, and photographs.
Tournament: A contest among more than two Chess players.
Training: Training provides preparation chess tournaments and its a source of information. Training’s purpose is to train intelligent players and providing practice to masters, keeping masters playing level same.
Trap: A move whose natural reply results in a disadvantage to the replying player.
Trap: A plan arises from opponents mistake.
Traxler Counter Attack: Line in the Two Knights Defense. Also known as the Wilkes-Barre Variation.
triangle”. Triangulation is generally employed only in endings.
Triangulation: A process whereby a king is moved twice to reach a square which could be attained in a single move. The beginning square and the two squares to which it is moved form a “
Trifunovic Variation: Line in Alekhine’s Defense.
Tripled Pawns: Three pawns of the same color on a single file.
Trompowski Attack: 1.d4 Nf6 2.Bg5.
Turk: A machine created in 1769 by Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen, consisting of a life-sized figure dressed in Turkish robes attached to a cabinet, which was described as a Chess playing automaton. It was operated by many strong players and was the subject of great speculation.
Two Knight’s Formation: Line in the Sicilian Defense.
Two Knights Defense: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6.
Two Knights Variation: Line in the Caro-Kann. 1.e4 c6 2.Nc3 d5 3.Nf3.
Udemann Code: Chess notation created to be transmitted via telegraph.
Ufimtsev Defense: 1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7.
Unblocks Check: Check by moving a piece between the king and the checking piece.
Underpromotion: Promoting a pawn which has reached the eighth rank to a piece other than a queen.
Undoubling: To move one of a set of doubled pawns onto an adjacent file which contains no pawns of its own color, via a capture.
Unit: A term which refers to both pieces and pawns.
United States Chess Federation: Official governing body for Chess in the United States. Often referred to by its abbreviation, USCF.
Vacating Sacrifice: A sacrifice intended to clear a square for a another piece.
Van’t Kruijs Opening: 1.e3.
Variant: The way to continue an opening, move chain for a certain purpose.
Varna Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1962. Top men's teams: 1. USSR, 2. Yugoslavia, 3. Argentina.
Varna Olympiad;
Velimirovic Attack: Line in the Sicilian Defense. Also known as the Sozin Attack.
Vera Menchik Club: The light-hearted name given to that group of top male players who had lost games to Vera Menchik, a strong female player. "Club" members included Euwe, Reshevsky, Mieses, and Sultan Kahn.
Vienna 1873: A 12-player match tournament where each player met each opponent three times. The tournament was won by Steinitz who beat Blackburne in a play-off match.
Vienna 1882: An 18-player double-round robin won by Steinitz and Wenawer (24) followed by Mason (23).
Vienna 1898: A 19-player double-round robin won by Tarrasch (27-1/2), followed by Janowski (25-1/2), and Steinitz (23-1/2).
Vienna 1922: Tournament won by Rubinstein (11-1/2), followed by Tartakower (10), and Wolf (9-1/2).
Vienna Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nc3.
Volga Gambit: Another name for the Benko Gambit.
Von Hennig-Schara Gambit: Line in the Tarrasch Defense.
Wade Variation: Line in the French Defense.
Warsaw Olympiad.
Warsaw Olympiad: Olympiad held in 1935. Top men's teams: 1. USA, 2. Sweden, 3. Poland.
Weak Square: An important square which cannot be easily defended.
Westphalia Defense: Line in the Queen's Gambit.
Wiener Schachzeitung: Austrian Chess periodical published from 1898-1916, 1923-38, and 1948-9.
Wilkes-Barre: Line in the Two Knights Defense.
Winawer Variation: Line in the French Defense. 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4. Sometimes called the Nimzowitsch Variation.
Windmill: Repeated use of a discovered check to win material.
Wing Gambit: Line in the Sicilian. 1.e4 c5. 2.b4.
Winning Move: A move which creates a position in which the player can or does win.
Winning the Exchange: Giving up a knight or a bishop for a rook.
Wolf's (Wolff's) Stalemate: Wolff's stalemate will often come as a surprise, because the king is not at the edge of the board. A rook cuts off the file, and a protected pawn eliminates another two flight squares. A friendly pawn and enemy king are involved,too.
Woodpusher: Derogatory term for a player who shows no understanding for Chess but rather appears to simply push his pieces around the board.
X: A symbol used in both algebraic and descriptive notation to indicate a capture.
X-Ray: Another term for skewer.
Tower Stalemate: A kind of stalemate that the king is prevented from fleeing from his cell in the corner, because a rook eliminates all flight squares.
Yugoslav Attack: Line in the Sicilian.
Yugoslav Variation: Line in the King's Indian Defense.
Zandvoort 1936: Dutch tournament won by Fine (8-1/2), followed by Euwe (7-1/2), and Keres and Tartakower (6-1/2).
Zeitnot: It means time pressure in chess. The player being in Zeitnot has a very less time, but he has to make too many moves ( In official matches, each player has to make at least 40 moves in 2 hours). As an example, if one of the players making his 23rd move has only 10 minutes left, he must make other 17 moves in 10 minutes which means he will have limitations about thinking. Calculating variations slow and not enough, having a bad physical condition, having less practices, bad theoretic opening resulting in losing a huge time in the beginning of the game, calculating variants hard, facing a complex and unknown position, looking for the best move for a long time, overvaluing opponents power, a players not trusting him or herself, concentration faults, remembering mistakes done before, missed advantages, unrelated things about the game can cause zeitnot.
Zugzwang: During a game, its one of the players turn to move and he must move. But he hasn’t got a sensible move. So, the move that he will make will make him lose the game. If it wasn’t his turn, if it was his oppo
