Chess Glossary: the words you hear when people watch and talk chess

Read a game commentary, open a chess book or just chat with friends about chess, and you'll run into a pile of jargon. This page gathers the most common terms in one place, each explained in a sentence or two; if you want diagrams, follow the link to the full article. Look things up as you play: start a game of free online chess.

The board and notation

• Files and ranks: the vertical columns are files, labeled a to h; the horizontal rows are ranks, numbered 1 to 8. Every square is named file + rank, like e4.
• Diagonal: a slanting line of squares, the path bishops and queens travel along. The two that run corner to corner are the "long diagonals".
• Kingside and queenside: the e–h half of the board is the kingside, the a–d half is the queenside, named after where the king and queen start.
• Center: the four squares d4, d5, e4 and e5. Fighting for the center in the opening is the most basic principle there is.
• Notation: recording each move with letters and square names, so Nf3 means a knight moves to f3. The full system is in reading chess notation.

Rules

• Check: attacking the enemy king. The side in check must get out of it immediately.
• Checkmate: in check with no way out. Game over, you lose.
• Stalemate: not in check, but with no legal move at all. It's a draw; see stalemate.
• Castling: the special move where the king and a rook move together; see castling.
• En passant: the rule that lets a pawn that jumped two squares and landed beside an enemy pawn be captured diagonally; see en passant.
• Promotion: a pawn that reaches the last rank turns into a queen, rook, bishop or knight.
• Touch-move: in an official game, if you deliberately touch one of your pieces you must move it (if it can move), and if you touch an enemy piece you must capture it (if you can).

Pieces and material

• Minor and major pieces: knights and bishops are minor pieces; rooks and queens are major pieces.
• Material: the total value of each side's pieces. "Up material" means you have more than your opponent. The point values are in chess piece values.
• Winning the exchange: giving a knight or bishop for your opponent's rook.
• Bishop pair: one side still has both bishops while the other has one or none. Usually an advantage in open positions. See Bishop pair.
• Development: bringing pieces like knights and bishops off the back rank and into the game.

Tactics

• Fork: one piece attacks two targets at once; see fork.
• Pin: an enemy piece can't move because a more valuable piece behind it would be captured; see pin.
• Skewer: attack a big piece in front, and when it steps aside, take the one behind; see skewer.
• Discovered attack: move a piece out of the way so the one behind it suddenly attacks; see discovered attack.
• Double check: two pieces give check at once, so the king has to move; see double check.
• Sacrifice: giving up a piece on purpose for something bigger; see sacrifice.
• Deflection and decoy: pulling a defender away from its job, or luring an enemy piece onto a bad square; see deflection and decoy.
• Zwischenzug: instead of recapturing right away, you first slip in a nastier move; see zwischenzug.
• Overloading: one piece has two jobs and can't do both; see overloading.

Checkmate patterns

• Back-rank mate: the king is shut in on the back rank by its own pawns and mated by a rook or queen; see back-rank mate.
• Smothered mate: the king is boxed in by its own pieces and mated by a knight; see smothered mate.
• Scholar's Mate: the quick four-move mate where queen and bishop hit f7; see Scholar's Mate.

Positions

• Passed pawn: a pawn with no enemy pawns in front of it or on the files beside it, free to run all the way. See Passed pawn.
• Isolated pawn: a pawn with no friendly pawns on either neighboring file, so no pawn can protect it. See Isolated pawn.
• Doubled pawns: two of your own pawns on the same file, one in front of the other. See Pawn structure.
• Open file: a file with no pawns on it at all. Rooks love to sit there. See Open file.
• Outpost: a good square that enemy pawns can't attack, usually protected by one of your own pawns. A knight there is especially strong. See Outpost.

Openings

• Opening: the first dozen or so moves of a game. The named lines are collected in the chess openings guide.
• Gambit: giving up a pawn in the opening for faster development or an attack, like the King's Gambit.
• Variation: a different branch within the same opening.
• Theory: the opening moves that earlier players have already worked out, the stuff people "memorize".

Endgames

• Endgame: the stage after most pieces have been traded, when the king joins the fight too. The different types are collected under endgames.
• Opposition: the two kings face each other with one square between them, and the side to move has to give way; see opposition.
• Zugzwang: it's your move, but every move makes things worse; see zugzwang.
• Tablebase: computers have solved every position with only a few pieces left and stored them in a database; see computer chess.

Competition

• Rating: a single number for playing strength; grandmaster is the highest title. See ratings and titles.
• Time control: how much time each player gets, like "3+2"; see chess clocks and time controls.
• Flagging: running out of time, which usually loses the game.
• Resigning: deciding the game is lost and ending it yourself.

Frequently asked questions

Give it a try

Reading terms only goes so far; playing a game teaches more. Play chess online against the computer and see how many of the ideas on this page you can pull off. Want to sharpen your tactics first? Try some puzzles.

Practise in a game

Read next

• Chess piece valuesRoughly how many points each piece is worth, how to work out whether a trade is good, and when the numbers stop being accurate.
• Chess Ratings and TitlesHow ratings are calculated, how many points you gain for a win, and what rating you need for titles like grandmaster and international master.
• Chess Clocks and Time ControlsHow a chess clock works, what "3+2" means, how fast and slow games are classified, and what to do when you're short on time.