 |  | Welcome young squire! In this section you will embark on a journey into the realm of knowledge. By mastering the terms of the game, you will gain a further understanding of the battlefield. The vocabulary terms apply to all from novices to Grand Masters. Enjoy your stay in this area of the castle chamber. Seek knowledge, young apprentice! |
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| Back Rank Mate | This checkmate by the Rook or Queen takes place on the losing player's own 1st rank (the winner's 8th Rank.) It usually occurs because the losing player has not provided an escape hole for his King; that is, when his pawns or other pieces are lined up in front of the King, thus preventing the King's escape onto a square on his 2nd Rank. | ||
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| Blindfold Chess | Chess which is played without directly using the pieces or a board. The blindfold player turns his back to the board and does not look at it at any time during the game. He makes his move by announcing it out loud to his opponent, who physically makes the move on the board; the opponent them makes his own move on the board, announcing it to the blindfolded player, and so on. Both players can be blindfolded; in this case no board is necessary. | ||
| Capturing | An opponent's piece is captured by moving a chessman onto the square occupied by the enemy piece. The captured piece is immediately removed from the board. | ||
| Castling | Moving the King two squares towards his Rook, and at the same time moving the Rook onto the square which the King skipped over. | ||
| Centralization | Developing pieces near the center of the board. Centralized pieces usually attack more enemy squares, and at the same time protect more squares of their own than pieces which are located off to the sides or in the corners. | ||
| Check | A direct attack on the King. The only move a player is permitted to make when he is checked is a move that will stop the check. | ||
| Checkmate (mate) | A position where a King is in check, and the player is unable to make a move that stops the check. As soon as checkmate occurs, the game ends. The winner, of course, is the player who has checkmated his opponent. | ||
| Chess Clock | A special clock used to ensure that neither player takes more than a certain amount of time to make a certain number of moves. | ||
| Close Game | A tight or cramped game in which few pieces have freedom of movement. The new player will usually learn more by playing an open game. | ||
| Development | The movement of pieces away from their original squares and onto the squares which they may better attack and/or defend. | ||
| Discovered Check | Check by a piece which had been hiding behind another of the same player's chessman, and occurs when that other chessman is moved, thereby revealing the hidden piece's attack against the opponent's King. | ||
| Double Check | A check by two pieces at once (consisting of a regular check and a discovered check). One piece moves checking the King, at the same time revealing a second piece which checks the king by discovery. | ||
| Draw | A game ends with neither side winning nor losing: a tie game. | ||
| Exchange | The loss of one or more of a player's chessmen in exchange for the capture of one or more of his opponent's men. | ||
| File | A file consists of a column of eight squares running in a direction from one player toward the other. Files are named from A-H from left to right. | ||
| Five-minute Chess | Lightning-fast Chess played with a chess clock. Each player has only five minutes playing time to finish the game. A player loses if he has used up all his time before the game is completed. | ||
| Fork | An attack by one piece upon two enemy pieces at the same time. | ||
| Gambit | A type of opening where a player offers the sacrifice of a pawn in order to get a quick development or some other attacking advantage. | ||
| Grand Master International | The highest title that can be awarded to a chess player. He earns this title by achieving good results in certain tournaments in which he competes against some of the greatest players in the world. Since 1950 only about 100 players have earned this title. | ||
| Major Piece | The Queen or a Rook. | ||
| Minor Piece | A Bishop or Knight. | ||
| Move | Moving a chessman from one square on the board to another. | ||
| Notation | A method of writing down the moves of a chess game. | ||
| Open Game | A game in which there is freedom of movement for many of the pieces. | ||
| Opening | The early part of the game in which pieces are developed. | ||
| Postal Chess | Chess played via mail in which both sides have a board set up at their respective houses. | ||
| Rank | A rank consists of a row of eight squares running from left to right. | ||
| Resignation | When a player resigns, he admits that he has lost the game; the game ends immediately even though he is not checkmated. | ||
| Royal Game | Chess is often called the Royal Game, probably because so many members of royalty have played the game. | ||
| Stalemate | One kind of a draw. It comes about when a player whose turn it is to move is not in check and can make no legal move. | ||
| Won Game | A player has won the game when: | ||