Chess Phrases P to Z
Piece Sometimes used in a particular sense to refer to any piece other than a pawn.
Pin At attack by a queen, rook or bishop on a piece which cannot move without exposing a more important piece or square. The pinned piece is said to be masking or screening the more important piece or square. An absolute pin is where the screened piece is a king, therefore it is illegal for the pinned piece to move as it would expose the king to check. A relative pin is where moving the pinned piece would result in a loss of material or other unfavourable effects.
Pinned piece The piece under attack which cannot or should not be moved because of a pin.
Pinning piece The attacking piece in a pin.
Plan A short or long term goal which a player bases his moves on. The goal may be to attack a weak spot in the camp or to checkmate the opponent. Formation of a solid plan is vital in a game of chess.
Point count A way of determining the worth of the pieces by assigning them a numerical value. Typically the queen is worth 9 points, rooks 5 points, bishops 3 or 3.25 points (depending on who you talk to), knights 3 points and pawns 1 point. A higher point count denotes material superiority.
Poisoned pawn A pawn that, if captured, would cause serious disadvantage to the capturing side.
Position The arrangement of the pieces on the board at any given moment.
Positional A move, series of moves, plan, or playing style concerned with exploiting small advantages.
Positional mistake A mistake with no immediate tactical repercussions, but will lead to a disadvantage by surrendering control of critical squares, losing time or space, or creating a structural weakness.
Positional sacrifice A sacrifice that has no immediate tactical results, but will lead to a positional advantage.
Premature A hasty move or series of moves or plan, or to act without enough preparation.
Prepared variation A very well researched opening variation, often strengthened by new moves. It is common for grandmasters to prepare certain opening lines before playing.
Problem child A blocked in queen bishop.
Prophylaxis A strategy explored by Nimzovich, where you prevent your opponent from taking action in a certain area for fear of reprisal. Overprotection is a form of prophylaxis.
Promotion When a pawn reaches the final rank, it can be turned into another piece (except a pawn or king), usually a queen. Also known as "Queening". See also "Underpromotion".
Protected passed pawn A passed pawn that is protected by another friendly pawn.
Queening See "Promotion".
Queenside The half of the board from which the queen starts. The a, b, c and d files.
Quiet move A move that neither captures anything, checks, or directly attacks an enemy piece.
Rank A row of eight squares across the chessboard. In Algebraic Notation these are labelled 1 to 8, starting with the rank at White’s end of the board.
Rating A measure of a player's skill, calculated as a number using a generally accepted formula by an official organization. See "Elo rating".
Redeploy To manoeuvre a piece onto a more effective square, file or diagonal.
Refutation A move or series of moves that demonstrates a flaw in a game, move, plan, variation, or analysis.
Resign When a player sees his position is hopeless, and ends the game before checkmate.
Restrain Controlling the enemy pieces in order to keep them from becoming active.
Risk A move or series of moves designed to gain an advantage but which has a chance of causing a disadvantage.
Romantic An era when all players attacked and sacrificed. If a sacrifice was offered, it was considered cowardly not to take it. A romantic player is one who enjoys attacking and sacrificing.
Rook lift Moving a rook off the bank rank, and up a few squares, in order to slide it to a new file so it can help in the attack without being blocked by its own pawns.
Royal fork A fork between king and queen.
Running Rapidly transferring the king from one sector of the board to another in order to evade attack.
Sacrifice Voluntarily offering material in exchange for a perceived favourable advantage other than the material.
Sans voir French "without seeing". Playing chess blindfolded.
Scholar’s mate Checkmate in the manner of 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Bc5 3. Qh5 Nf6 4. Qxf7*
Scope The number of squares to which a piece can move. See "Mobility".
Screened piece The piece which is guarded from attack in a pin.
Sector One of three areas of the board, being the queenside, the centre, and the kingside.
Semi-open game A position that contains some open and closed qualities.
Sharp Bold, aggressive moves or positions. A sharp player is a player who revels in dynamic, tactical situations.
Shot A strong move that was not expected.
Simplify Exchanging pieces in order to reach a winning endgame, neutralize your enemy's attack, or clarify the position.
Simultaneous play A player contesting a number of games against a number of players at the same time.
Skewer A tactic where an enemy piece is attacked and forced to move, exposing another enemy piece behind it to capture.
Smothered mate Checkmate by a knight, all squares adjacent to the king being blocked by its own pieces.
Sound A safe, solid position, or a correct plan or move.
Space The amount of area of the chess board controlled by each side.
Space count A method of counting the squares controlled or attacked by each side's pieces (A square can be attacked more than once.) The player ahead in the space count has a spatial advantage, and thus more mobility.
Speculative A risky or unclear move or plan.
Squeeze Exploiting a bind by the gradual build-up of pressure upon the enemy's position. This is done by creating more new threats until your opponent cannot meet them all.
Stalemate A position is which the player who’s turn it is to move has no legal move but is not in check. A drawn game.
Strategy The formation and execution of an overall plan.
Study A make believe position that highlights tactical themes.
Style Preferring certain type of positions and moves. Typically opponents will have different styles (such as preferring open or closed types of positions), so both fight to determine the type of position that is reached.
Support point A square that serves as a home for a pieces, usually a knight, because they can’t be driven away from it by a pawn.
Swindle A trick pulled from an inferior position.
Symmetry Where both armies, or both sets of pawns, are identically placed on their respective sides of the board.
Tactics Traps, threats, and plans based on the calculation of combinations or variations. A position where many combinational ideas are present is a tactical position.
Tempo A unit of time represented by a move. For example, forcing the opponent to move a piece twice in the opening can gain a tempo. Plural is "tempi".
Tension A position where pieces and/or pawns face off against each other without capturing. Such positions require precise calculation, and nerves of steel.
Territory See "Space".
Theory Known and played variations and positions in any phase of the game. Opening theory is also known as the "book."
Threat A move or plan, that, if allowed, leads to immediate reduction of the enemy's position.
Three repeats rule A game can be drawn when the same board layout occurs three times during a game.
Time 1. The period allotted for playing the game. See "Time control".
2. Whether a particular action can be stopped ("He doesn't have time to create a defense against this attack.").
3. A measure of development. A development advantage is an advantage in time.
4. The rate at which an attack can be prosecuted or defended.
Time control Used to limit the length of a game. It is the time allotted to reach a certain number of moves. Most GM games are 40 moves in 2 hours, in which case a player forfeits the game if they have not played 40 moves in the first two hours.
Time pressure When one or both players has used most of their allotted time, and must make moves with little or no thinking. This should be avoided if possible, as it often leads to mistakes or game losing blunders.
Transition Changing from one phase of the game into another; i.e. from the opening into the middlegame, or the middlegame into the endgame.
Transposition Reaching an identical position from a different sequence of moves.
Trap A hidden method of luring the opponent into making an error. The lure or bait must be just enough to entice, without making the opponent suspicious - pawns are usually used. Traps should only be laid if they fit into an overall strategy, so even if the trap fails your position is improved or at least maintained. Always assume an opponent will see the trap: simply playing for traps is bad strategy.
Unclear An uncertain situation in which is it not apparent whether either side has an advantage.
Underpromotion Promotion of a pawn to anything other than a queen.
Variation 1. A line of play that is an alternative to the moves actually played.
2. One possible line of play calculated by a player prior to making a move.
Value The worth of a piece. Static value is the nominal value of a piece (see "Point count"). Dynamic value is the value of a piece in its current position, accounting for such factors as mobility, attacking strength, defending ability etc.
Valve A move which simultaneously opens one line of play while closing another.
Weakness A pawn or square that is difficult to defend.
Weak square See "Hole".
Wild Extremely unclear position or move, with almost unfathomable complications.
Zeitnot German "time trouble".
Zugzwang German "forced to move". A position where a player would prefer to pass his move (but of course cannot, as it is illegal) as any move damages his game.
Zwischenzug German "in-between move". An unexpected move tossed into an expected series of moves.
