This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like '' fork'' and '' pin''. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see

Fairy chess piece A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fai ...

; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants.

A

B

, "lightning"] A #fast chess, fast form of chess with a very short

time limit A time limit or deadline is a narrow field of time, or a particular point in time, by which an objective or task must be accomplished. Once that time has passed, the item may be considered overdue (e.g., for work projects or school assignments). In ...

, usually three or five minutes per player for the entire game. With the advent of electronic chess clocks, the time remaining is often incremented by one or two seconds per move.Schiller 2003, p. 398 Bughouse game animation

C

D

E

F

G

, "Protect the Queen!"] An announcement to the opponent that their queen is under direct attack, similar to the announcement of "check". This warning was customary until the early 20th century.

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

, "to bungle").Kaan 2016, p. 19 See also #woodpusher, woodpusher.

Q

R

S

, "jumper"] Alternative notation for the #knight, knight. Used rather than K, which means

king King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king. *In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the ...

T

U

V

W

X

Z

Notes

References

* * * * * * * * (1989 reprint by Chartwell Books, ) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Glossaries of sports

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...