Check
The king is attacked. The player must answer at once: move the king, capture the attacker or block. Here the white rook checks the black king.
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Chess vocabularyChess glossary
Sixteen key terms of the game, each with a diagram.
Checkmate
The king is attacked and nothing can save it: the game is won. This is the “back-rank mate”: the king is trapped behind its own pawns.
Stalemate
The player to move has no legal move and is not in check: the game is a draw. Here Black has no move left.
Castling
A special move: the king moves two squares toward a rook, which jumps to the other side. It shelters the king and activates the rook. Not allowed if the king or rook has moved, if the king is in check or crosses an attacked square.
En passant
When a pawn advances two squares and lands next to an enemy pawn, that pawn may capture it immediately, as if it had moved only one square. Here: exd6.
Promotion
A pawn reaching the last rank becomes a queen, rook, bishop or knight, as the player chooses. Most often, a queen.
Pin
A piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. Here the black knight is pinned: if it moves, the king is in check.
Fork
One piece attacks two targets at once. The knight is the specialist: here it checks the king and attacks the rook too.
Skewer
A valuable enemy piece is attacked and, once it moves away, exposes another piece behind it. Here the king must leave the rank and the rook takes the queen.
Discovered attack
A piece moves away and unmasks an attack by the piece behind it. If the bishop moves anywhere, the white rook gives check, so the bishop can threaten something at the same time.
Zugzwang and opposition
Zugzwang is a situation where the player to move would rather pass, because every move worsens their position. Kings facing each other (opposition) are the classic case: here Black must give way.
Gambit
A deliberate sacrifice of a pawn (sometimes more) in the opening for faster development or an attack. Here, the King’s Gambit: 1.e4 e5 2.f4 exf4.
Scholar’s mate
The four-move mate beginners know: queen and bishop aim at f7. It fails against an attentive opponent, but teaches the threat against the weak f7 square.
Passed pawn
A pawn that no enemy pawn can block or capture on its way: a permanent threat to promote.
Doubled pawns
Two pawns of the same colour on the same file. They defend each other poorly and are often seen as a weakness.
Fianchetto
Developing a bishop on the long diagonal (g2 or g7, b2 or b7) after moving the knight’s pawn one square. Both sides did it here.