Chess terms glossary
420 chess terms in this glossary, explained in plain words, each with the rule or the position behind it.
Topics
Active rook, Bishop and knight checkmate, Bishop versus knight endgame, Checking distance
60 termsOpening concepts and named structures
Accepted gambit, Benoni structure, Book move, Carlsbad structure
50 termsAdjusting a piece, Algebraic notation, Annotation symbols, Arbiter
50 terms
All terms, A to Z
A
B
- Back rank mate
- Backward pawn
- Bad bishop
- Battery
- Benoni structure
- Best move
- Bind
- Bishop
- Bishop and knight checkmate
- Bishop pair
- Bishop versus knight endgame
- Blackburne's mate
- Blindfold chess
- Blitz chess
- Blitz rating
- Blockade
- Blunder
- Blunder check
- Blunder check habit
- Board number
- Boden's mate
- Book move
- Brilliant move
- Buchholz
- Bughouse
- Bullet chess
- Bye
C
- Calculation
- Candidate Master
- Candidate moves
- Candidates Tournament
- Capture
- Carlsbad structure
- Caro-Kann structure
- Castling
- Castling plan
- Catalan setup
- Center control
- Centipawn
- Central break
- Check
- Checking distance
- Checkmate
- Chess clock
- Chess engine
- Chess Olympiad
- Chess pieces
- Chess psychology
- Chess training
- Chess variant
- Chess960
- Chessboard
- Clamp
- Classical chess
- Clearance sacrifice
- Closed game
- Closed Sicilian
- Coach
- Colle system setup
- Color complex
- Combination
- Compensation
- Concentration
- Confidence
- Connected passed pawns
- Connected pawns
- Coordinates
- Correspondence chess
- Corresponding squares
- Counterattack
- Countergambit
- Counterplay
- Crazyhouse
- Cutting off the king
D
- Damiano's mate
- Database
- Dead position
- Declined gambit
- Decoy
- Deflection
- Delay
- Deliberate practice
- Descriptive notation
- Desperado piece
- Development
- Diagonal
- Diagonal opposition
- Disambiguation
- Discovered attack
- Discovered check
- Distant opposition
- Domination
- Double attack
- Double check
- Double round robin
- Doubled pawns
- Dragon structure
- Draw by agreement
- Draw offer
- Dynamic play
E
F
G
H
I
K
L
M
O
- Online rating
- Open file
- Open game
- Open Sicilian
- Open tournament
- Opening
- Opening book
- Opening explorer
- Opening preparation
- Opening principles
- Opening repertoire
- Opening theory
- Opera mate
- Opponent preparation
- Opposite-colored bishops
- Opposite-side castling
- Opposition
- Out of book
- Outpost
- Outside passed pawn
- Overloading
- Overprotection
P
- Pairing
- Passed pawn
- Passive rook
- Pattern recognition
- Pawn
- Pawn break
- Pawn breakthrough
- Pawn center
- Pawn chain
- Pawn fork
- Pawn island
- Pawn lever
- Pawn majority
- Pawn promotion race
- Pawn shield
- Pawn storm
- Pawn tension
- Perpetual check
- PGN
- Philidor position
- Piece activity
- Piece coordination
- Piece domination
- Piece exchange
- Piece value
- Pillsbury's mate
- Pin
- Plateau
- Poisoned pawn
- Positional play
- Positional sacrifice
- Post-game analysis
- Pre-game routine
- Premove
- Principal variation
- Principle of two weaknesses
- Promotion
- Prophylaxis
- Protected passed pawn
- Provisional rating
- Puzzle rating
- Puzzle theme
Q
R
- Rank
- Rapid chess
- Rapid playoff
- Rapid rating
- Rating category
- Rating floor
- Rating list
- Rating performance
- Rating system
- Refutation
- Relative pin
- Removing the defender
- Repertoire building
- Reserve tempo
- Resignation
- Resilience
- Restriction
- Reti maneuver
- Rook
- Rook and pawn versus rook
- Rook endgame
- Rook lift
- Rook pawn
- Rook versus minor piece
- Rook versus pawn
- Round robin
- Royal fork
- Rule of the square
- Rules of chess
S
- Sacrifice
- Same-colored bishops
- Scholar's mate
- Scholastic tournament
- Scoresheet
- Search depth
- Second rank defense
- Sectional
- Seeding
- Semi-open defense
- Semi-open game
- Seventh rank
- Seventy-five-move rule
- Short side
- Shouldering
- Sideline
- Simplification
- Simultaneous exhibition
- Skewer
- Slav structure
- Smothered mate
- Sonneborn-Berger
- Space advantage
- Spaced repetition
- Spanish setup
- Square
- Stalemate
- Stalemate trick
- Starting position
- Static advantage
- Staunton pieces
- Stockfish
- Stonewall structure
- Strategic plan
- Strong center
- Study plan
- Sudden death
- Swallow's tail mate
- Swiss system
- Symmetrical position
- System opening
- Syzygy tablebases
T
- Tabiya
- Tactic
- Tactical motif
- Tactical play
- Tactics training
- Tarrasch rule
- Team event
- Tempo
- Theoretical draw
- Theoretical win
- Thinking process
- Three-check chess
- Threefold repetition
- Tiebreak
- Tilt
- Time control
- Time management
- Time odds
- Time scramble
- Title application
- Title requirement
- Touch-move rule
- Transposition
- Trap in the opening
- Trapped piece
- Trebuchet
- Triangulation
- Two bishops checkmate
- Two knights endgame
W
Guides that go with the glossary
What a rating measures, how FIDE, Lichess, US Chess and chess.com compute theirs, and why the numbers differ.
How the Candidate Master, FIDE Master, International Master and Grandmaster titles are earned, with every Handbook clause.
What to decide first, the questions to ask, what a first lesson should show and the red flags to avoid.
How much does chess coaching cost?
Published rates for private, group and subscription chess coaching, with the source and the date of each.
Rating, US Chess rating, performance, time control and title norm calculators that show their formulas and sources.
A game review, a read on your level and a written study plan from George Li.
Learn the ideas on the board, not only the words
A first lesson starts with your games: George reviews them and builds a study plan around what he finds.