Lexicon

Defensive method whereby a Rook constantly keeps checking itself to the King, while capturing it would cause stalemate.

A row of the chessboard. Specific ranks are referred to by number, first rank, second rank, or eighth rank. Unlike the case with files, rank names are always given from the point of view of each individual player. White's first rank is Black's eighth rank and White's eighth is Black's first, White's second rank is Black's seventh rank and White's seventh is Black's second, and so on.

Source: "Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia"

A form of chess in which the games are played more quickly than the normal time limit allows.
Often both players each get 20-30 minutes on the clock to perform all moves of a game.

A 3-4 digit number signifying the relative skill levels of players. In each rated tournament all players will win or lose points based on a predetermined system infuenced by several factors. The most important factors are the final result and the strength of the opposition.
There are a few official ratings in the World today such as:
a) FIDE rating (or ELO rating) for international over the board chess. The highest ever FIDE rating was 2851, which Garry Kasparov had on the July 1999 and January 2000 lists.
b) ICCF rating for international correspondence chess.
c) National ratings for over the board chess and for correspondence chess.
All other ratings (including most of the ones offered by internet clubs) have just recreational value.

Also known as time limit, it represents the amount of time each player has to finish the game. If one of the players uses it entirely before finishing the game, once it runs out it loses the game. It is measured by a special dual mechanical or digital clock.

A few commonly used reflection times:
- 1 min for each player: bullet chess
- 5 min for each player: blitz chess
- 20 min for each player: internet chess
- 30 min for each player: junior chess
- 90 min for each player + 30 sec increment per move : FIDE rated chess
- 1 or more days per move: correspondence chess
- 6 days per move: ICCF rated chess

Often incorrectly designated as 'move repetition', while 'repetition of position' would be a better term. If the same position with the same player to move has occurred three times, a draw can be claimed. Repetition of position most often occurs in endgames when neither player can make any progress.

It is not necessary that the positions follow each other the next moves or that the same moves precede the identical positions. A rather simplistic example to show how it might work is:
1.Nf3 Nf6 2.Ng1 Ng8 (the same position for the 2nd time) 3.Nc3 Na6 4.Nh3 Nh6 5.Ne4 Nf5 6.Nf4 Nd6 7.Nd5 Nc4 8.Nc3 Nb4 9.Nb1 Na5 10.Ng5 Nc6 11.Nf3 Nb8 12.Ng1 Nd5 13.Nc3 Nf6 14.Nb1 Ng8 (the same position for the 3rd time).
Although the King's Knights and Queen's Knights have exchanged their position, the final position on the chessboard is still identical.

A chess piece that moves in a straight line over any number of empty squares in a rank or file. Its value is equal with five points.
Abbreviation = R

A tournament format in which all play all. The number of rounds is the number of participants minus one.

A fork where the King, Queen and Rook are forked. Ouch!

A move that gives up material to gain a positional or tactical advantage.
When a Bishop or Knight is sacrified this is called a 'piece sacrifice'; if a Rook is given for a minor piece (Bishop or Knight) it's named to be an 'exchange sacrifice'.
The most spectacular type of sacrifice occurs when a Queen is sacrificed.

German term for a stereotyped mechanical move without much deeper thought, walking the beaten tracks.

A file with just one pawn of either colour on it.

The culmination of a combination, wherein the attacking side instead of a direct continuation of the attack takes the time to breathe and makes a Zwischenzug, often a King move. At first sight a 'silent move' doesn't seem to change anything but on deeper inspection has changed the position radically.

A tactical situation similar with the pin that could be described as a reverse pin. In this case the enemy piece under attack is more valuable than the piece it protects behind it. The piece behind should be undefended for the skewer to do maximum damage.
It is also known as X-ray.

Friendly or casual chess game played fast and without a clock.

A checkmate delivered by a Knight to a King unable to move owing to it being surrounded (or smothered) by its own pieces.

Any of the quadrilateral spaces on the chess board, coloured either white or black. There are 64 squares on the chess board, 32 of each colour.

A particular position in which a player's King is not in check and that player has no legal move. In such cases the game is declared finished as a draw.

Group of united pawns that are quickly advancing so that enemy pieces in its path are driven back in disarray.

Rigid pawn formation d4,e3,f4 for White or d5,e6,f5 for Black.

The reasoning behind a move, plan, or idea

Source: "FIDE GM Yasser Seirawan (USA)"

A trap or intentionally incorrect combination by means of which a player having a lost position tries to avoid defeat.

A tournament format that allows the participation of an unlimited number of players. The basic concept is that players are paired each round against opponents who have (as closely as possible) the same score and whom they haven't played before.

Forced move maneuvers designed to gain an advantage over the opponent (when attacking), or prevent it (when defending). Tactics happen in specific positions when using combinations based on different patterns/ procedures. See also the definition of strategy!

Each move takes one tempo. Thus a player can be said to "lose a tempo" when taking one more move than necessary to achieve something, or to "gain a tempo" when taking only two moves to do what would have taken three by other methods, for example.

In some endgame situations, a player must actually lose a tempo to make progress. When the two Kings stand in opposition, for example, the player to move is often at a disadvantage (zugzwang) and so must use the triangulation in order to return to the same position but with the opponent to move.

Source: "Wikipedia, The free Encyclopedia"