Openings & Basic Rules
Core rule and opening-phase vocabulary: check, checkmate, castling, gambits, promotion, and the words that govern how a game starts and ends.
Equipment & Setup (20)
Openings & Basic Rules (32)
Tactics (36)
Strategy (36)
Endgame (22)
Arbiter & Tournament (22)
Slang & Culture (32)
A FIDE rule under which the arbiter can declare a draw if 75 consecutive moves are made by each side without a capture or pawn move, even without a player's claim.
English (descriptive numeral compound)
A special move in which the king moves two squares toward a rook, which then jumps to the square the king crossed.
English (via the rook's "castle" nickname)
The winning condition: a check from which the opposing king cannot escape, ending the game.
Persian (via Arabic and Old French)
The formal act of asserting a right to a draw, such as by threefold repetition or the fifty-move rule, rather than the opponent agreeing to one.
English (claim from Old French clamer, from Latin clamare, to call out or cry out)
A gambit offered by the defending side in reply to an opponent's own gambit or aggressive opening move.
Italian (via Spanish and French) with English counter- prefix
A position in which neither side can checkmate the other by any possible sequence of legal moves, immediately ending the game as a draw.
English (dead from Old English dead; position from Latin positio, a placing)
A game result in which neither player wins, arising from stalemate, agreement, repetition, or insufficient material.
Old English (Germanic)
A formal proposal by one player, made on their own turn, to end the game as a draw by mutual agreement.
English (draw from Old English dragan, to drag or pull; offer from Latin offerre, to present)
A special pawn capture of an opposing pawn that has just moved two squares past it.
French
The final phase of a chess game, played with relatively few pieces remaining on the board.
English (compound)
A rule allowing a draw to be claimed if fifty consecutive moves pass by both players without a capture or pawn move.
An opening in which a player voluntarily sacrifices material — typically a pawn — for faster development or the initiative.
Italian (via Spanish and French)
An early-20th-century opening school that favors controlling the center with pieces and pawn breaks rather than immediately occupying it with pawns.
Greek (hyper) + English (modern)
A move that violates the rules of chess, such as moving a piece through an occupied square or leaving one's own king in check.
English (illegal from Medieval Latin illegalis, from in- not plus legalis, of the law)
A drawn result that occurs when neither side has enough material remaining to force checkmate under any sequence of legal moves.
English (insufficient from Latin in- plus sufficiens; material from Latin materialis, from materia, matter)
The most common or most highly regarded continuation of a given opening or variation.
English (compound)
The phase of the game between the opening and the endgame, where plans and tactics are carried out with most pieces still on the board.
English (compound)
A new move in a known opening position that has not been previously played or analyzed at a high level.
Latin, via Old French
The initial phase of a chess game, typically the first several moves, focused on development and king safety.
Old English
The accumulated body of analyzed opening moves and plans, refined over centuries of play and, more recently, engine analysis.
English (theory via Latin theoria from Greek theoria, contemplation, speculation)
A repeating sequence of checks that a player cannot escape or stop, typically leading to a draw by repetition.
Latin/Old French (perpetual); Persian/Arabic via Old French (check)
The rule allowing a pawn that reaches the opposite end of the board to become any other piece (except a king).
Latin, via Old French
A player's voluntary concession of the game before checkmate, typically when the position is hopeless.
Latin, via Old French / Medieval Latin
A four-move checkmate pattern in which the queen, supported by a bishop, delivers mate on f7 or f2 early in the game.
English
A less common alternative to the main line within a given opening or variation.
English (compound)
A well-known, heavily analyzed position that recurs across many games in a given opening system, treated as a starting point for further plans.
Arabic
A rule allowing either player to claim a draw if the same position occurs three times with the same player to move.
Reaching the same position via a different move order than the one usually associated with it.
Latin (Medieval Latin), via French
Promoting a pawn to a piece other than a queen, usually a knight, rook, or bishop.