Glossary

=Pieces= There are 7 pieces in chess. All pieces can be blocked with exception to the Knight.

Pawn

The pawn moves one square forward but captures diagonally. Howver, on its first turn, it can move 2 spaces.

Bishop

The bishop moves diagonally in any direction. Because it can only move diagonally, it can only go to a square of the same colour as its home square.

Knight

The Knight moves two spaces laterally and then makes a 90 degree turn in either direction and then moves one square laterally, forming an L shape. It is also the only piece that can jump, which means that its path cannot be blocked.

Rook

The Rook moves laterally.

Queen

The Queen moves like both a Rook and a Bishop, as if they were combined.

King

The kings moves one space in any direction, laterally or diagonally. =Chess Terms=

Special moves

This section covers moves other than mentioned above.

Castling

During castling, the king moves two spaces and the rook moves over the king next to the king on the other side of the king. There are a few requirements for castling: #There cannot be any piece in between the king and the rook #The king cannot travel through a space where it can be captured. #The king must not be able to be captured after castling. #The king must not be in check. #The king and rook must be on the same rank. #Neither the king nor the Rook can have previously moved.

En passant

When one side’s pawn moves to spaces, and the opposing side’s pawn is next to it(either on their left or right), the opposing side can capture it as though it had only moved 1 space.

Discovered Attack

When one piece is blocking the vision of the piece behind it and one moves that piece, causing the piece behind it to be able to attack an opponents piece. Generally either the piece moved is also attacking an opponents piece, and since it is impossible to move both pieces at the same time, Black has to give one up, or taking an opponents piece that was adequately defended, so Black has to move the attacked piece and let the piece that just took something move, or take the piece that took something and lose the attacked piece.

Double check

When the opponent’s king is attacked twice. This is especially potent because you cannot block (as the king would still be in check by the other piece) and you cannot capture either piece (as the other piece would still check the king), so the only option is to move. If the king cannot move, it is checkmate.

Fork

When two pieces are attacked at the same time by the same piece. Knights are especially good at forking because no other piece can take the knight when the knight is attacking it except for the knight.

Pin

When a piece is attacking another piece and the piece behind is of higher value.

Skewer

When a piece is attacking another piece and moving the attacked piece would expose a lower valued piece behind it.

Development

How many active pieces an opponent has. When one side has more active pieces, they are considered to have the lead in development.

Fianchetto

Instead of developing towards the centre, you develop the bishop to b2/b7/g2/g7. The bishop is good here because it can protect the king when castled, allowing one to push pawns in front of the king (which is usually a bad idea). Furthermore, the bishop can control important squares in the centre. This is a feature of hypermodern openings.

Gambit

When one sacrifices a piece (usually a pawn) for a lead in development(like the Danish gambit) or better central control (like the Queen’s gambit).

Anastasia’s mate

When the rook or queen is on the edge of the board, checking the king on h2 / a2, and the knight cuts off the escape squares, therefore leading to mate. Usually occurs after a sacrifice on h2 / a2.

Arabian mate

A mate that occurs when the king is cornered and the knight and rook together deliver mate.

Epaulette's mate

This mate occurs when the king is sandwiched between two pieces (usually rooks) and is on the back rank, and the Queen herself delivers mate.

Smothered mate

When only the knight checks the king and the king has nowhere to go because it is blocked by its own pieces. No other pieces are required.

Touch-move rule

Once you touch a piece, you must move it, unless the piece has no legal moves. Once you touch an opponent’s piece, you must capture it if possible.