Chess Terms: The Ones You Need To Know!

Chess is tough to learn. If you are new to the game, you might be overwhelmed by terms like fork, promotion, or even whatever Qxe7+ is supposed to mean. The first step to learning anything is to understand the language and terms used. I have made a list of all of the most essential chess terms that you need to know to master the game of chess and become the best player that you can be.

1. The Chess Board and Its Layout

Let's start with the chessboard. When coaches or other players start talking about the board, there may be a few terms that fly over your head, so let's break down the most important ones.  

• Chessboard: What is a chess board? It is an 8x8 grid with 64 squares, some of which are light and some of which are dark. If you play in person, ensure you set up the board correctly, with a light square on your bottom right, and the pieces arranged in the correct order.
• Files and ranks: Files are what we call the vertical columns, labeled a–h, and the horizontal rows are labeled 1–8. That means that white pawns, for instance, are set up across the second rank, and the white queen starts on the first rank, on the d-file.
• Coordinates: We use those files and ranks to create chess coordinates. For instance, squares like b7 or g7. The King starts on e1 for white, and e8 for black. We begin with the file, or the letter, then add the number, or rank. We can use these coordinates to learn chess notation.
• Algebraic notation: Notation is the way that we write down and record all the moves of a chess game. If you play online, you can see the moves listed to the side of the board, but if you play yourself, then you would need to understand how to write out your own notation of your moves. For instance, Qxe2+ means that the Queen captured a piece on the e2 square, and it was also a check.
• Adjacent file: A file directly next to another file (d-file is adjacent to c and e). This term might be used when discussing files or positions.

2. The Chess Pieces and Their Starting Position

Being able to play chess at all requires us to understand the pieces, their starting positions, and their movement patterns. This is often the very first thing I teach students in chess lessons, because without it, you can’t play!

• Starting position: The starting position is where the chess pieces are set up at the beginning of a match. That looks like this!

• Pawn: We have more pawns than any other piece, which makes it the least valuable piece. A pawn moves up one square, or it can move two if it hasn’t moved off of its starting square. But, a pawn captures differently than how it normally moves. A pawn attacks one square diagonally. A pawn can also never move backwards.
• Rook: A rook moves up, down, left, and right, in straight lines, horizontally or vertically. It cannot jump over pieces, and captures the same way that it moves.
• Knight: The knight is unique; it has an  L-shaped movement. It is also the only piece that can jump over others.
• Bishop: Moves diagonally.
• Queen: Moves like a bishop and a rook combined, you get to choose! It is the most powerful piece.
• King: The king can move one square at a time as long as it is not moving into danger. It is the target; if threatened and there is no escape, the player loses the game.

3. Basic Game Mechanics

Once you know the pieces, there are some basic mechanics you need to know in order to play a game. Once you have these terms down, you can start playing a full game of chess without any problem. But then your journey of improvement begins.

• Check: A check occurs whenever the king is in danger. If another piece is pointed towards the king, and nothing is in the way, then the king is in check. If the king cannot escape the check, that is when we have checkmate.
• Checkmate. The game is over! Start again. Good game. Checkmate occurs when the king is in danger, and they cannot capture the piece delivering the check, protect against the check in any way, or run away safely from the check.
• CPR: Capture, protect, run away! Three ways to escape check, otherwise you are in checkmate.
• Illegal move: If a player does not legally move their piece, meaning they play a move not allowed by the rules of chess, then they need to put the pieces back to how they were before that move. One common illegal move is when a player makes a move that puts their own king in check. Fun fact: you never capture the king in chess. If a king is captured, it means an illegal move was played, or the game was already over if it resulted in checkmate.
• Stalemate: A draw; one side has no legal moves but is not in check.

4. Pawn Rules and Special Concepts

Pawns may be the least valuable piece, but they are still worth countless chess lessons focused just on them. Learning how they move, how their structure affects the game, and how to win with a pawn in the endgame are all invaluable skills on the chessboard.

Pawns

• Pawn structure: Pawn structure refers to the way the pawns are oriented on the board. Different openings can have various structures depending on which pawns get pushed and which pawns get captured.
• En passant: En passant is a French word that means “in passing.” It is a special capture when a pawn moves two squares from its starting position and lands next to an enemy pawn. That pawn is able to capture it as if it had moved only one square.
• Isolated pawns: Pawns with no pawn of the same color on an adjacent file. These pawns will have no help from other pawns, which can make them vulnerable to targeted attacks by your opponents.
• Doubled pawns: If you end up with two pawns of the same color on one file, those are doubled pawns. They can also be a weakness because they are often isolated and can be easily targeted. Doubled pawns are not always bad, especially if they are in the middle of the board, but they often are a sign of a bad pawn structure.
• Pawn Promotion: What happens when a pawn reaches the other side of the board? Pawn promotion. You can turn your new pawn into any other piece, except a king, but most of the time we make a queen.
• Passed pawn: A passed pawn is one with no enemy pawns in front or on adjacent files. These pawns can often be pushed forward to try and promote. They become valuable in the endgame.

5. Phases and Openings

There are some unusual terms used in chess to describe specific moments in the game; understanding these terms can aid your learning process.

• Opening: The opening in chess typically occurs within the first 10–15 moves of the game. At higher levels, these moves are often memorized and played in similar ways. These moves follow “opening theory,” another term for book moves.
• Castling: This is a move I tell my students to play in every game. You move your king over two spaces and put your rook on the other side. You can only do this if neither piece has moved, there are no pieces in between, and you are not in check, moving through check, or moving into check.
• Book move: These are the moves that are repeatedly played by masters in the opening. They are the proven, well-known, theoretically strong opening moves.
• Development: Development involves bringing your pieces into the game and moving them from their starting positions to active squares. This is a vital part of the opening.
• The center: Dominating the central squares is often a key strategy. The center is the middle of the chessboard.
• Endgame: The endgame is a little more fluid. Usually, an endgame begins after queens have traded and fewer pieces are on the board, but obviously, there can be endgames with queens as well.

6. Tactical Terms You Need To Know

Tactics are a massive part of chess. If you want to improve at chess, you have to understand them. Puzzles are often broken down by tactic name, so these terms can help you know the type of move you are looking for.

• Fork: A double attack, also known as a fork, is when one piece attacks two or more at once. Most tactics in chess can be understood by realizing we are dealing more threats than our opponent can stop.
• Pin: A pin is when a piece can't move without exposing a more valuable piece behind it. That piece is often the king, making an absolute pin, but you can also pin to other pieces, making a relative pin. Moving a piece away from an absolute pin would be an illegal move.
• Skewer: When a more valuable piece is attacked first, and when it moves, a lesser piece behind it is captured.
• Discovered attack: When you move a piece, revealing an attack from another piece behind it.

7. Strategic Concepts and Advanced Terms

• Zugzwang: A challenging situation where any player's move will make their position worse.
• Tempo: Tempo means time in chess. This is the time it takes to do something, or the number of moves. A forcing move like a check doesn’t give your opponent time or tempo to respond differently.
• Initiative: If your opponent is forced to respond to your move, you have the initiative. They are on their back foot.

8. Time and Match Structure

• Time control: This is the amount of time in the game for each player to make their moves.
• Types of time controls:
  • Bullet: usually under 3 minutes.
  • Blitz: 3–5 minutes
  • Rapid: 10–30 minutes
  • Classical: 30+ minutes

Frequently Asked Questions