Online Chess Against Computer

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Tags: Chess Online, Chess Vs Computer, Chess Tactics, Chess, Chess Strategies

ccmcacollister ♡ 85 ( +1 | -1 )
Chess Terminology I would like to have a thread devoted to various terms from Chessdom. This is it! I hope that many will contribute! His are a few to start things off . . .
Feel free, in fact please DO correct me if you speak that language and a more precise translation exists. My knowlege is Chessic, not linguistic!

***
Zwishenzug (German)"inbetween move"
zugzwang "no move" ... zug means MOVE in German
en passant (French) "In passing" referring to a pawn on its 5th rank capturing on which tries to move past it from its 2nd to its fourth rank.
J'adoube (French) "I adjust" Said when adjusting a piece upon its square in a tournament or other play using Touch Move Rule
luft (German) "Lift" usually referring to "lifting" a Rook, such as from its first rank to the third for lateral movement.
***

More: Chess Anytime

fmgaijin ♡ 16 ( +1 | -1 )
"Luft" means "Air" in Deutsche It's when you move a P around the K to give the poor monarch some "air" to breathe (thus avoiding most corridor mates, etc.)

Like in "Luftwaffe" (Air Force).

More: Chess Tutorial

fmgaijin ♡ 35 ( +1 | -1 )
And "Zwang" means "Constraint" In other words, "zugzwang" is "the contrainst of having to move" (more precise than "no move" because a player in zugzwang HAS moves, but making any of them hastens the end in a position where a "pass" would save the day.

When I was a boy and first saw chess notation, I thought maybe 0-0 and 0-0-0 meant "pass," but I learned that wasn't legal . . . <grin>.

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ccmcacollister ♡ 132 ( +1 | -1 )
THANKS FMGAIJIN ! ... for the corrections there!
Since I'm here again ... Here are the German Piece names, as I know them , and the letter used to designate them in Algebraic Notation. This difference from one language to another is a reason for Figurine Algebraic so common in Chess books. I dislike Figurine, but suppose it makes sense to accomodate the largest audience.
*****
King = ?
Queen = Damsel "D"
Rook = Tower "T"
Bishop = Luffer (spelling sic ?!) "L"
Knight = Springer "S"
Pawn = ??
*********
So an example of the Ruy Lopez =
1.e4 e5 2.Sf3 Sc6 3.Lb5 a6 4.La4 Sf6 5.Te1 or a Worrall Var. instead = De2 with the Queen.
********
CAN SOMEONE HELP ME OUT WITH THE REMAINING GERMAN PIECES ?
***********
CAN ANYONE SHOW WHAT THEY ARE IN OTHER LANGUAGES ?
*****
I believe that some country refers to the King as the Shah ... Persian perhaps?! :)
Is there a Caliph(sic?) anywhere?
Is Russian King a Tsar/Csar ?
*********************
Another word: FIANCHETTO
fianchetto (Italian) Can someone tell me what it MEANS in Italian?
... In Chess it refers to the maneuver of
moving a KnightPawn(a "b" or "g" pawn in Algebraic Notation) to its own 3rd rank and then placing the Bishop upon the KnightTwo square; Bb2 or Bg2
or for Black to Bb7 or Bg7.
*******************
ZWIFENZUG = If your spouse catches you at the door on tournament day and reminds you of your promise to mow the grass that day instead, you are in
Zwifenzug, and have been Zwifenzugged (Fortunately, my Mrs is a Chess player & so zwifenzug potential is minimal in my home ... Tho it can happen to anyone :)
*********

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mattdw ♡ 13 ( +1 | -1 )
ccmcacollister Taken from somewhere on the internet I got that fianchetto is from the Italian for "engagement", a diminutive of "fianco", a flank. Apparently. :)

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alberlie ♡ 96 ( +1 | -1 )
craig, your german piece names are hilarious - I just came from (overnight) work and I had my first hearty laugh of the day.
Lemme help you there a bit.

King - K K�nig (= king :o)) - maybe you know Herman G�ring from the third Reich? Sorry, but I can't think of a better way to explain the pronunciation of that "�" sound.
Queen - D Dame (not Damsel ;o) ) Dame means simply "Lady". Queen would be "K�nigin".
Rook - T Turm (which _means_ Tower)
Bishop - L L�ufer (literal meaning "runner" but probably more in the lines of "messenger" - who has to run fast and long to deliver his message). Pronunciation of "�u" is about "oi"
Knight - S Springer (= jumper)
Pawn - B (if at all) Bauer ("farmer") - I guess that stems from the times of kings and empires where there were only very few elite troups and the main part of an army were simply free men, mostly farmers and alike.

fmgajin is right about "Luft" and "Zugzwang"

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ionadowman ♡ 49 ( +1 | -1 )
Here are the chessmen in French and Russian... ...if you're interested:
King: Roi, Korolj (The j in this and the others transliterates from the Cyrillic soft sign.)
Queen: Dame, Firze (Vizier was the original. Apparently the Old English was 'Fers'.
Rook: Tour, Ladj
Bishop: Fou (Fool, as in court jester), Slon (elephant)
Knight: Chevalier (Cavalier?), Konj
Pawn: Pion, Pieshka
Possibly my favorite chess expression is 'swindle', coined by my favorite American grandmaster, Frank Marshall. OK, maybe slightly off topic here...
Ion

More: Anand Chess

brilliance ♡ 18 ( +1 | -1 )
another germanian language Swedish:

King- Kung
Queen- Dam
Rook- Torn
Bishop- L�pare
Knight- Springare
Pawn- Bonde

Notice how similar these names and the German names are.

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naamloos ♡ 19 ( +1 | -1 )
Dutch names King- Koning
Queen- Dame
Rook- Toren
Bischop- Loper
Knight- Paard
Pawn- Pion

Also looks similar to German, except for the Knight and Pawn.

misato ♡ 129 ( +1 | -1 )
two little corrections "Zwischenzug" is spelled with a "c" in the middle of the "sh", but is pronounced like the English "sh".

"Luft" (air) is new to me, you probably mean "Luftloch" (air hole, pronounced like "looftloch", the "ch" like in Scotland's Loch Ness and not like "...lotsh"). A Luftloch supplies a castled King (on g1) with air to breathe (or better: to escape) when attacked by the opponent's rook. Such a Luftloch usually is produced by g2-g3 or h2-h3.

Is "Zeitnot" (time trouble, pronounced like "tsytenot" with a long "o") also a German term which is used and understood by chess players from other countries?

And I can remember "Fingerfehler" (fault with the finger, pronounciation like normal English) to be written sometimes in GK-forums. You move automatically without thinking, the result is a severe blunder which could have been easily avoided with a few seconds of rest before (or even a quick look).

"Patt" (pronounced exactly like "putt" for golfers) is stale-mate, "Matt" (mutt) is mate.

The French "gard�z" can be said when your opponent's Queen is attacked, it is a generosity in case he doesn't see it - if someone said it to me in a tournament game, I would feel offended. The French meaning is either "take care" or "protect it" - I don't know exactly as I chose Latin instead of French ...

jstack ♡ 57 ( +1 | -1 )
more russian terms win -Победа (pob-e-da) the accent is on the e
loss- Потеря (pot-er-ya) accent on e
Check- шах (shakh) no accent
draw - ничейная партия(nee-ch-e-naya) accent on e
(part-ee-ya) accent on ee
checkmate шахматы (sh-akh-matay) accent on a
move - ход (кн-o-d) no accent

juve_leo ♡ 12 ( +1 | -1 )
Terms From Portugal Chess � Xadrez
King �Rei
Queen � Dama
Knight � Cavalo
Bishop - Bisopo
Rook - Torre
Pawn - Pi�o

maykx ♡ 90 ( +1 | -1 )
In Filipino and in Japanese In Philippines, very rare you hear among Filipino chess club players calling chess pieces in our native tongue (Filipino or Tagalog). But if you're in places like barbershop, streetcorners, in front of small stores (we call it SARISARI Store) where chess is being played, you hear the terms/words very often.

Chess - CHESS
Pawn - PIYON
Knight - KABAYO
Bishop - OBISPO
Rook - TORE
Queen - REYNA
King - HARI

Rook TAKES Knight - KAIN (pronounced as kah'in) ng tore and kabayo
...(KAIN here literally means EAT)

Checkmate - MATE (pronounced as mah'te)

In Japan, chess is foreign to them thus they don't have equivalent term for chess pieces but pronounced them as is but quite differently.

Pawn - POHN
Knight - NAITO
Bishop - BISHOPPU
Rook - RUUKU
Queen - KUIIN
King - KINGU

alberlie ♡ 11 ( +1 | -1 )
is it... just a coincidence or does Filipino sound similar to spanish all the time? Kabayo, torre, reyna?

ionadowman ♡ 61 ( +1 | -1 )
The Philippines... ...was a Spanish colony for two or three centuries or so - before the USA took it over from 1898 to 1942... It seems likely that indigenous Filipinos might have adopted - or adapted - imported (Spanish) expressions for an imported game. If chess was known in the Philippines before the Spanish came along (not altogether implausible), it would have been the older, 'chaturanga' version, most likely...
On a completely different note, I am curious about the Russian chess notation: Cyrillic character for the pieces, but roman for the squares. Probably historical reasons of convention, but interesting all the same.
Cheers,
Ion

fmgaijin ♡ 25 ( +1 | -1 )
Sorry, Misato, but . . . "luft" IS a widely-used chess term all by itself. While it may have been "clipped" from the longer word you cite, I have heard the shorter form used by players from all over the world my entire life.

misato ♡ 24 ( +1 | -1 )
Thank you, fmgaijin This was new to me - maybe the word was shortened because of the unusual "ch"-sound in the second part.

Another German term is "Remis" (draw). It looks like French, and it is - but again I don't know the original meaning. It is pronounced like "remee".

alberlie ♡ 16 ( +1 | -1 )
And how could we forget... .... the most important german word in chess at any rate???

Blitz!!! :o))

actual meaning: lightning bolt - and from that: fast, very fast

ccmcacollister ♡ 420 ( +1 | -1 )
More Terms: It seems strange to me alberlie , that the German word KREIG (KRIEG?) isn't used as well in Chess, for as much as it is spoken of as a fight or a battle of wits. At least I don't hear the term used for Chess in the USA.
***
But we've forgotten perhaps the greatest German terms: " PATZER " !! And it is so frequently used... or is around Me anyway !? Hmmm ... Perhaps I just Assume its general use, eh?! ... {8-))
Can you tell me what it translates as? Perhaps "Beginner", "Novice", or does it just mean "bad" ?
***
Related to Patzer; there is " FISH " (Amer.)[alt. spelling = " ghoti " ] ...
I suppose many use it synonymous to patzer or to mean an unsolid player, or just a beginner, or an 'easy point' such as from the phrase "shooting fish in a barrel", which is supposed to be a very simple matter.
Personally, since this has been used in reference to Me so many time by locals, I feel a right to add to that. And suggest it may also denote a player using Strange Chess moves & ideas, besides being Unsolid. {Incidentally, Solidarity is supposedly a trait which one has/will attain by the time of reaching Expert level. By then one is supposed to have established a solid play of the game; not drop pieces or give up points easily; nor make "silly" mistakes ... [ Um, after round #1 at least :) ]
.....
Anyone wishing to expand upon FISH is welcome.
***
Some BISHOP terms:
<>>>>>>>>>>>>>
.BadBishop = One which has a center-pawn(s), or many pawns placed upon the same color squares as the Bishop travels upon. "Badness" may be permanent or temporary. It should be noted however that a Bad-Bishop is not always a BAD circumstance to have ! ...
{for EG. a WT Ba3 with diagonal to f8 open in the French defense, even if WT has pawns upon c3,d4,e5 & perhaps even f4, can be a Great thing to have! At least before reaching the Endgame, when it may become more problematic aor less useful there. )
<>>>>>>>>
.OppositeColoredBishops = The situation wherein each player has one Bishop, but they travel on opposite colored square from each other. It is most known for being among the most drawish of endgames, Usually. Quite often even with a deficit of a pawn or more for one player. However, at times it can be advantageous in the middle game, especially if the other player has weak squares or weak pawns of the Bishops color, aor if used in conjunction with a Queen, since the other player has no Bishop with which to cover such attacks. In general, winning such an ending is dependent upon: *how widely spaced ones pawns are ... wider is better; *lack of anchor points for the opponent's B; *whether an advanced pawn can force sac of the B to stop it {usually having King support for the Pawn & other King distant} ; or if the opponents B can be trapped or limited in scope.
[ ADVICE: IT CAN be a good ending know & understand the exceptions of drawing, for often opponent's will go into it without proper background, hoping to draw what they don't know to be a winnable exception. ]
<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
The WrongBishop = Is when a player has a Bishop traveling upon the opposite color from the square upon which his Rook pawn must Promote. Such an ending of only the Rook pawn, King & wrong Bishop cannot be won, even vs a lone King if that K is able to: (1) get in front of the Rook pawn, or (2) come in contact with he Queening square. Once in contact it cannot be forced out of contact. And the lesser player will DRAW, one way or another [... possibly a stalemate, 3 Time Rep., 50 Move Rule,or by Agreement. In Sudden Death OTB he might claim to TD as an unwinnable position.]
***************
.TD = Tournament Director
*******************
}8-)

ccmcacollister ♡ 143 ( +1 | -1 )
PS// Also ... For some reason I found it quite interesting how much the PAWN is called a PION or very similar designation. I wonder if Chess is the source of Pion being used in the USA to denote someone at the bottom of a hierarchy, particularly relating to the workplace ? :)
Or did PION exist and become used as the name of the PAwn?
Speaking of pawns, one more interesting term:
*****
.isolani (Italian, I believe) Refers to a pawn which has no neighboring pawn of its own team upon
either side of it. The weakness of such is that: (A.)It cannot be supported by a friendly pawn, and (B.)The opponent can post a pice directly in front of it as an outpost. Quite often a knight is considered the best piece to post at such a "blockade". An isolani upon a 1/2 open file is weaker than upon a closed file. IT's strength is if it can be used: (a) To cramp the opponent (b)To anchor a centralized attacking piece, often a Knight or a Bishop at times. (c) To advance it
with Rooks behind at such time as to open the position upon an opponent with an
inability to meet that effectively, probably from piece discoordination or lagging development. (d) To advance to trade it off, so elimination it as a potential endgame weakness; since isolanis tend to become more of a liabilty as the game ages beyond the middle-game.
*****

misato ♡ 74 ( +1 | -1 )
What about "Kiebitz"? In chess language the noun is used as well as the verb (someone who watches a game without being involved resp. the action just to watch this game).
The German "Kiebitz" is a kind of a bird (my dictionary tells: keewit or lapwing), but I don't know what is special about them and if they really enjoy watching chess or card games.

It is said that kiebitzes see better moves than the players themselves, but there are lots of examples either to prove or to refute this statement. One reason may be that a kiebitz sees only a kind of a photograph with a position which gives him another "view" than the players' views containing the complete game's history.

alberlie ♡ 85 ( +1 | -1 )
craig, Krieg (yes, it's this way, not "ei") means simply "war" --> very bad connotations.

Battle of wits, fight/struggle of ~: that is different... You _can_ fight and struggle against your friends, but you can't rage war against them and still drink a beer afterwards ;o)

Re Kiebitz:
The bird with the same name is Vanellus vanellus. However, kiebitzen seems to stem from a "Rotwelsch"-term. Rotwelsch is the name for various sociolects based on German (but with heavy influence of french, english, jiddisch etc.) used by gypsies and othere marginal groups in mediaeval (and later) times. "kiewischen /kiebischen" means in that language "close examination of the loot."
Another one of those is "schmiere stehen" - meaning "to keep a lookout". The rotwelsch terms stems from the hebrew root shamar - meaning "to guard/watch over".

alberlie ♡ 6 ( +1 | -1 )
craig, your alternative spelling of "fish" is wrong: it's "ghoeti", isn't it?

misato ♡ 52 ( +1 | -1 )
"Patzer" (see ccm's earlier post) A Patzer is either a severe blunder or the person blundering in that way.

The action "Patzer" normally is used to describe a bad move knowing that the player usually can do better (e.g. a GM overlooks an easy combination). But the person "Patzer" is a beginner or novice (just as ccm suspected), such bad moves are normal for him.
(Hmm, when I wrote "him" it came to my mind that "Patzer" is male - the female term would be "Patzerin", but it doesn't exist ...)

(Another hmm: I do hope that "M�dchenschach" (= girls' chess) is not international and will never be!)

ionadowman ♡ 25 ( +1 | -1 )
'Kiebitz' ... ....I've never seen before, but I am familiar with 'kibitz', and 'kibitzer' - possibly an anglicised spelling and/or pronunciation of a Yiddish word. A kibitzer is not one who merely looks on, but is also willing to offer gratuitous, and generally unwanted, advice or commentary. Man, it's fun!
Cheers,
Ion

alberlie ♡ 25 ( +1 | -1 )
misato... "...it came to my mind that "Patzer" is male - the female term would be "Patzerin", but it doesn't exist ..."

... which proves that even with such a perfect language as german there's always room for improvement, right? ;o)

fmgaijin ♡ 27 ( +1 | -1 )
Sorry, Aberlie, "GHOTI" is correct: Per George Bernard Shaw: "gh" as in the word "rough," "o" as in the word "women," and "ti" as in the word "action."

Shaw, author of "Pygmalion" (dramatic predecessor of the musical "My Fair Lady") had a lifelong interest in the sad state of English phonetics (most of which, but not all, may be blamed on the Normans <grin>).

alberlie ♡ 24 ( +1 | -1 )
ok, then I know this thing differently: I know it with gh as in "laugh", oe as in "phoenix" and ti as in "action" (let's say).

And I find my version prettier since it is even more absurd :o))

PS: Every german bursts into tears when he learns that the norwegian word for "old" is "gammel"... *grin

wolstoncroft1 ♡ 55 ( +1 | -1 )
luft in German means AIR.
here is a link to foreign names for pieces
-> www.eudesign.com

Did anyone say Gambit?
A gambit is the deliberate sacrificing of (usually) a pawn in return for an advantage in position and development

I didnt see Tempo!
In chess, a "tempo" is a gain in time-units (represented by moves). When one player gains a tempo, it effectively means that his opponent has been forced to waste one or more moves.

Nice post idea!!

G'day
Tom

fmgaijin ♡ 44 ( +1 | -1 )
Alberlie: GHOTI redux For a native speaker of English, the "oe" in "phoenix" is incorrect because that word contains the tense /i/ phoneme present in words such as "we," "be," etc. Instead, the phoneme in "fish" is the lax /I/ phoneme in words such as "it," "sin," etc. Even by English standards, the representation of /I/ with the letter "o" in the word "women" is very strange and unusual--so strange, in fact, that while most of my linguistics students easily come up with examples for the "gh" and "ti," the "o" stumps them!

buddie ♡ 26 ( +1 | -1 )
Elastic Band I like the "elastic band move" term.
This is where 1 piece defends another during an exchange, thus gaining a piece.
The easiest example I can give to explain this is the trick in the French Defence -
1. e4 e6 2. d4 d5 3. e5 Nc6 4. Bb5 Bd7 5. Nf3 Nxe5! 6. Bxd7+ Nxd7.

gfweiss ♡ 34 ( +1 | -1 )
Windmill "Windmill" became my favorite chess term after reading maccollister's description and post about it here last November. It's simply awesome as his game shows. Windmill starts on move 18:

1. e4 e5 2. d4 d6 3. Bc4 Nc6 4. Nf3 Be7 5. O-O Nf6 6. Nc3 Bg4 7. Be3 Bxf3 8.
gxf3 Qd7 9. Kg2 O-O 10. d5 Nd8 11. Rg1 Nh5 12. Ne2 f5 13. Ng3 Nxg3 14. fxg3 f4
15. gxf4 exf4 16. Bd4 Nf7 17. Kh1 Qh3 18. Rxg7+ Kh8 19. Rxf7+ Kg8 20. Rg7+ Kh8
21. Rxe7+ Kg8 22. Rg7+ Kh8 23. Rxc7+ Kg8 24. Rg7+ Kh8 25. Rxb7+ Kg8 26. Rg7+
Kh8 27. Rxa7+ Kg8 28. Rg7+ Kh8 29. Rg3+ Rf6 30. Bxf6#

ionadowman ♡ 23 ( +1 | -1 )
Now that was just cruel... I wonder why 'windmill'? 'Millrace' or 'tidal rip' seems indicated here: one's caught in a current of events without being able to do a blind thing about it. Though in this case, I think 'abattoir' might not be far amiss...

buddie ♡ 20 ( +1 | -1 )
Nearly a windmill ... I didn't actually get a "windmill" in this game but the threat of one was very strong. I'm quite proud of move 31 etc.
board #1199952

ccmcacollister ♡ 59 ( +1 | -1 )
"mysterious Rook move" Term coined by Nimzovich describing a Rook move onto a closed file, with the idea it might deter the opponent from opening it, to his disadvantage or that it would later become open.
I found this in my newest purchase "CJS Purdy's Fine Art of Chess Annotation and Other Thoughts" Vol #1, 2nd Edition. Compiled and Edited by Dr Ralph J. Tykodi. Published by Thinker's Press Inc which is operated by my fellow Iowan Bob Long in Davenport Iowa. I v;ery much like the book and the publisher as well. Mr Long has had a lot of very interesting titles you may not be able to find elsewhere.

ionadowman ♡ 15 ( +1 | -1 )
I have a couple of queries: What is 'The Long Whip'?
What is the 'Fingerfehler'? (I wonder if it's Alekhine's 'Fingerslip' Variation in the French defence?)
Keep it clean, guys...
Cheers,
Ion

ccmcacollister ♡ 92 ( +1 | -1 )
I dont know ... but, ionadowwman, I wonder if 'The Long Whip' might refer to a Queen, Rook, or perhaps more likely a Bishop that strides the length of the board?! The picture I get in mind is a Chess friend named Ragnvald, who has a specialized technique for a good 'long-move'. I can see him taking a Bishop in hand and rolling out his arm from shoulder thru elbow, and finally ending with an underhand flip of the wrist (much like an inverted fastball pitch :) to pop down the piece with unabashed glee! :) What you think?!
***
I thought fingerfehler was already mentioned?! Wonder if it was in the similar thread I started along with this one!? hmmm. Cant find it here anyways. Hoping alberlie or someone can give us a real translation on it. Lest I 'fehler' again?! :)

ccmcacollister ♡ 51 ( +1 | -1 )
OH, there it is ... Here in misato 's post of Feb.19, mentions fingerfehler .
Does anyone know for sure if it means "slip", then? Or blunder or error!?
***
The other thing ... I just wanted to say THANK YOU to everyone who posted here. It has turned-out to be a very interesting thread to me, and others as well I hope.
And hoping for more to come also! Quite interesting.
Regards, CraigAC }8-)

alberlie ♡ 112 ( +1 | -1 )
Fehler... means "error/mistake" in a very general sense. You make Fehler in life, you make Fehler in school tests and it turned out to be a bad Fehler to make fun of this wardrobe-sized guy who had a few beers too many and who felt severly annoyed by my presense. Some kind of Fehler also keeps my computer from working properly, i.e. greeting me cheerful each morning and getting me a cup of cappucino the moment he sees me. :o)
So while I don't even know how you would distinguish error and mistake (would be interesting though) I would think that the german Fehler covers them both.

It seems to me that in chess you only distinguish between "inaccuracies" and "blunders", the latter one meaning the more severe mistake. Therefore one would think that Fingerfehler means a real blunder. However, as I have never heard that term in actual use, I would judge by "first impression" and this get's "distorted" by the alliteration fi-fe, which usually adds a diminutive content to the meaning of the word (misato, I only know Faselfehler, which is about equal to Schusselfehler).
So I would go for "fingerslip"...

misato ♡ 138 ( +1 | -1 )
long whip and fingerfehler I only know "long whip" as a bishop which controls a long diagonal (or is able to control it after another token has been moved away).

In my eyes "fingerfehler" is a bad move done by the fingers only - without thinking at all or neglecting good thoughts. Two examples:
1) your opponent just captured your knight and you recapture it by your other knight automatically. You could do this with your bishop as well but "knight to knight" looks much more natural. Unfortunately this second knight had been the only defense against a mate-in-one or a nice knight-fork (on its original space, of course) - and you are a player who normally is aware of such, with just two seconds of looking time.
2) You have figured out a beautiful combination which really works, you check it some times and there is only one reasonable response to your first move (1. Rf1-e1 Qe7-d7). But then you have the fantastic 2. Ng4-f6+ which wins the black Queen because the black Pg7 is pinned by your Qg3 - wow!! You already see this position with your inner eyes, move 1. Ng4-f6+ and resign after 1. - Qe7xf6. Okay, you know that you shouldn't do the second move first, but only your fingers were doing this, your brain moved in the correct sequence. Again those crucial two additional seconds ...

ccmcacollister ♡ 47 ( +1 | -1 )
OH HO! THANK YOU MISATO ! As I thought that I was the Only one who does the 'Second move First' embarassment!! It is warming to know I am not alone, and even have a name for it. :)
Another thing I've always thought of as a "fingerfehler" is getting caught by the Touch Move Rule with a bad move... ?! Seems reasonable anyway.
Thx for the fehler definition alberlie. I'll really know some German when this thread is done!
}8-)

ionadowman ♡ 48 ( +1 | -1 )
Thanks for the responses. The so-called 'Fingerslip' Variation, I believe, goes: 1. e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb5 4.Bd2!? It seems that Alekhine played this on one occasion, and when asked about it, he responded (in whatever language he and his interlocutor mutually understood: 'My finger slipped...' How authentic the story is, I don't know.
The long whip came as a surprise. I thought it might be something like the windmill, or maybe a long (forcing?) variation in the Ruy Lopez, say...
Very informative.
Another query: has anyone considered playing the Tumbleweed Gambit on GK..?

buddie ♡ 16 ( +1 | -1 )
Long Whip Defence Isn't the "Long Whip" a line in the King's Gambit? -
1. e4 e5 2. f4 exf4 3. Nf3 g5 4. h4 g4 5. Ne5 h5.

-> chess-ref.org

ionadowman ♡ 11 ( +1 | -1 )
Presumably so called... From the shape of the pieces and pawns on Black's K-wing? Looks like a horse-whip...
Cheers,
Ion

ccmcacollister ♡ 4 ( +1 | -1 )
schachistica amourosis Let us not forget . . .
Did I spell that right?

ccmcacollister ♡ 171 ( +1 | -1 )
From Chess Coaching Club Thread ... called "In A Slump" . The question was asked as to the meaning of " en prise ". Below is my response in that thread. But can anyone be more definate about it? And also, does anyone have the language and literal translation for it? Thanks y'all.
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PASTED TO HERE/Start:
By my definition it would be: An unprotected piece that is threatened. However, some players may use the word to describe any piece or pawn that is simply unprotected, but not necessarily attacked at that moment. I cannot tell you which is the more correct usage. Sometimes people say it is " hanging " ... such as "my knight is hanging", when referring to the unit that is en prise. When referring to outright (or cheap) loss of a unit, players often say that it " dropped ". As in, "I dropped my Rook to a knight fork" for instance.
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(Tho not to be cofused with saying " hanging pawns ", which is a totally different concept meaning a pair of your pawns that are side by side to each other but have no neighboring pawns to their other sides. For eg If you had pawns on a1, c4, d4, f2,g3,h2 then the c4 & d4 are the "hanging pawns".)
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. floyd23 , I am also posting this information to the 'Terminology' thread in the main Chess Forum of GK to see if any other players can firm-up the definition of en prise more conclusively.
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}8-)
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alberlie ♡ 11 ( +1 | -1 )
literal translation.. is simply "in danger" - so, you're right, it should refer only to unguarded pieces that are actually attacked.

ionadowman ♡ 115 ( +1 | -1 )
I've always thought... ...that an undefended piece had to be attacked to be 'en prise'. It still seems to apply for the threatened relative loss of material, too: Q for less, etc. 'Hanging' appears to be more general (leaving aside the special case of 'hanging' pawn couple), meaning any piece (or maybe pawn) that for the moment lacks any protection, or that, during a forecast series of moves, loses its protection. I've seen the word 'loose' in much the same context. Doesn't necessarily imply that the unit in question is under immediate attack. Often a feature of tactical motifs such as the 'masked battery', skewer, or 'removing the guard'... etc.
I've occasionally seen the word 'fortress', used to suggest a materially weaker side in an endgame having established an impregnable position - one in which the stronger side can make no progress. A fairly trivial example might be this book draw: White: Kb5, Bd6, Pa7; Black: Ka8. Nothing can be done to stop Black oscillating between a8 and b7, which leaves White's infantry hung up on the wire... Any further thoughts on this expression? Does the position have to be impregnable to constitute a fortress?
Cheers,
Ion

alberlie ♡ 94 ( +1 | -1 )
one more... "kaputt" - I've seen that a few times when talking about a position. e.g. "So, after Nf5, black has to play Qc1 for Bg5 is met with <whatever> and f6 would be simply kaputt."
"Kaputt" is also german and means "broken". But not broken in halfs but in the sense in which toys are broken and thus not usable anymore.
To me, kaputt has definite "childhood" connotations (which makes it such a funny term for chess) - probably because that's when most things around me went broke sooner or later and it's also one of those words that are pretty hard to pronounce for a three-year old. So, whoever had the fortune of watching a child grow up can remember the sound of a child saying "putt-de-daan" with that expression on it's face showing that he's not exactly sure whether to be rueful with regard to the damage or to be excited by the discovery that you can detach heads and arms from the doll you got for christmas yesterday... :o))

ionadowman ♡ 54 ( +1 | -1 )
A fairly literal translation... ...of 'kaputt' would then be Fischer's favorite expression 'busted'. It, too, has vaguely childish connotations, or connections, but is pretty expressive of an irrecoverably lost position. By the way, the German 'kaputt' has entered the English language as 'kaput'...
One area we haven't discussed are terms for players one perceives (or tries to persuade oneself) as being much weaker than oneself. Locally, such terms have been pretty unimaginative: 'rabbit', 'bunny', 'hack', and I'm familiar with 'patzer', though it isn't used here. Any others?
Cheers,
Ion

ccmcacollister ♡ 31 ( +1 | -1 )
STARTING Chess Terminology #2 thread Thanks everyone for contributing ! Lots of great and interesting info. And doubtless much more that's unsaid ... so I am starting a thead #2 for Terminology, and transferring ionadowman 's last post here to start it there.
Regards, Craig A.C.
}8-)