The ‘A’ story of chess
Have you just started learning chess and have no clue what all those fancy terms mean? As if the game wasn’t difficult enough they had to come up with all those classy words, right? Have no fear; we have come to your rescue. In this article, we will be explaining
the commonly used ‘A’ terms to you in such a way that you will be able to assimilate and retain them.
Here they come….
Let’s start with the simplest one. When they say a piece is Active, it is exactly what it means. An Active piece is able to move with relative freedom on the chessboard as it has little obstruction in its path. As opposed to activity, there is the concept
of Adjournment. This is to stop the game for the time being in order to continue from the same position at a later occasion. The cases where a strong player refuses to continue an adjourned game because she feels she knows how the game will finish are termed
as Adjudication. Adjournment is no longer practiced in high-level chess while Adjudication is only prevalent in online chess games.
Something that you do need to practice is a tactic called Advanced Pawn. As the name suggests, it is when a pawn has advanced on to the opponent’s side of the board. When a pawn has reached the fifth rank or row, it is in the advanced stage because it poses
a serious threat to the opponent by having the potential of being promoted if it reaches the last rank. Another potential hazard to the opponent is an Alekhine’s gun. It is as lethal as it sounds. Alekhine’s gun is a tactical position in which two rooks are
backed up by the queen on the same file or column. Switching from tactics to mathematics, let’s talk about the Algebraic notation. Don’t worry. You won’t be asked to solve any math problems. You should just know what it is. Algebraic notation is a method used
to record a chess game by making use of alphanumeric notations that represent the squares. For example: Kd2 Ke7. Another term that describes chess being played is Annotation. It uses written comments and chess notations. Annotation is a form of commentary.
Announced Mate is another chess terminology that has a verbal aspect to it. If a player believes he will achieve a checkmate in a few moves, she announces it by saying ‘mate in five’ for instance. The player is so sure because the moves she makes will leave
the opponent with only one alternative that will trap the opponent even further. This sequence of moves will result in a checkmate. A more interesting term in chess is Armageddon. The word is used to describe a game in which it is absolutely essential for
White to win if it wants to win the match. On the other hand, Black just needs to draw the match.
Artificial castling is when a player does not castle in the standard way but uses a series of moves to position the rook and the king in the form of a castle. This usually happens if the king has moved before castling and thus is not allowed to castle in
the standard way. As we began with the simplest, let’s end with a simple one too. A very basic chess term is the Attack. It is a long-term or short-term assault, targeting any one piece of the opponent. An attack may be done by one piece or using a combination
of pieces.
This was your first lesson in chess terminologies. Have a chess conversation with a friend and see how many you can remember while we get the “B’s” ready for you.
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