Chess Terminology (M)

Chess Terms Starting With "M"

Major piece: A queen or rook.

Majority: a larger numbers of pawns on one flank opposed by a smaller number of the opponent's; often a player with a majority on one flank has a minority on the other.

Mate: Short for checkmate.

Material: All of a player's pieces and pawns on the board. The player with pieces and pawns of greater value is said to have a "material advantage".

Middlegame: The part of a chess game that follows the opening and comes before the endgame, beginning after the pieces are developed in the opening. This is usually roughly moves 20 through 40.

Minor exchange: The exchange of a bishop for a knight.

Minor piece: A bishop or knight.

Minority attack: An advance of pawns on the side of the board where one has fewer pawns than the opponent, usually carried out to provoke a weakness.

Mobility: The ability of a piece to move around the board.

Mobile pawn center: Being able to move pawns around central squares without weakening one's position.

----------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 Chess Strategies Blog

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".

Chess Terminology (L)

Chess Terms Starting With "L"

Lightning chess: A form of chess with an extremely small time limit, usually 1 or 2 minutes per player for the entire game.

Line: A sequence of moves, usually in the opening or in analyzing a position.
An open path for a piece (Queen, Rook, or Bishop) to move or control squares.
Long diagonal: One of the two diagonals with eight squares (a1-h8 or h1-a8).

Luft (from the German for air): space made for a castled king to give it a flight square to prevent a back rank mate. Usually luft is made by moving a pawn on the second rank in front of the king.

----------------------------------------
Copyright 2006 Chess Strategies Blog

Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts.

A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".