theme
idea of a chess problem
decoy
chess tactic
pure mate
checkmating position such that the mated king is attacked exactly once and prevented from moving to any of the adjacent squares in its field for exactly one reason per square
deflection
chess tactic that forces an opposing piece to leave the square, rank or file it occupies, thus exposing the king or a valuable piece
battery
chess formation that consists of two or more pieces on the same rank, file, or diagonal
Grimshaw
device found in chess problems in which 2 pieces arriving on a square mutually interfere
Turton doubling
manoeuvre found in chess problems, first used by Henry
Zugzwang
situation in chess and other games that forbid passing, wherein one player is put at a disadvantage by the obligation to make a move
fork
chess piece attacking two or more pieces simultaneously
Novotny
device found in some chess problems; a Grimshaw brought about by a sacrifice on the critical square
grotesque
humorous chess problem where White fights with a very small force against a much larger Black army
albino
chess problem in which a white pawn makes all 4 possible moves (forward 1 square, forward 2 squares, left capture, right capture)
keeping-busy manoeuvre
chess composition theme
pin
in chess, a situation brought on by an attacking piece in which a defending piece cannot move without exposing a more valuable defending piece on its other side to capture by the attacking piece
check
chess condition
bypassing
chess endgame manoeuvre
economical mate
checkmate position such that all of the attacker’s remaining knights, bishops, rooks and queens contribute to the mating attack
Berlin theme
chess problem theme where White’s obvious direct attack doesn’t work because Black can achieve mate faster, so that White must make some preliminary moves to convert Black’s mate into a harmless check
retrograde analysis
technique employed to determine which moves were played leading up to a given position
joke chess problem
chess puzzle that uses humor
ideal mate
model mate involving all pieces of both players
domination
in chess, a situation in which a piece has a relatively wide choice of destination squares, but nevertheless cannot avoid being captured
blocking
chess tactic
mirror mate
checkmate in which all squares around the mated king are unoccupied
castling
chess move in which the king moves 2 squares toward a rook, while the rook moves to the square passed over by the king
clearance sacrifice
chess tactic in which one’s own pieces (often pawns) are sacrificed to open up lines of attack
echo
chess problem theme in which multiple variations lead to the same mating configurations but in different places on the chessboard
capture in chess
move in chess which removes an opponent’s piece
aristocratic problem
chess problem without pawns
Pauly
chess problem theme
stalemate
situation in chess when no legal move can be done by the player who has to do a move
Babson task
chess problem of a directmate with White to move, in which Black may defend by promoting, and such that if Black promotes, then White must promote to the same piece that Black just promoted to
model mate
pure mate where the checkmated king and all vacant squares in its field are attacked only once, squares in the king’s field occupied by friendly units are not attacked, and all units of the mating side participate in the mate
blocking problem
chess problem