New Chess Terms

Turkish7 - AVIRAM77 RHP 2019 (Black to play)


Looks like back in 2019 Aviram was preparing for the pandemic rules.
Black actually can mate with Qe1 or Qc1 but chose 48.Qa1 to socially
distance the Black Queen as far away from the White King as possible.


I choke on my cornflakes everytime I hear a football commentator say something like;
“The game is currently in stalemate.” or some dippy newscaster reading from an autocue:
“The talks are at the moment in a state of stalemate.” This is the wrong use of the word.

Stalemate’ means the game of chess has ended. Finished. It’s all over.
The word the poor dears are struggling for is ‘deadlocked’ or an ‘impasse.'
So today I shall fulfil one of my New Years Resolutions by inventing an original
chess term for them to use and the word I have come up with is ‘unstalemates.’

This position appeared in January 2021 CHESS as part of their Christmas Quiz.
Of course it was nowhere near as good mine, see Blog Post 471 their one was
far too difficult. But I did solve this one and at the same time invent ‘unstalemates.’


White to play and mate in 8. (look out for the Stalemates.)

There is a nice mate in 9 involving a Queen sacrifice. But they want a mate in 8.


The solution. (I have no idea who composed it, CHESS does not say.)


Another chess term I have invented is the ‘Unskewering Pin Fork.’

K. Lloyd - B. Wood, British Chess Championship York 1959

White to play.

White played 37.Rf1? Be5+ (Bishop fork ) and White resigned.
But I was thinking...How about 37.Rf4 Skewering the d4 Bishop.

But No! That is met with the ‘Unskewering Pin Fork’ 37...Be5!


The Bishop has unskewered itself pinning the Rook and forking the Rook and Queen.
( these new chess terms are playing havoc with my auto spell checker. I’ll turn it off.)

Anoffer chesse turm I hav invintid is...


Another Chess term I have invented is.’ Prot Play’ which, in a loose way, means:
‘Playing by the Rules of Thumb.’ Yes we all do it. I am probably more guilty of
than a lot of you because I have a lot of OTB experience. ( so I know more Rules
of Thumb than a lot of you.) and I’m getting old so rely on them more than I use to.

But no excuse. As soon as you know you are about to play a move that follows
a general rule. ‘Avoid Doubled, Backward or Isolated Pawn‘, ” Bishops are
better than Knights,’ etc. then see if you can think of a way to play against it.

Of course if you lose then a wise ass like me will throw your move back in face for
not following a Rule of Thumb.(by the way the latest CHESS comes up with an
interesting quote that I have heard before: ‘Knights are better than Bishops in Blitz!” )

I stumbled on this RHP game, and ‘stumbled’ is the correct word, I was looking
for something else but found myself playing over this game. Here we can see Rules
of Thumb (ROT’s) being followed, some blindly, and some ROT’s being broken

coquette - Hells Caretaker RHP .2020. White to play.


A ROT crossroad.. White can see the threat of Bxh2+ so stops it with 14.Nxd6.
It’s an OK move. It stopped the threat and White has now got the two Bishops!

But how about we ignore the threat and bring another few other ROT’s into play.


Of course not 100% analysis but a better way to go than 14.Nxd6 which went as follows:

coquette - Hells Caretaker RHP .2020. (continued) White to play.


14. Nxd6 Qxd6 Notice anything...Can White break the pin! White played 15.h3.
But instead of 14.h3 how about 14.Qd2. No! 14....Bxf3 White gets doubled pawns,
Yes note that, but can you see past that ROT. Look at the Black Queen now on d6.


Not finished with this game just yet. Black broke a ROT that of all the ROT’s
this is the one you must trust. ‘Never be left with a passive Rook in an ending.’

Even if it means losing one or two pawns. Don’t do it unless you are really forced too
and can see no other way. A passive Rook is a lump of wood. Always go active with it..

coquette - Hells Caretaker RHP .2020. (continued) Black to play.


The b6 pawn is being attacked. Black played 30...Rb8 the game was eventually drawn.
Black should have followed the ROT about active Rooks 30...Rd2 wins the d2 Bishop.


White can make it a tough win with 31.Bxg6+ which gets three pawns for the Bishop.
Or White can go into a Rook ending a pawn down. 31.b4 but White is up against it no
matter which way they play. Black by going not going active missed good a chance.

White also has a third option. A counter combo that looks attractive.



The thread accompanying this blog is Thread 187973