Chess Dictionary — C

Terms starting with C (51)

Calculation Intermediate

Calculation is the mental process of analyzing sequences of moves and replies several turns ahead to evaluate which options are sound.

Can Opener Intermediate

The can-opener is a kingside attack in which a player advances the h-pawn, usually to h5 or h6, to force open the h-file against an opponent's castled king.

Candidate Master Intermediate

A Candidate Master is the lowest official FIDE title, awarded automatically to any player who reaches a published FIDE rating of 2200.

Capture Intermediate

Capture is the act of moving your piece onto a square occupied by an opponent's piece and removing that piece from the board.

Castling Beginner

Castling moves the king two squares toward a rook, which then jumps to the square the king crossed, provided both pieces are unmoved, the path is clear, and the king neither starts in check nor passes through or lands on an attacked square.

Caveman Attack Intermediate

A caveman attack is an unsophisticated, direct assault on the king that ignores positional principles in favor of crude threats and rapid piece activity.

Caïssa Beginner

Caïssa is the mythological goddess of chess, invented in a 1763 poem by Sir William Jones and often invoked in chess writing as the game's patron spirit.

Cc Player Intermediate

A CC player competes in correspondence chess, exchanging moves by post, email or dedicated servers over days or weeks rather than in a single sitting.

Centaur Advanced

In fairy chess a centaur is a piece that moves either as a knight or as a non-royal king.

Center Camper Intermediate

A center camper is a piece, most often a knight, that occupies or firmly controls one of the four central squares to dominate key lines and restrict the opponent.

Center Enjoyer Intermediate

A center enjoyer is a player who prioritizes early central pawn occupation and piece control of d4, d5, e4, and e5 to secure space advantages rather than adopting flank or hypermodern setups.

Center Hugger Intermediate

A center hugger is a player who consistently prioritizes occupying or controlling the four central squares with pawns and pieces to cramp the opponent and limit counterplay.

Centipawn Intermediate

A centipawn equals one-hundredth of a pawn's value and serves as the standard unit in engine evaluations to express fractional material or positional advantages.

Cheap Trick Beginner

A cheap trick is an unsound tactical trap or swindle that succeeds only when the opponent overlooks an obvious threat, typically from a lost or inferior position.

Cheapo Intermediate

A cheapo is a simple tactical trick or swindle played to catch an inattentive or time-pressed opponent.

Check Beginner

Check occurs when a player's king is under direct attack by an opponent's piece and must be resolved on the next move.

Checkmate Beginner

Checkmate ends the game when a king is in check and has no legal way to escape by moving, capturing the attacker, or blocking the attack.

Chess Blindness Intermediate

Chess blindness is a player's temporary inability to see an obvious move, capture, or threat on the board, typically caused by fatigue, time pressure, or fixation on a single idea.

Chess Boomer Intermediate

A Chess Boomer is a player from the baby-boomer generation who typically favors classical openings, over-the-board tournaments, and pre-computer-era study habits.

Chess Clock Beginner

A chess clock is a two-faced timing device that tracks each player's remaining time separately, with players pressing a button after each move to stop their clock and start their opponent's.

Chess Composer Intermediate

A chess composer creates original chess problems such as mate-in-n puzzles, studies, or retrograde problems, designed for others to solve rather than for competitive play.

Chess Cop Intermediate

A chess cop is an online player who actively polices rules by reporting suspected cheating, illegal moves, or etiquette violations to moderators or platforms.

Chess Grinder Intermediate

A chess grinder is a player who methodically converts small advantages through patient, technical endgame play and sustained concentration over long games.

Chess Masochist Intermediate

A chess masochist is a player who enjoys or deliberately seeks cramped, objectively worse positions that demand prolonged defense under heavy pressure.

Chess Nerd Intermediate

A chess nerd is a dedicated player who invests heavily in studying openings, theory, puzzles, and engine analysis, often prioritizing deep preparation over casual or over-the-board play.

Chess Problem Intermediate

A chess problem is a composed position in which the solver must find a precise sequence of moves to achieve a stipulated goal, most often checkmate in a set number of moves.

Chess Zoomer Intermediate

A chess zoomer is a young online player, typically Gen Z, known for rapid time-control games and sharp tactical intuition honed on digital platforms.

Chess960 Intermediate

Chess960 (also called Fischer Random) is a chess variant in which the back-rank pieces are placed randomly at the start, subject to constraints that preserve castling options and balance.

Chessfluencer Intermediate

A chessfluencer is an online creator who shares chess lessons, games, or commentary to build a following on social media.

Chop Wood Intermediate

Chop wood means deliberately trading pieces to simplify the position, reduce complications, or steer toward a favorable endgame.

Classical Champion Intermediate

A classical champion is the player holding the world title won under standard time controls, distinct from rapid or blitz formats.

Clearance Intermediate

Clearance is a tactical motif in which a piece moves aside to vacate a square or open a line for a more powerful piece—usually a rook or queen—often gaining tempo by delivering check or creating a threat.

Click Dragger Beginner

A click dragger moves pieces on digital boards by clicking and dragging rather than clicking once to select and again to place.

Clock Enjoyer Intermediate

A clock enjoyer is a chess player who derives genuine enjoyment from managing the chess clock, navigating time pressure, and making practical decisions under strict time controls.

Clock Ninja Intermediate

A clock ninja is a player exceptionally skilled at managing the chess clock, making accurate decisions quickly under severe time pressure.

Clock Surfer Intermediate

A clock surfer is a player who repeatedly glances at the chess clock during the opponent’s turn, usually to assess remaining time and adjust playing speed or risk level accordingly.

Coffeehouse Chess Intermediate

Coffeehouse chess is an informal attacking style that deliberately seeks complications, speculative sacrifices and practical tricks rather than the steady accumulation of small advantages.

Coffin Nail Intermediate

A coffin nail is a move, often a pawn advance, that locks the enemy king into a mating net from which there is no escape.

Colors Reversed Intermediate

Colors reversed describes an opening or position in which one player adopts the standard setup or responses normally associated with the opposite color, often arising via transposition.

Compensation Intermediate

Compensation is a positional or dynamic advantage such as initiative, better pawn structure, or attacking chances that offsets a material deficit.

Copium Checkmate Beginner

Copium checkmate is chess slang for an imaginary mate the loser clings to while refusing to resign or acknowledge the position on the board.

Copium Prepper Intermediate

A Copium Prepper is a player who studies lines chiefly to stock ready rationalizations and excuses for likely losses rather than to improve their results.

Copium Sac Intermediate

A copium sac is an objectively unsound sacrifice played mainly as a psychological coping mechanism in a lost or difficult position.

Coquio's Mate Intermediate

Coquio's Mate is a checkmate pattern in which a queen protected by a knight mates a king trapped on the edge of the board by its own pieces or pawns.

Corridor Mate Beginner

A corridor mate is a checkmate in which a rook or queen attacks the king along an open file or rank while the king’s own pieces or the board edge block escape on the adjacent lines, forming a narrow corridor.

Countergambit Intermediate

A countergambit is an immediate pawn or piece sacrifice by the defender, almost always Black, offered in direct reply to the opponent’s opening gambit.

Country Move Intermediate

A country move is a natural-looking but usually suboptimal chess move that an inexperienced player might choose without deeper calculation.

Cp Intermediate

Cp is chess shorthand for counterplay, referring to active moves or plans that create threats, pressure, or complications to offset an opponent's initiative or material advantage.

Cramped Position Intermediate

A cramped position restricts a player's piece mobility due to insufficient space, typically from their own pawns blocking development or the opponent's pieces controlling key squares.

Crazyhouse Intermediate

Crazyhouse is a chess variant in which captured pieces can immediately be dropped back onto the board as the capturer's own pieces, following standard movement rules.

Cross Pin Intermediate

A cross pin is a tactic in which one piece pins two enemy units along intersecting lines, so that either may be captured if it moves.