Chess Dictionary — F

Terms starting with F (21)

Fairy Chess Intermediate

Fairy chess refers to variants that use non-standard pieces, boards, or rules, created mainly for composing problems and puzzles rather than tournament play.

Fairy Pieces Advanced

Fairy pieces are chess units whose movement or capture rules differ from the standard king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn, used chiefly in variants and problems.

Family Fork Intermediate

A family fork is a knight tactic that simultaneously attacks the enemy king, queen, and one or more rooks.

Fianchetto Intermediate

A fianchetto develops a bishop to b2, g2, b7 or g7 after the adjacent knight pawn advances one square, allowing it to control the long diagonal and influence the centre from a protected flank position.

Fide Intermediate

FIDE is the international governing body for chess that maintains the official Laws of Chess, operates the global rating system, awards titles such as Grandmaster, and organizes the World Championship cycle and Chess Olympiad.

Fide Handbook Intermediate

The FIDE Handbook is the official rulebook published by the International Chess Federation that sets out the laws of chess along with regulations for titles, events, and fair play.

File Beginner

A file is any of the eight vertical columns of squares on the chessboard, labeled a through h and running from one player's back rank to the other's.

Fingerfehler Intermediate

A fingerfehler is an unintentional blunder caused by selecting the wrong piece or square through a slip of the hand or mouse, even though the intended move was sound.

Fischer Random Intermediate

Fischer Random, also called Chess960, is a chess variant invented by Bobby Fischer in which each player's back-rank pieces are placed randomly in one of 960 legal arrangements, subject to constraints preserving castling and opposite-color bishops, to reduce reliance on memorized opening theory.

Flag Champ Intermediate

A flag champ is a player who repeatedly wins by exhausting the opponent’s clock rather than by checkmate or resignation.

Flag Demon Intermediate

A flag demon is a player, typically in blitz or bullet, who deliberately steers games into mutual time pressure to win on the clock rather than by checkmate or resignation.

Flag Farmer Intermediate

A flag farmer is a player who deliberately maneuvers to win on time by inducing time pressure rather than pursuing checkmate or resignation.

Flag Hanger Intermediate

A flag hanger is a player who refuses to resign a lost position in a timed game, continuing solely in hopes that the opponent’s flag will fall before checkmate.

Flag Lord Intermediate

A flag lord is an informal term for a player who wins chiefly by forcing the opponent to lose on time rather than by checkmate or resignation.

Flag Monkey Intermediate

A flag monkey is an informal term for a player who prioritizes winning on time by exploiting clock pressure rather than seeking a decisive position or checkmate.

Flag Rat Intermediate

A flag rat is a player who deliberately plays low-quality or random moves quickly in fast time controls, hoping to win on time rather than through superior play.

Flagging Intermediate

Flagging is winning a game by time forfeit when the opponent’s clock reaches zero, regardless of the board position.

Fool's Mate Beginner

Fool's Mate is the shortest possible checkmate in chess, delivered by Black in just two moves after 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4#.

Fork Beginner

A fork is a tactic in which one piece attacks two or more enemy pieces at once, usually winning material because only one threat can be met on the next move.

Fortress Intermediate

A fortress is a defensive endgame position in which the weaker side arranges its king and pieces to form an impregnable barrier that prevents the opponent from making progress or converting a material advantage, usually forcing a draw.

Frozen Rook Intermediate

A frozen rook is a rook immobilized by pins, discovered attacks, or defensive duties that prevent it from moving without allowing decisive material loss or check.