Chess Glossary : Section W
Waiting Move
A move that doesn’t threaten, but waits passively for your opponent to take their turn, is known as a Waiting Move – you’re waiting until the position presents an opportunity for you to take the initiative.
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Weak Pawn
There are a variety of situations where a Pawn is considered to be Weak (they make the best targets! Hit ’em where they’re weakest, and all that!!). Weak Pawns include “Backward Pawns”, “Doubled Pawns” (most of the time), “Tripled Pawns”, “Isolated Pawns”, “Hanging Pawns”, “Hanging Phalanx”, and a “Crippled Majority Wing”.
Weak Square
Refers to a square that an opponent can easily attack, because it’s either not defended or under-defended. A Hole is an example of a Weak Square, as it’s undefended by Pawns, making it easy for an enemy Piece to safely land upon it.
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Weak-Square Complex
The Weak-square Complex as being a “whole series of squares of one color”, which “may become Holes through the disappearance of the Bishop tied to squares of that color”.
Weakness
1. Any square that’s difficult for a player to defend – find your opponent’s Weakness(es), exploit it/them and you’ll greatly improve your chances of victory.
2. Greed is the Chess Glossary Team’s ultimate achilles heel … Every time they’re on the cusp of idleness, management’s promise of another tenner reels ’em back to the belly of serfdom.
WCM
Abbreviation for the Woman Candidate Master chess title.
WFM
Abbreviation for the Woman FIDE Master chess title.
WGM
Abbreviation for the Woman Grandmaster chess title.
White
Describes the player’s army who moves first, at the start of each game. Typically, the White army will be colored White, whereas the Black army will, typically, be colored Black. However, with ‘artistic license’, manufacturers of Chess sets will play about with different color themes for the pieces. The main distinction is that White’s army is a “light” color; while Black’s army is a “dark” color.
Who Invented Chess
With the opportunity to avoid any whiff of responsibility for getting this one wrong, the Chess Glossary Team would like to pass the buck on this matter, in favor of a link to Wikipedia.
Wild
A position or move that’s significantly unclear, or bonkers-complicated is known either as a Wild position, or a Wild move.
WIM
Abbreviation for the Woman International Master chess title.
Win
A player who gains victory – they Win the game. It’s achieved either by Checkmate of the enemy King; or, if their opponent Resigns; or, if an opponent runs out of time; or, if the Tournament Director deems it appropriate that one player has forfeited the game (such as by not turning up).
Windmill
1. Mechanized building that replaces hard labor done by people for work done by nature’s ready-supply of Wind power … The Chess Glossary Team like Windmills.
2. A little-seen Chess Tactic that features: a Discovered Check, followed by a standard Check, in turn followed by another Discovered Check, which is subsequently followed by yet another standard Check … and round and round it goes, like the sails of a … (Windmill ). Also known as a See-saw attack.
Wing
Another name for a “Flank”, of which there are two on the chessboard. he Wings on a Chess Board are the Queenside Files: a, b and c; and the Kingside Files f, g, and h, respectively.
Wing Gambit
A Gambit in which the sacrificial unit is one located on the Wings/Flanks. A typical Wing Gambit would feature the intended sacrifice of the ‘b’ Pawn.
Winning Chess Moves
Capture more pieces than you surrender and checkmate the King of your opponent, before said opponent has the minerals to put a checkmate on you, instead.
Winning Percentage
A value, stated as a percentage, that shows the proportion of games that ended in a Win. The Winning Percentage is calculated by adding half of the percentage of Drawn games to the entire percentage of Won games. W+½D=WP (W=Win, D=Draw, WP=Winning Percentage). For example, say 100 games were played with 62 Wins, 12 Draws and 26 Losses. The Winning Percentage would be 68% (62+(12/2)=WP … 62+6=68).
Winning Position
A position on the board that – providing it’s played correctly – leads, eventually, to Checkmate, no matter what sort of defence the opponent can muster.
Winning The Exchange
When a player trades pieces, but ends up either with an extra piece, or a more potent piece than the one lost. For example, when a player loses a Knight or Bishop (both worth 3 points) to capture their opponent’s Rook (5 points), they are said to have won the Exchange.
Woman Candidate Master
The lowest-ranking chess title awarded to Women chess players, by FIDE. An Elo rating of 2000 points is usually enough for a woman to be awarded the Women Candidate Master title. The title abbreviation (WCM) will go before the player’s name, e.g. WCM Jen Doe.
Woman FIDE Master
After the WCM title, the next award given to women chess players, by FIDE, is the Women FIDE Master title. The title abbreviation (WFM) will go before the player’s name, e.g. WFM Jen Doe.
Woman Grandmaster
The highest award (usually) given to women chess players, by FIDE, is the Women Grandmaster title. “Usually” is in brackets, because it is possible for women of such high chess ability to be given the full Grandmaster title that men receive (prime examples include both Alexandra Kosteniuk and Susan Polgar). Back to the Women Grandmaster title, the abbreviation (WGM) will go before the player’s name, e.g. WGM Jen Doe.
Woman International Master
The second-highest award given to women chess players, by FIDE, is the Women International Master title (the next one up is the WGM title). The title abbreviation (WIM) will go before the player’s name, e.g. WIM Jen Doe.
World Chess Championship
1. A series of chess matches played to determine who is the best chess player in the World.
2. Something the Chess Glossary Team dreams of getting to, but never will because they’re too work-shy to study chess, in favour of another run of Battlestar Gallactica.
World Chess Rankings
Global scoresheet displaying who’s good and who’s best at chess and dominated by countries with links to the former USSR.
Wrong-colored Bishop
Refers to an Endgame situation where a player’s Bishop is unable to help win the game, because it’s on the wrong-colored square and incapable of putting a carefully maneuvered enemy King in Check.
Wrong Rook Pawn
Similar concept to the Wrong-colored Bishop. The Rook Pawn is one of the Pawns on the Rook’s File – the ‘a’ Pawn, on the Queenside; the ‘h’ Pawn, on the Kingside. In this situation, the Pawn is unable to gain promotion, usually because the enemy’s King is preventing it from advancing and, on the same side as the Wrong Rook Pawn, there is also a “Wrong-colored Bishop”, which is incapable of putting the enemy King in Check, so it cannot force the King to move out of the way, in order to help its Pawn advance to its Promotion square.