Chess Glossary : Section F
Family Fork
A Fork Attack (Chess Tactic) delivered by the Knight, against two or more enemy Pieces (Knight, Bishops, Rook, Queen), in a single turn.
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Family Check
Same principle as the Family Fork, except one of the Pieces being attacked happens to be the enemy King.
FEN
Abbreviation for Forsyth-Edwards Notation. Once a rival to Descriptive and Algebraic Chess Notation, respectively, the FEN version now only exists to help Chess Software (such as Fritz 12) to determine where to place the Pawns and Pieces on the Chessboard, so they can be setup in any random position.
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How it works:
- 1Play alone
- 2Play with AI
- 3Play in room
- 4Watch the rooms
- 5No Ads, Clean Play Room
Fianchetto
1. The spectacularly ignorant Chess Glossary Team neglected to look up this word; took a wild stab in the dark, said it was a type of Italian sandwich and got it wrong.
2. It was, therefore, left to management to deduct the Chess Glossary Team’s weekly allowance of Pork Scratchings and inform you that Fianchetto refers to a Bishop Chess Piece being placed on one of the squares in front of where the Knights start a game, so as to patrol one the two longest diagonals.
FIDE [
]
International Chess Police. Bow down, worship and don’t break their rules. The Chess Glossary Team would like to point out that they’re still waiting for an invitation to one of their higher-paying tournaments and wish to reserve judgement over their authority until they’re dead certain they’ll (a) get one and (b) get paid in CASH, no questions asked.
FIDE Master
After Candidate Master, FIDE’s next title-award is the FIDE Master – abbreviated to ‘FM’. It’s ranked below both the International Master (IM) and Grand Master (GM), respectively and is often granted to a player with a FIDE Rating score of 2300 or more.
Fifty Move Rule
1. If the coffee machine is more than 50 paces away from your table, the Chess Glossary Team’s idealistic-without-being-realistic Rule involves the option to leave the Tournament with 50 percent of the prize fund.
2. If your only remaining piece, with a legal move, is the King, and your opponent has other pieces in active play, should you manage to make 50 Moves without succumbing to Checkmate, the game will end in a Draw (Stalemate).
File
These are the 8 vertical columns of squares, labelled a to h by the Chess Notation system. If you see that a piece is on the d4 square, you instantly know it’s on the d-file … As for the number ‘4’, that refers to the Rank (the ‘horizontal row’) that piece is on.
First Board
Also known as “Top Board“, it’s a term used in team chess games, matches and tournaments, and refers to a player who is pitched into battle against the strongest player of the opposition team. The remaining players are assigned to Second Board, Third Board, etc.
First-Move Advantage
Some refer to White as having a slight advantage as this army gets to move first, in each game.
Fischer Delay
A specific type of time control method that incorporates a time delay, which former World Chess Champion Bobby Fischer invented. The delay adds a portion of time to the clock of the player who moves next.
Flag
On analog Chess Clocks, there’s usually a little red Flag. When the Flag falls, it indicates the precise moment when a player’s time has expired.
Flank
When an enemy attacks from the ‘Flanks’, they’re coming from, or moving along, the outside edges of the battlefield. The ‘Flanks’ on a Chess Board are the Queenside Files: a, b and c; and the Kingside Files f, g, and h, respectively.
Flank Openings
A specific Opening where White’s first move advances either one of the Pawns, or one of the Knights, on one of the Flanks.
Flank Pawns
The Pawns that start each game on the Flanks (Queenside files a, b & c; Kingside files f, g & h) are often referred to as Flank Pawns.
Flash Chess III
The original name for the game now called SparkChess, which you can play for free, here.
Flash Chess 3D
A free online game leaving the Chess Glossary Team thinking: “green“, “brown“, and “if you’re programming a game, try looking up at the screen once in a while to make sure it doesn’t look hokey.”
Flight Square
Also known as an “Escape Square“, the term refers to a square that allows a Piece to escape capture. The process of creating a Flight Square is known as making “Luft“.
FM
Abbreviation for the FIDE Master Chess Title, which is awarded by FIDE to players who reach an Elo rating of 2300 points or more. In addition composers and solvers of applicable Chess problems can also be awarded the FM title. The title abbreviation will go before the player’s name, e.g. FM Jon Doe.
Fool’s Mate
1. No names mentioned, but lots of finger-pointing went on in the Chess Glossary office.
2. Quickest ever route to Checkmate – achieves ‘Mate in 2 Moves.
Force
1. Only way to get the Chess Glossary Team to put into practice the concept of work. And when that fails, it’s left to financial bribery as the only means for getting anything done.
2. Refers to material advantage when one player has more pieces than his opponent – be it on the entire Chess Board, or within any given area of the board.
Forced
1. In order to avoid an important piece being captured, or to prevent certain loss of the game, the piece moved is said to have been “Forced”.
2. Word often used in complaint, arising from any member of the Chess Glossary Team who, claiming unfairness, had to put in a proper day’s work.
Forfeit
In tournament conditions, when a player exceeds the time on their Chess Clock, they lose the game by a Forfeit of time. A player can also lose – or, forfeit – the game if they fail to turn up for it.
Fork
A tactical move designed to attack 2 or more of your opponent’s pieces from a single square. The most common piece used in a Fork Attack is a Knight, as it makes good use of its L-shape pattern of movement to give it an option of threatening ahead and left, or ahead and right.
Forsyth Notation
19th Century method for recording, or describing, a particular position in a game of Chess. Created by Scotsman, David Forsyth, for use in Newspapers. No longer used with Newspapers, after the introduction of Algebraic Notation, the Forsyth Notation has a role in computer games, enabling you to copy the Notation into programs, such as Fritz 12. Steven J. Edwards was the chap behind the conversion for computers, hence this system is now known as the Forsyth-Edwards Notation (FEN).
Fortress
A Defensive Tactic used when losing a game of Chess and trying to salvage ½ a point from a Draw (Stalemate) … The Fortress is usually a structure of Pawns in front of the King, to keep out the enemy, while enabling your King to repeat the same move 3 times, triggering Stalemate by the Three-time Repetition Rule.
Friendly Game
Any game of Chess not played under tournament conditions is usually referred to as a Friendly Game. Such games usually are not timed. However, if they are, then players often use Rapid time-controls (10 to 60 minutes per player, sometimes with a small time increment per move – e.g. 5 to 10 seconds).
Fritz
Name of a powerful and highly sophisticated Chess Engine – so good, in November 2003, Garry Kasparov could only draw a four-game match against it.
Fritz 12
One of the most popular Chess programs ever created. To call this a “computer game” is to seriously under-value the engineering that’s gone into creating a serious training simulation.
Full Pawn Center
When either player gets both ‘d’ & ‘e’ File Pawns into the Small Center, it’s known as having a Full Pawn Center.