Chess & Vocabulary Learnings - July
01 Jul 2025I’ve been trying to learn and improve my chess skills—I’ve recently found it quite interesting—but I haven’t had the time to pursue it consistently. Secondly, whenever I read articles, hear someone speak well, or watch movies, series, or listen to songs, I realize that English vocabulary is another area where I have room to grow. While I don’t think I’m a bad speaker or reader, I genuinely want to improve my proficiency in this area. This monthly article is my attempt to focus on the areas mentioned above, where I jot down interesting things I come across.
Chess:
| Piece | Unicode Symbol | Notation Symbol | Point Value | Description of Moves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pawn | ♙ / ♟︎ | (none) | 1 | Moves forward 1 square (2 on first move), captures diagonally |
| Knight | ♘ / ♞ | N | 3 | Moves in L-shape: 2 squares in one direction, then 1 square perpendicular; can jump over pieces |
| Bishop | ♗ / ♝ | B | 3 | Moves diagonally any number of squares |
| Rook | ♖ / ♜ | R | 5 | Moves horizontally or vertically any number of squares |
| Queen | ♕ / ♛ | Q | 9 | Combines the power of rook and bishop: moves any number of squares in any direction |
| King | ♔ / ♚ | K | ∞ (Infinite) | Moves 1 square in any direction; most valuable — if checkmated, you lose the game |
CheckMate’s:
- Scholar’s mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7# (checkmate)
- Fool’s mate: 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4# (checkmate)
Stalemate: …
Vocab:
- Frequent rainstorms hammer this part of the coast
- Birds dive under the canopy of forest looking for shleter
- The dog was so excited to see his owner that he wagged his tail vigorously