Chess & Vocabulary Learnings

01 Jul 2025 · 6 min read

I’ve been trying to learn and improve my chess skills—found it quite interesting lately—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 article is my attempt to focus on the areas mentioned above, where I jot down interesting things I come across. I will continue to update this page regularly as I learn interesting stuff.

Chess:

Notes (reference: chess.com)

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

Checkmates:

• Scholar’s mate: 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7# (checkmate)
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• Fool’s mate: 1.f3 e5 2.g4 Qh4# (checkmate)
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Stalemate: the player to move is not in check but has no legal move. The game is a draw, not a win. Common when the stronger side is careless while up material.

• Common openings (White’s first moves, idea):
  • Italian Game: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4. Develops fast and eyes f7; leads to open, tactical play.
  • Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5. Pressure on the knight that guards e5; slow, strategic.
  • Queen’s Gambit: 1.d4 d5 2.c4. Offers a c-pawn to take the centre; Black can accept (QGA) or decline (QGD).
  • Sicilian Defense (Black): 1.e4 c5. Unbalanced fight; Black trades a wing pawn for a central one.
  • French Defense (Black): 1.e4 e6. Solid but cramped; Black attacks White’s centre with …d5 and …c5.
  • London System: 1.d4 and 2.Bf4. Same setup against most replies, low theory.
• Tactical patterns:
  • Back-rank mate: king stuck behind its own pawns, a rook or queen mates on the first rank. Make luft (a pawn move) to avoid it.
  • Battery: two pieces on the same line, e.g. queen behind a rook or bishop.
  • Discovered attack/check: moving one piece uncovers an attack from another.
  • Deflection and decoy: drag a defender away, or lure a piece onto a bad square.
  • Zwischenzug: an in-between move played instead of the expected recapture.
  • Blunder: a serious mistake that loses material or the game; check the opponent’s last move before every move.
• Pawn structure and pieces:
  • Doubled pawns: two on the same file; isolated pawn: no friendly pawn on adjacent files; backward pawn: cannot advance safely and is hard to defend; passed pawn: no enemy pawn can stop it, so it is a strong asset.
  • Bad bishop: blocked by its own pawns on the same colour. Good bishop: pawns on the opposite colour.
  • Outpost: a square deep in enemy territory that no enemy pawn can attack, ideal for a knight.
  • Open file: no pawns on it, put a rook there. Seventh rank: a rook there is very strong.
• Endgame ideas:
  • Opposition: with kings facing each other, the side not to move holds the opposition.
  • Lucena position: standard win with rook + pawn vs rook. Philidor position: standard draw defence.
  • Rule of the square: quick way to see if a king can catch a passed pawn.
  • Know basic draws: king vs king, insufficient material, threefold repetition, 50-move rule, stalemate.

Terms:

• Castling: king moves 2 squares towards a rook and the rook jumps over it; only if neither has moved, the path is clear, and the king is not in or passing through check.
• En passant: a pawn that just moved 2 squares can be captured as if it moved 1, only on the very next move.
• Gambit: sacrificing material (usually a pawn) in the opening for a better position.
• Zugzwang: any move the player makes worsens their position.
• Fianchetto: bishop developed to b2/g2/b7/g7 after a pawn move to b3/g3/b6/g6.
• Promotion: a pawn reaching the last rank becomes a queen (or rook, bishop, knight).

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Vocab:

• Words:
  • Sycophant: a person who flatters someone powerful to gain favour. “The CEO was surrounded by sycophants who never disagreed.”
  • Equivocate: to speak vaguely to avoid committing to a position. “Asked about the delay, he equivocated.”
  • Obfuscate: to make something deliberately unclear. “The report obfuscated the real numbers.”
  • Magnanimous: generous and forgiving, especially towards a rival. “She was magnanimous in victory.”
  • Perfunctory: done with minimal effort, as a routine. “He gave the code a perfunctory review.”
  • Ostensibly: apparently, but perhaps not truly. “He left ostensibly for health reasons.”
  • Capricious: given to sudden, unpredictable changes of mood or behaviour. “The capricious weather ruined the plans.”
  • Laconic: using very few words. “His laconic reply: ‘Fine.’”
  • Insidious: harmful in a gradual, hidden way. “Burnout is insidious; it creeps up on you.”
  • Zeitgeist: the defining mood of a particular era. “The film captured the zeitgeist of the 90s.”
• Idioms / Sentences:
  • Frequent rainstorms hammer this part of the coast
  • Birds dive under the canopy of forest looking for shelter
  • The dog was so excited to see his owner that he wagged his tail vigorously
  • A thin mist crept over the valley, softening the outline of the hills
  • The old bridge groaned under the weight of the passing trucks
  • She scribbled furiously, afraid the idea would slip away before she finished
  • The crowd erupted the moment the final whistle blew
  • Dark clouds gathered on the horizon, promising a restless night
  • He hesitated at the door, rehearsing the words he had practised all week
  • The city never truly sleeps; it merely dims its lights and hums quietly
  • Waves lashed against the rocks, scattering foam in every direction

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