The English Language

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What is the difference between complicated, complex, involved, etc. games?

[Barry Sandercock]

No real difference.

[Barry Sandercock]

Soheil Hooshdaran wrote:
Does initiative mean "strategy" ?

No. Initiative means in a position to take control.
Strategy means Game plan. Not easy to explain the difference, but that's the best I can do.

[Ian Thompson]

Does initiative mean "strategy" in:
20...g3!
The only move which can continue Black's dark-squared initiative.
?

No. Initiative means dictating the course of play (e.g. Black plays a move which threatens something, White has to defend against it, Black plays another move which threatens something, White has to defend against it, etc.). So your sentence probably means that Black has an attack on the dark-squares and ...g3 is the only move to continue the attack.

Strategy normally means a long-term plan (e.g. a series of moves aiming to capture White's dark-squared bishop leaving him with weaknesses on the dark-squares for the rest of the game, or trying to exchange off pieces to leave a good v bad bishop ending, or trying to leave your opponent with doubled-isolated pawns which will always be weak, etc., etc.,).

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What does it mean to
Undermine the center by c7-c5 and e7-e6
[White's c4+d4+e4 center]?
Why is it called 'to undermine' rather than 'to destroy'?

[Barry Sandercock]

I would say "undermine" means to weaken rather than to destroy.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

So why doesn't he simply say 'weaken'?

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What's the difference between installing and placing your knights somewhere?

[Barry Sandercock]

Soheil Hooshdaran wrote:
What's the difference between installing and placing your knights somewhere?

No difference.

[Barry Sandercock]

Soheil Hooshdaran wrote:
So why doesn't he simply say 'weaken'?

To undermine is a gradual process of weakening. There are many things he could have said but he chose to say "undermine". I don't know why. If he had said "destroy", it would not have given the meaning he intended.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

What is a forepost?

[Barry Sandercock]

An advanced post, an outpost. Not a normal chess term.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Here it is used differently than an outpost, I think
What does it mean there?

[Ian Thompson]

Here it is used differently than an outpost, I think
What does it mean there?

Meaningless. The game annotations look like they have been written by someone whose first language is not English, so your guess is as good as mine as to what they meant.

[soheil_hooshdaran]

Does an ugly move really have a bad appearance?