English Chess Forum

Down the club the other night someone in zugzwang suggested that after Brexit we will need to replace some of these European chess words we have. And it occurred to be that the way the negotiations are going Brexit is a good replacement for Zugzwang. Black to move, black Ke8, white pawn d6, white Ke6 - black is in Brexit. Try it! (It works better after a few pints).

Even the latest proposal is called checkers! Perhaps other chess terms could be replaced with Brexit related ones:

• zugzwang - Brexit
• en passant - in customs - pawn is slowed down at the border and can only move 1 square
• fianchetto - ?? ( sounds a bit like free trade agreement)
• zwischenzug - ??
• Claiming a draw under the 50 move rule - trigger article 50
• putting the clocks back - leaving the EU
• losing the exchange - a bad deal
• lose on time - crash out with no deal

Losing on time is better than losing the exchange!

Actually, it can be argued that Zugzwang is maybe a good descriptor of Brexit

Brexit = giving knight odds