The English Language

A section to discuss matters not related to Chess in particular.
MartinCarpenter
Posts: 3044
Joined: Tue May 24, 2011 10:58 am

Re: enjoy superiority?

Post by MartinCarpenter » Fri May 09, 2014 4:12 pm

Or trying to induce h4 somehow because that'd really make the endings a bit worrying. It just looks very unpleasant to me really.

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: enjoy superiority?

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 7:14 am

IM Jack Rudd wrote:OK, here's something more concrete: after 2...Rd6 3.Re2 (chosen to give white the opportunity of doubling rooks on the file easily) Qc7, black's extracting a mini-concession: 3.Be3 allows black to get a rook to e4, 3.Bg3 means white always has to worry about ...g5, and 3.g3 slightly weakens the kingside. It's still probably not enough to win, but it's the sort of position where black can probe and white will find it hard to keep everything under control.
But what IS already worse statically, devoid of dynamic trumps.
And yes, you often have to make more concessions.

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Army

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 7:16 am

Hello.
Why do authors refer to either side's forces as their army?

Thanks in advance

User avatar
Christopher Kreuzer
Posts: 8806
Joined: Fri Aug 06, 2010 2:34 am
Location: London

Re: Army

Post by Christopher Kreuzer » Sat May 10, 2014 8:24 am

This should be obvious. It is claimed that chess originated as a war game. Both sides are an army trying to defeat the other in a war over the 64 squares of the chessboard. It might help if you gave some more details about which languages you are reading chess books in and which languages you are familiar with. You might have said this earlier, but I may have missed this.

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: Army

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 10:58 am

Christopher Kreuzer wrote:This should be obvious. It is claimed that chess originated as a war game. Both sides are an army trying to defeat the other in a war over the 64 squares of the chessboard. It might help if you gave some more details about which languages you are reading chess books in and which languages you are familiar with. You might have said this earlier, but I may have missed this.
I am translating "Play Winning Chess" by GM Seirawan into Persian (I am from Iran) and have read from other English sources during my chess career ( some 13 years, I am now dropped to 1860 ) plus some russian sources (I suck at Russian)

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Worthwhile

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 12:41 pm

Hi.
What does 'worthwhile mean in:


1. e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5 3. Nc3 Qe5+? 4.Be2 Nc6 5.Nf3 Qc5? 6.d4

White gains more time by another attack on the poor Black Queen! Moreover. the pawn move is worthwhile because it helps to control the e5 central square and frees the c1-Bishop.

Thanks in advance

User avatar
IM Jack Rudd
Posts: 4818
Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 1:13 am
Location: Bideford
Contact:

Re: Worthwhile

Post by IM Jack Rudd » Sat May 10, 2014 12:51 pm

It's a common enough word in standard English, but it wasn't easy to think of a definition off the top of my head; the definition I found on http://www.dictionary.com was "sufficiently important, rewarding, or valuable to justify time or effort spent".

In the context of this passage of text, it also conveys the implication that d4 is a move that white would want to play whether or not it attacked the black queen, for the reasons given after the word "worthwhile".

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: Worthwhile

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 1:06 pm

IM Jack Rudd wrote:It's a common enough word in standard English, but it wasn't easy to think of a definition off the top of my head; the definition I found on http://www.dictionary.com was "sufficiently important, rewarding, or valuable to justify time or effort spent".

In the context of this passage of text, it also conveys the implication that d4 is a move that white would want to play whether or not it attacked the black queen, for the reasons given after the word "worthwhile".
My problem is whether it just means "valuable, helpful" or means "it deserves doing it" or something like that?

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Piece

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 4:14 pm

Hi.
Is there any word in English that refers specifically to the pieces other than pawns?

Thanks in advance

Matt Fletcher
Posts: 271
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2011 9:42 pm

Re: Piece

Post by Matt Fletcher » Sat May 10, 2014 4:27 pm

No - but when talking about moves in a game, using the word 'piece' specifically excludes the pawns.

And you can split the pieces into major pieces (Rook and Queen), minor pieces (Bishop and Knight) and King.

This link may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece#Terminology

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: Piece

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 4:33 pm

Matt Fletcher wrote:No - but when talking about moves in a game, using the word 'piece' specifically excludes the pawns.

And you can split the pieces into major pieces (Rook and Queen), minor pieces (Bishop and Knight) and King.

This link may help:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_piece#Terminology
I thought that the word 'piece' can include any chess man...At least this is what various dictionaries say, and GM Seirawan used it that was.

Roger de Coverly
Posts: 21301
Joined: Tue Apr 15, 2008 2:51 pm

Re: Piece

Post by Roger de Coverly » Sat May 10, 2014 4:45 pm

soheil_hooshdaran wrote: I thought that the word 'piece' can include any chess man.
At a general level of English, chess pieces means all 32 of them. At a more specific technical level of writing about chess moves, the term piece usually means just a Queen, Rook, Bishop or Knight. Other languages may vary and have separate words for the two meanings.

Geoff Chandler
Posts: 3486
Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 1:36 pm
Location: Under Cover
Contact:

Re: Piece

Post by Geoff Chandler » Sat May 10, 2014 4:48 pm

Hi,

Not too sure what you mean so I will split my explanation.

Pawns are always pawns. They are not pieces.

"White is a piece up." means that White has won a Knight or Bishop.

If the material balance is a Queen, Rook or a pawn (or pawns) then you say.

"White is a Queen up.", "White is a Rook up." or in the case of pawns. "White is a pawn up."

Some writers will include the Rook into the piece category. This is up to you.

Stick to calling pawns 'pawns' and the pieces 'pieces' and you will not be wrong.
Mixing the two, as you can see, may cause confusion.

-------------------

If you mean do writers use different names for the actual pieces.

Sometimes they do to flower up their prose, make it jazzy. (sound clever).
But there are no other official names for the pieces. If in doubt or it may confuse then don't do it.

"....the pawn on c6 keeps a beast (a Knight) off d5."

".....The Big Fellah (the King) is in danger."

"......The Lady (Queen) has been caught with her knickers down."

These are some of mine - awful writing but then again I usually note up awful (but instructive) games.

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

Re: Piece

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sat May 10, 2014 6:32 pm

Geoff Chandler wrote:Hi,

Not too sure what you mean so I will split my explanation.

Pawns are always pawns. They are not pieces.

"White is a piece up." means that White has won a Knight or Bishop.

If the material balance is a Queen, Rook or a pawn (or pawns) then you say.

"White is a Queen up.", "White is a Rook up." or in the case of pawns. "White is a pawn up."

Some writers will include the Rook into the piece category. This is up to you.

Stick to calling pawns 'pawns' and the pieces 'pieces' and you will not be wrong.
Mixing the two, as you can see, may cause confusion.

-------------------

If you mean do writers use different names for the actual pieces.

Sometimes they do to flower up their prose, make it jazzy. (sound clever).
But there are no other official names for the pieces. If in doubt or it may confuse then don't do it.

"....the pawn on c6 keeps a beast (a Knight) off d5."

".....The Big Fellah (the King) is in danger."

"......The Lady (Queen) has been caught with her knickers down."

These are some of mine - awful writing but then again I usually note up awful (but instructive) games.
:mrgreen:
The problem is that I want to be as colorful!
So I translated 'beast' literally (the 4-legged)

soheil_hooshdaran
Posts: 3148
Joined: Tue Nov 05, 2013 5:24 pm

forfeit

Post by soheil_hooshdaran » Sun May 11, 2014 5:20 pm

Hi.
There are some confusing terms for me.Would you please clearly differentiate them for me?
forfeiting a game, losing on time, flagging, falling the clock, etc.

Thanks in advance

Post Reply