A B C D E F G-H I-L M-N O P Q-R S T U-Z

Fianchetto: An Italian word meaning "on the flank." Though you will hear many different pronunciations, the correct is fyan-ket-to. When a Bishop is developed on QN2 or KN2 (b2 or g2 for White and b7 or g7 for Black), it is called a fianchettoed Bishop. This term applies only to Bishops.

FIDE: An acronym for Federation Internationale des Echecs, the World Chess Federation.

File: A column of eight squares. An "open file" is a file that is not blocked by either side's pawns.

Fish: A derogatory term denoting a weak chess player.

Flank: The sides of the board--the kingside and queenside. "Flank Openings" are openings that deal with flank development. Typical starts for such systems are 1.c4, 1.Nf3, 1.b3, 1.g3, etc.

Force: Material--all pieces and pawns are units of force.

Forced: A move or series of moves that must be played if "disaster" is to be avoided. Two examples: 1) You face a forced move when a checked King only has one legal move to get out of check. 2) A Knight (or any other piece) is attacked and has only one safe square to go to. Moving it to that safe square is also considered to be forced, even though other moves could legally be played.

Fork: A tactical maneuver in which a piece or pawn attacks two enemy pieces
or pawns at the same time.

A B C D E F G-H I-L M-N O P Q-R S T U-Z