![]() ![]() The work of architects like Christopher Wren, William Chambers, John Soane, and many others inspired the column-like, tripartite division of king, queen, and bishop. Victorian London’s Neoclassical architecture had been influenced by a renewed interest in the ruins of ancient Greece and Rome, which captured the popular imagination after the rediscovery of Pompeii in the 18th century. Despite its name, the iconic set was not designed by Howard Staunton.Ī drawing of typical balusters possible inspiration for the Staunton PawnĪccording to the most widely told origin story, the Staunton set was designed by architect Nathan Cook, who looked at a variety of popular chess sets and distilled their common traits while also, more importantly, looking at the city around him. Howard Staunton was a chess authority who organized many tournaments and clubs in London, and was widely considered to be one of the best players in the world. But the Staunton quickly would surpass them all. To say nothing of the regional and cultural variations. Prior to its invention, there were a wide variety of popular styles in England, such as The St George, The English Barleycorn, and the Northern Upright. The Staunton chess pieces are the ones we know and love today, the ones we simply think of as chess pieces. In 1849, that challenge would be met by the “Staunton” Chess Set. By the 19th century, chess clubs and competitions began to appear all around the world, it became necessary to use a standardized set that would enable players from different cultures to compete without getting confused. Thus, the original chessmen, known as counselor, infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariots, became the queen, pawn, knight, bishop, and rook, respectively. Originally conceived of as a field of battle, the symbolic meaning of the game changed as it gained popularity in Europe, and the pieces became stand-ins for a royal court instead of an army. As the game proliferated throughout southern Europe in the early 11th century, the rules began to evolve, the movement of the pieces were formalized, and the pieces themselves were drastically transformed from their origins in 6th century India. Over the centuries that chess had been played, innumerable varieties of sets of pieces were created, with regional differences in designation and appearance. Intermezzoīut if German is too hard for you (or if you're eating delicious pizza), you can also go with the Italian version of "in-between move." When you find one of these moves, roll up your sleeves, sit up on your chair, and proudly scream, "intermezzo!" But don't actually do it if you're in a tournament, or you risk getting kicked out.Prior to 1849, there was no such thing as a “normal chess set.” At least not like we think of it today. Zwischenzug actually translates to something like the English term "in-between move," despite Google thinking this has something to do with trains. But not as cool as the famous " zugzwang immortal game" played by GM Aron Nimzowitsch, which you should definitely check out. On the bright side, the word has some rhythm and sounds cool. Zugzwang means "compulsion to move," and it's not only hard to pronounce but also to spot during a game. Now, we arrive at the German chess terms that are harder to pronounce (at least for Portuguese speakers like me). Cuter than a fianchetto? You be the judge. Maybe Italians are just used to cute little places like Burano, so they decided to be cute with their chess terms, too. Fianchettoĭid you know that fianchetto is actually the diminutive of an Italian word? We're talking about "fianco" which translates to "flank." It makes a lot of sense when you think about it: you call it a "fianchetto" ("little flank") when you develop your bishop on one of the flanks instead of the center. This French term means "in passing," and it describes the magical act of capturing a pawn with another pawn by landing behind it. I'm forced to start with en passant (see what I did there?). Here are the most common chess terms that English borrowed from other languages and what they mean in English: En Passant ![]() No more, I say! Or "não mais," even, if I were to speak Portuguese. Now, weirdly enough, it's also the case that sometimes we know chess terms in other languages without knowing what they literally mean. ![]()
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