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Active
The term 'Active' is often used in relation to a particular piece to describe that it is doing something "active" in the position.

But also more broadly a position can be described as 'Active' as opposed to being 'Passive'. If a person's position is 'Active' it often implies all the persons are working well and are providing the player with Active counterplay.

One of the most spectacularly 'Active' Knights in Chess history was Kasparov's knight on d3, which occured in a game against Karpov in a World championship game.




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Adjournment
The ending of a playing session usually due to time constraints. One of the players to move has to "Seal" their next move in an envelope. Then a future date and time for resuming the game is agreed upon by both players. The position and time left,etc need to all be recorded, so play can resume fairly resetting the clocks to what they were.

Analytical assistance between adjournment from other players, computers, etc cannot be stopped and usually there is no rule forbidding such assistance.

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Adjudication
Sometimes in events which need to be finished by a certain deadline, there remains some games which are still unfortunately in progress. One way to finish the event, is to have these games sent to "Adjudication". Adjudication is usually done by a strong player who determines the outcome of the game assuming both sides have best play.

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Adjust
Refer to J'Adoube.

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Advanced Pawn
This term describes a pawn which has passed the central meridian of the board (between the fourth and fifth ranks). In the illustrated game below, the White pawn going to e5 can be considered to be an "Advanced pawn".

[Click here to replay the game] 1.e4 c6 2.d4 d5 3.e5

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Advantage
A player whose position is considered objectively better is said to have the advantage.

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Alekhine's Gun
This is sometimes used to describe when the Queen back's up two rooks to increase the pressure on the same file. It stems from a very famous Alekhine game against Nimzovich where it was dramatic how White just built up the pressure more and more on the c6 square.

Alexander Alekhine vs. Aaron Nimzovich:

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.e5 c5 5.Bd2 Ne7 6.Nb5 Bxd2+ 7.Qxd2 0–0 8.c3 b6 9.f4 Ba6 10.Nf3 Qd7 11.a4 Nbc6 12.b4 cxb4 13.cxb4 Bb7 14.Nd6 f5 15.a5 Nc8 16.Nxb7 Qxb7 17.a6 Qf7 18.Bb5 N8e7 19.0–0 h6 20.Rfc1 Rfc8 21.Rc2 Qe8? 22.Rac1 Rab8 23.Qe3 Rc7 24.Rc3 Qd7 25.R1c2 Kf8 26.Qc1

Algebraic Notation
The form of chess notation by using a combination of letters and numbers - a to h and 1 to 8 - which denote the 64 squares on a board. It is also known as "Standard Notation".

There is "Short"/ "Abbreviated" Algebraic notation which has become the standard for PGN (Portable Game Notation), which looks like the following:-

1.e4 c5
2.Nf3 Nc6
3.d4 cxd4

There is also "Long"/"Full" Algebraic notation, which fully specifies the start and end squares. The above game score would look like the following:-

1.e2-e4 c7-c5
2.Ng1-f3 Nb8-c6
3.d2-d4 c5xd4

In both of the above, the symbols for the pieces are given and the symbols for the pawns are not.

In the first example above captures were explicitly indicated with the "x" sign on cxd4. But in very concise notation, it would just be written as "cd". In main usage PGN, captures or checks are indicated.
There are minor differences in international usage. For example for the move Bf1xb5, Soviets might give Cf1-b5 or Lb5

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All-play-all
The most common format of Chess tournament in correspondence chess. It is when every player of a tournament plays each other. It is also known as a "Round Robin" tournament. A "double" Round Robin tournament is when each player plays White and Black (two games) against each other

In the diagram below the tournament, (a four player all-play-all), crosstable shows a "double round robin" format:

Analysis
The detailed study of a position.

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Analyst
One who analyses the game, especially the openings or the endgame. Opening theory continues to evolve, and Opening Analysts sometimes come up with important theoretical novelties.

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Annotation
Commentary on a chess game often showing the reasons behind moves. On ChessWorld, one of the best annotators is the Earl of Norfolk, who is able to explain moves very well and educate the readers. Here is an example annotation by the Earl of a Master's collection game:



Lasker vs. Porges

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Announced Mate
In over-the-board chess, it was once the practice to loudly proclaim an inevitable checkmate in so many moves. Nowadays it is considered bad etiquette and is not permitted by the rules of chess. You would be disturbing the opponent, and in any case, it is unwise to make such pronouncements - one might turn out to be wrong and subject to great embarrassment.

In correspondence chess of the very traditional kind by Snail-mail, such announcements when correct could potentially save a lot of time and money on stamps, if the opponent was generous enough to be influenced by such a correct announcement and not drag out the game any longer.

On Chessworld, if the opponent is in a forcing mate sequence, one can usually set up "Conditional moves" so that replies are made instantly on one's behalf. But the final checkmate move still has to be made, so that a friendly note can be sent to the opponent on game completion.

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Anti-positional move
A move which is a little weak from a positional play perspective. For example a player may be tempted to launch into a seemingly promising Kingside attack, but would have been better off following a more positional plan such as gaining more space on the Queenside, or queening a pawn, etc.

The move therefore is not strategically the best because of the plan it implies. Also moves which are positionally weak such as leaving oneself with a bad bishop, or terrible pawn structure, can also be considered to be "anti-positional" because the effect again is to cause damage to one's position strategically. Strategical damage is not necessarily the formal loss of material, but instead, damaging ones position in terms of more abstract positional elements.

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Arbiter
Chess does not have referees or umpires, it has Arbiters for the enforcement of the rules, and Directors for the organisation of tournaments (a distinction recognized in America).

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Artificial castling
When castling your king into safety manually, e.g. as black moving the rook to f8 and then playing Kf7-g8 - this is sometimes referred to as "Artificial castling". It is taking more moves to do what castling would have done automatically. But perhaps the opponent had just sacced a bishop on f7, and so the King was forced to do this artificially, but in the process the player won material.

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Attack
A threat against an opponent's pawn or piece is sometimes defined as being under "Attack".

Or more broadly speaking a player can be on the "Attack" as opposed to being on the "Defence". Which means that his or her pieces are coordinating for an attack against the opponent's king or other weaknesses. Sometimes an attack is referred to as a "Kingside attack" or a "Queenside attack" to indicate the general sector of the board.

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