Glossary of chess
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This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.
Envelope used for the adjournment of a match game Efim Geller vs. Bent Larsen, Copenhagen 1966
Caïssa, the patron goddess of chess (author unknown, 19th century)
A wooden chess set and board
Wouter Mees at a demonstration board
El Ajedrecista
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El Ajedrecista is an automaton built in 1912 by Leonardo Torres Quevedo in Madrid, one of the first autonomous machines capable of playing chess. As opposed to the human-operated The Turk and Ajeeb, El Ajedrecista had a true integrated automation built to play chess without human guidance. It played an endgame with three chess pieces, automatically moving a white king and a rook to checkmate the black king moved by a human opponent.
Gonzalo, Torres's son (left), showing the automaton to Norbert Wiener at the 1951 Paris Cybernetic Congress.
"El Ajedrecista" #1 complete view.
"El Ajedrecista" #1 close up.
"El Ajedrecista" #2 front view.