Check!

Where do you find forks, skewers, revealed attacks, queen sacrifices, checks, kings and castles?

In a game that has existed for almost fifteen centuries, reaching back into ancient civilisations - Chess! The battle of logic, strategy, intellect and creativity played out with thirty two pieces across sixty four squares. Players must work to trap the enemy king in what is known as checkmate, eliminating the opponents pieces along the way.

Originally inspired from the military, the original version called Chaturanga, from North India, featured the four sections of an ancient army. As with a real life battle, strategy is of the utmost importance. It’s no wonder then that people draw parallels with other aspects of life, from business deals to politics.

For example, a stalemate, in chess, is when neither side can win, in other words, it’s a draw. So if two sides cannot reach an agreement in real life, we say they are at a stalemate. For example, in December 2022, the rail workers’ union and the UK government were at a stalemate; neither side could agree on a deal and end the strike.

The endgame is the stage of chess where there are fewer pieces on the board but there is a high level of complexity and tactical knowledge required to win. In life therefore, we use the word endgame, to talk about any phase of a tactical process that is reaching its final stages and may require a high level of focus and knowledge. For example, the endgame of a detective solving a crime is the complex final stages where all the different pieces are being put together.

Pawns, in chess, are the least powerful piece and the most expendable. In life, you would find someone described as a pawn if they are being used to gain advantages, usually by a more powerful group or person. The pawn itself is not taken into consideration, and may be taken advantage over, damaged or deceived in some way.

For example, in a scenario where John fancies Lucy, and wants her to fancy him back, he might pretend to fancy Lucy’s friend Megan, just to make Lucy jealous. In this example, Megan is just a pawn in John’s game to get Lucy to fancy him. Or in a more serious example, Russian recruitment of hundreds of thousands of civilians to the battlefield in Ukraine could all be said to be pawns in Putin’s personal agenda.

Can you think of some scenarios in your life or society where you could use these chess inspired concepts? Or are there any other words that you know that originate in games or sports?

Perhaps you’re familiar with the idiom down and out, which comes from boxing. When an opponent is knocked unconscious (out) and onto the floor (down), they are down and out. In regular life the phrase is used to talk about someone who is in a bad place in their life, especially in terms of their job, money and living situation. So if someone is down and out, they are usually without a job and homeless.

As we can see English borrows words from many areas of life. We wish you the best with your English learning and good luck in checkmating your chess or real life opponents!

Glossary 1

utmost importance = the most important, extremely important

It is of the utmost importance to have a healthy diet if you want to feel good

Protecting your king in the game of chess is of the utmost importance.

draw parallels = to indicate how two different things can be related and share similarities

We can draw parallels between how to win a game of chess with how to win a war battle; you must use tactical intelligence, and make quick decisions about what to sacrifice and where to attack and defend.

In my essay on how colonisers divide up land, I drew parallels between the English partition of India and Pakistan, and the partition of The Americas by the Spanish and Portuguese.

Glossary 2

a strike = when a group of workers or employees do not go to work in an act of protect against their employer. Strike action and to go on strike are also used.

Workers in a phone factory in China have gone on strike this week to protest against poor working conditions and low pay.

There is strike action taking place at the headquarters of an important tech company, they are demanding higher pay.

expendable = something of small importance that can therefore be lost without much consequence/effect on the main goal, or can be easily replaced

I have fired the workers who went on strike, they were expendable, because I can easily hire a lot of new people to replace them.

He has so much money that even his cars are expendable. He doesn't care if they are stolen or broken.

Glossary 3

knocked unconscious = to be hit by something and then lose consciousnesses

Mary went sailing and was knocked unconscious by the boom of the sail, luckily she survived but was in a coma for a month.

Exercise 1

Write an article about your favourite game or sport. Try to include any new vocab you've learnt!