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B

back rank

The back rank is the row of squares on the chess board closest to the player. Whites back rank contains the squares a1 to h1 and Black's back rank the squares a8 to h8.

basic mate

Checkmate forced with a combination of pieces without pawns against a lone enemy king. Also called "elemental mate".

blitz

German word for "lightning". Blitz chess games are played with fast time controls. Typically, each player has 3-10 minutes to make all his/her moves. Classical blitz time controls are game in 5 min.

blunder

An obvious mistake, often leading to immediate loss of material. Indicated by the symbol "??" in game annotations.

book move

Book move: during the opening phase, moves are commonly chosen from well-analyzed opening lines that can be found in databases or books from the chess literature, hence the term "book moves".

bullet

Bullet chess: games played with extremely fast time controls giving each player less than 3 minutes (typically 1 min) to complete the game.

RD Glossary by Run Digital