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.

Japanese names for chess pieces