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zugzwang

UK/ˈzʌɡ.zwæŋ/US/ˈzʌɡ.zwæŋ/
nounC2Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #15,257 of 15,258leans written

Zugzwang is a position where any move you make will hurt you. In zugzwang, put him in zugzwang, mutual zugzwang.

It only bites because you must move, since a player who could pass would be fine, and that is what makes it so painful in endgames. The word is German and means compulsion to move.

Melv douc · CC BY-SA 4.0

Definitions of zugzwang

  1. 1nounzugzwangA position where any move you make will hurt you.C2

    “Black was in zugzwang: every possible move would lose the queen.”

zugzwang is a position.

Where it comes from

German Zugzwang means compulsion to move, from Zug, a move, plus Zwang, compulsion.

From {{bor|en|de|

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in Chess & Card Games

Practise this word

zugzwang in the wild

  • According to John Nunn, positions of reciprocal zugzwang are surprisingly important in the analysis of endgames.

    Zugzwang

  • Therefore it is necessary to have logic to exclude null moves at nodes in the tree where zugzwang is possible.

    Null move

  • In chess, zugzwang positions can occur in king and pawn endgames, and sometimes in end games that include other pieces as well.

    Null move

From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.