D

Decoy
A decoy is when a piece is encouraged to go to a specific square where it will be exploited tactically. A classic example of a decoy sacrifice can be seen in the game Petrosian vs Spassky. See diagram below:-

Defence
Meaning 1)

Defence is the parrying of the opponent's attacking opportunities, which can be done either in a passive way, or in a more opportunity-creating way. Players rarely win games with just passive defence. Instead many players seek to both defend and counter-attack against the opponent. Some of the games of Viktor Korchnoi feature examples of amazing defence and counterattack. Defence can be psychologically very hard, especially when faced with an opponent such as Mikhail Tal. However, defenders who take pride in finding the absolute best defensive and counterattacking resources, stand to win such games more than those who psychologically break under pressure of being attacked.

Meaning 2)

Defence can also refer to a particular type of opening such as the "Kings Indian defence", or the "Slav defence". The opening system is usually from Black's perspective, because Black who is a tempo down is usually assumed to be in the role of "defender" at the start of the game, and has to first equalise before being able to counterattack.

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Deflection
A "deflection" lures a piece from its defensive duties of particular squares. Those particular squares which are less well protected are then exploited tactically. Where the piece has been deflected too is less relevant than a decoy- a decoy is specifically decoying opponent's pieces to particular squares.

See also the definition for the term "Decoy".

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Demonstration Board
A large display used to show games in progress, or analysis, to an audience. See picture below:

Descriptive Notation
An antiquated form of notating a chess game, employed in the English- and Spanish-speaking worlds to some extent. It has almost disappeared from contemporary use, but there is much great literature written using it, so it is worthwhile to learn it. A typical example is 1. P-K4 (1. pawn to King four) for 1. e4.

Unlike the familiar rank-file coordinate system, the squares are identified relative to the King and Queen files for each player. In effect, each square has two different labels, one based upon White's view and one based upon Black's view.

For example, the White King starts on e1, using rank-file coordinates, but that square is K1 for White. If Black were looking at that square it would be labelled K8. Other examples, as compared with rank-file coordinates: a1 would be QR1 from White's view, or QR8 from Black's view. e4 would be K4 or K5, h8 would be KR8 or KR1 and so on.

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Development
The art of bringing out one's forces. In the "Romantic era" of Chess players used to play very sharp and aggressive gambit variations which had a great emphasis on fast development of pieces as well as King attacking opportunities.

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Diagram
A pictorial representation of a chess position such as below.

Discovered check
A check delivered by a piece whose line of attack has previously been blocked by a member of the same side which has moved away on the given move. In the example diagrams below, you can see the position before the discovered check, and after the discovered check:-

Before

Double
1) You can "double" the opponents pawns. "Double" in this context usually implies inflicting damage on the opponents pawn structure in terms of "doubled pawns".

2) A second application of this term would be to intensify the pressure of a rook, by placing another rook either on the same rank or file as it.

One one rook on the 7th rank is usually an advantage, two rooks on the 7th rank are often even more advantageous. So "Doubling" rooks on the 7th rank is often an advantageous thing to do.



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Double attack
An attack against two enemy pieces at the same time. If a single piece is attacking two enemy pieces, it is a fork. For example in the diagram below, the Knight is said to be "forking" the Rook and King.

Doubled pawns
Two pawns of the same colour on the same file. These are generally considered a liability. In the Diagram below White has doubled pawns on c2 and c3.

Draw
A game in which neither side wins. In tournament play, draws give a 1/2 point to each player, and result of the game on the scoresheet is generally written up as 1/2-1/2

Draws can occur by one of the following methods:-

1) By mutual agreement between the players. On Chessworld a player would click the "Offer Draw" button, and the opponent would be able to accept or decline this draw offer. Playing a move would automatically decline the offer as well.

2) By Stalemate - See term definition. Stalemates on Chessworld should automatically be resulting in draws on Chessworld. If not report the gamenumber to the Helpdesk but please ensure that all legal moves including enpassant moves have been considered.

3) By Threefold repetition - see term definition. "Perpetual checks" which are continuous checking sequences will result in a draw by Threefold repetition if the exact same checking position occurs three times. Either the person doing the checks, or the person receiving the checks will eventually be able to simply press the Draw button, and then click the "Claim draw" button to claim a draw by threefold repetition.

4) By Fifty-move rule. If the opponent is playing on and on and there is no visible "progress" - in terms of any pawn captures or pawn moves, then you can claim a draw by the fifty move rule if has been more than 50 full moves (100 half moves) since the last pawn move or capture. On Chessworld when it is your turn, this is achievable by clicking the Draw button, and then clicking the "Claim draw" button. See term definition for "fifty-move rule" for more details.

5) By Insufficient mating material - when both sides do not have enough material to deliver mate to each other's kings, e.g. King vs King, or King + Knight vs King.

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Drawn position
A position in which normal play would lead to an outcome in which neither side wins. A drawn position can be when both sides still have to play accurately to secure the draw. Or alternatively a drawn position can be considered a "Dead/Clearly drawn position", when no side can actually win, even if the opponent played any move whatsoever on each turn. "Dead Draw positions" include: King vs King King and Knight vs King and Knight King and Bishop vs King and Bishop

An example of a dead/clearly drawn position:-: