Endgames
What is a Zugzwang in chess?
- Endgame
- Restriction
- Tempo
A position where every legal move makes the side to move worse.
Where the term comes from
Zugzwang is German for 'compulsion to move', and it entered English chess writing in the early twentieth century — Nimzowitsch made it central to his teaching in My System (1925). The idea is much older than the word: endgame studies exploiting it appear in Arabic shatranj manuscripts and in Lucena's 1497 treatise, centuries before anyone had a name for it.
Zugzwang FAQ
What is a zugzwang in chess?
A position where every legal move makes the side to move worse.
Train this pattern on your own games
Reading a definition is not the same as spotting the pattern with a clock running. Chessiro's free game review runs Stockfish 18 over every move you play, names the concept behind each mistake, and turns the positions where it cost you into training puzzles. You can also see the idea in action in the classic games collection, where the greatest players in history demonstrate it.
Builds on
Related terms
Free game review
See where zugzwang decides your games
Chessiro reviews your games with an AI coach that names the concept behind every mistake, then drills you on the exact positions where it happened until you stop repeating them.
