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Are you a chess player? Have you ever thought what those pieces are called in German? Here they are:
Apart from the king, the other pieces are not a literal translation.
- der König – king
- die Dame – queen (lit. the dame)
- der Turm – rook (lit. tower)
- der Läufer – bishop (lit. runner)
- der Springer – knight (lit. jumper)
- der Bauer – pawn (lit. farmer)
Of course, playing chess doesn’t help you much with your German, but you could read up on the rules in German. Wikipedia is a good start as it usually offers the topics in several languages, for example Wikipedia – Schach and Wikipedia – Chess tell you about the game in German and English.
This page give you a quick intro to chess for beginners: Schachregeln für Einsteiger
This one is a lot more advanced and therefore more complicated for German learners, even if they do play chess: Vollständige Schachregeln
You could also watch this video, which explains the rules.
Play online? You need to read the instructions in German ☺ if you play here: Schach online spielen
Of course, you could also fill these chess pieces with red and white wine and speak German as you play. I’m sure your German will improve ?
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8 thoughts on “German for chess players”
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My wife is a player, mostly with our grandson, I am not a keen player, but my German father was. He had a saying, which I can’t fully remember, “Springer um Rand …” which he would recite whenever a knight was put at the edge of the board. It’s the close of the rhyme which is lost to me. Can you help? He said he got it from his father.
Thanks.
I think I found it!
Ein Springer am Rand bringt Kummer und Schand (A knight on the edge brings sorrow and shame).
Is that what he used to say?
woher bekommt man denn das Schachbrett das man mit Wein füllen kann 🙂
Das war ein Geschenk. Aber ich habe mal gegoogled und diese Site gefunden: https://www.chess-site.com/chess-sets/shot-glass-chess-set/
very cool explanation will definitely be useful to know how pieces are in German.
You could add a list with the names to your German sets when you sell one 😉