What is Tempo in chess?
A single move counted as a unit of time.
Gaining a tempo means making progress while forcing your opponent to react. Wasting tempi - moving the same piece repeatedly in the opening - is a common beginner mistake.
Spot tempo in your own games
Free. Chess2EZ finds the patterns you keep missing and explains each in plain English.
Analyze my games →More chess terms
- DevelopmentBringing your knights and bishops off the back rank into the game.
- InitiativeBeing the side making threats and dictating play.
- OppositionA king-and-pawn endgame technique of facing kings with one square between them.
- Promotion (queening)A pawn reaching the far rank becomes any piece, almost always a queen.
- Passed pawnA pawn with no enemy pawns able to block or capture it on its way to promotion.
- Isolated pawnA pawn with no friendly pawns on the adjacent files.