Glossary of chess

This page explains commonly used terms in chess in alphabetical order. Some of these have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of chess-related games, see Chess variants.

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P

[adjective: prophylactic] Prophylactic techniques include the blockade, overprotection, and the mysterious rook move.

Q

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References

Bibliography

Rank of a partition

In mathematics, particularly in the fields of number theory and combinatorics, the rank of a partition of a positive integer is a certain integer associated with the partition. In fact at least two different definitions of rank appear in the literature. The first definition, with which most of this article is concerned, is that the rank of a partition is the number obtained by subtracting the number of parts in the partition from the largest part in the partition. The concept was introduced by Freeman Dyson in a paper published in the journal Eureka. It was presented in the context of a study of certain congruence properties of the partition function discovered by the Indian mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. A different concept, sharing the same name, is used in combinatorics, where the rank is taken to be the size of the Durfee square of the partition.

Definition

By a partition of a positive integer n we mean a finite multiset λ = { λ_k, λ_{k − 1}, . . . , λ₁ } of positive integers satisfying the following two conditions:

Organ stop

An organ stop (or just stop) is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air (known as wind) to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" (admitting the passage of air to certain pipes), while others can be "off" (stopping the passage of air to certain pipes).

The term can also refer to the control that operates this mechanism, commonly called a stop tab, stop knob, or drawknob. On electric or electronic organs that imitate a pipe organ, the same terms are often used, with the exception of the Hammond organ and clonewheel organs, which use the term "drawbar".

The term is also sometimes used as a synonym for register, referring to rank(s) of pipes controlled by a single stop. Registration is the art of combining stops.

Mechanics

Organ pipes are physically organized within the organ according to note and timbre, into sets. A set of pipes producing the same timbre for each note is called a rank, while each key on a pipe organ controls a note which may be sounded by different ranks of pipes, alone or in combination. The use of stops enables the organist to selectively turn off ("stop") certain ranks in order to produce different combinations of sounds, as opposed to hearing all sounds simultaneously. While nowadays one speaks of "drawing" a stop to select a particular rank, the earliest organs were constructed as blockwerk with all ranks 'on' by default.

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility for what was created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work and can also be described as a writer.

Author of a written or legally copied work

Legal significance

In copyright law, there is a necessity for little flexibility as to what constitutes authorship. The United States Copyright Office defines copyright as "a form of protection provided by the laws of the United States (title 17, U.S. Code) to authors of "original works of authorship". Holding the title of "author" over any "literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, [or] certain other intellectual works" give rights to this person, the owner of the copyright, exclusive right to do or authorize any production or distribution of their work. Any person or entity wishing to use intellectual property held under copyright must receive permission from the copyright holder to use this work, and often will be asked to pay for the use of copyrighted material. After a fixed amount of time, the copyright expires on intellectual work and it enters the public domain, where it can be used without limit. Copyright law has been amended time and time again since the inception of the law to extend the length of this fixed period where the work is exclusively controlled by the copyright holder. However, copyright is merely the legal reassurance that one owns his/her work. Technically, someone owns their work from the time it's created. An interesting aspect of authorship emerges with copyright in that it can be passed down to another upon one's death. The person who inherits the copyright is not the author, but enjoys the same legal benefits.

Juran Hisao

Jūran Hisao (久生十蘭, Hisao Jūran, 6 April 1902 – 6 October 1957) was the pen-name of a Japanese author of popular fiction in Shōwa period Japan. Hisao Jūran was a pioneer in the use of black humor in Japanese literature. His works reflect his extensive knowledge of a wide range of subjects, and displayed extraordinary skills, and range from mystery tales to humor, and both historical and contemporary settings. His real name was Masao Abe (阿部 正雄, Abe Masao).

Early life

Hisao was a native of Hakodate on the northern Japanese island of Hokkaidō. While working for the Hakodate branch of the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper, he wrote poetry and drama in his spare time.

In 1926, he moved to Tokyo, where he convinced the playwright, Kunio Kishida, to accept him as a student. In 1929, he went to Paris, France to study physics (specializing in optics, and at the same time, he was able to learn about the French theater from the actor-director, Charles Dullin.

Career

On returning to Japan, Hisao Jūran obtained a post as an assistant stage director with the New Tsukiji Theater. However, his interests were very broadly based, and he also contributed mystery stories to the magazine Shin Seinen ("New Youth"). His fiction included the dark detective story Kinrō ("Golden Wolf"), which was also the first time he adopted the pen-name of "Hisao Jūran". Several other works followed, and in 1936 he was offered the post of lecturer on the theory of theater at the Department of Literature at Meiji University. In 1937, he joined the Bungakuza theatre company organized by his mentor Kishida. He also began translating works of detective fiction by noted French authors (including Gaston Leroux) into Japanese. The extra income enabled him to purchase a summer home in the resort area of Karuizawa, Nagano.