chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, a transposition is a sequence of moves that results in a position which may also be reached by another, more common sequence of moves. Transpositions are particularly common in the

opening Opening may refer to: * Al-Fatiha, "The Opening", the first chapter of the Qur'an * The Opening (album), live album by Mal Waldron * Backgammon opening * Chess opening * A title sequence or opening credits * , a term from contract bridge * , ...

, where a given position may be reached by different sequences of moves. Players sometimes use transpositions deliberately, to avoid variations they dislike, lure opponents into unfamiliar or uncomfortable territory or simply to worry opponents. See review at In chess the verb "transpose" means to shift the game onto a different opening track from which it started.

Transposition table {{no footnotes, date=November 2017 A transposition table is a cache of previously seen positions, and associated evaluations, in a game tree generated by a computer game playing program. If a position recurs via a different sequence of moves, the ...

s are an essential part of a

computer chess Computer chess includes both hardware (dedicated computers) and software capable of playing chess. Computer chess provides opportunities for players to practice even in the absence of human opponents, and also provides opportunities for analysi ...

program. Transpositions exist in other abstract strategy games such as

shogi , also known as Japanese chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is one of the most popular board games in Japan and is in the same family of games as Western chess, ''chaturanga, Xiangqi'', Indian chess, and '' janggi''. ''Shōgi'' ...

, Go,

tic-tac-toe Tic-tac-toe (American English), noughts and crosses (Commonwealth English), or Xs and Os (Canadian or Irish English) is a paper-and-pencil game for two players who take turns marking the spaces in a three-by-three grid with ''X'' or ''O''. T ...

and Hex.

Examples

Positions reached by different routes

For instance, the first position can be obtained from the

Queen's Gambit The Queen's Gambit is the chess opening that starts with the moves: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 It is one of the oldest openings and is still commonly played today. It is traditionally described as a ''gambit'' because White appears to sacrifice the ...

: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 But this position can also be reached from the

English Opening The English Opening is a chess opening that begins with the move: :1. c4 A flank opening, it is the fourth most popular and, according to various databases, one of the four most successful of White's twenty possible first moves. White begins th ...

: :1. c4 e6 :2. Nc3 Nf6 :3. d4 d5 so the English Opening has transposed into the Queen's Gambit. The second position shows another example. The position can arise from the

French Defence The French Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. e4 e6 This is most commonly followed by 2.d4 d5, with Black intending ...c5 soon after, attacking White's and gaining on the . The French has a reputation for solidity ...

: :1. e4 e6 :2. d4 d5 :3. exd5 exd5 :4. Nf3 Nf6 The identical position can also be reached, with two extra moves played by each side, from the Petrov Defense: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nf6 :3. Nxe5 d6 :4. Nf3 Nxe4 :5. d3 Nf6 :6. d4 d5 This third position shows another example. This position can be reached from the Exchange variation of the

Queen's Gambit Declined The Queen's Gambit Declined (or QGD) is a chess opening in which Black declines a pawn offered by White in the Queen's Gambit: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 This is known as the ''Orthodox Line'' of the Queen's Gambit Declined. When the "Queen's Gambi ...

: :1. d4 d5 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Nf6 :4. cxd4 exd4 :5. Bg5 Bb4 :6. Qc2 h6 The identical position can also be reached from the Classical variation of the

Nimzo-Indian Defence The Nimzo-Indian Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 Other move orders, such as 1.c4 e6 2.Nc3 Nf6 3.d4 Bb4, are also feasible. In the ''Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings'', the Nimzo-Indian ...

: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 :4. Qc2 d5 :5. cxd4 exd4 :6. Bg5 h6 The fourth position shows another example. The position can arise from the Sveshnikov variation of the Sicilian Defence: :1. e4 c5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. d4 cxd4 :4. Nxd4 Nf6 :5. Nc3 e5 :6. Ndb5 d6 :7. Bg5 a6 :8. Na3 b5 The identical position can also be reached, with one extra move played by each side, from the Four Knights variation of the Sicilian Defence: :1. e4 c5 :2. Nf3 e6 :3. d4 cxd4 :4. Nxd4 Nf6 :5. Nc3 Nc6 :6. Bf4 d6 :7. Ndb5 e5 :8. Bg5 a6 :9. Na3 b5 The position on the right, featuring a

Maróczy Bind In chess, the Maróczy Bind () is a term alternately used to refer to an opening or its associated pawn structure, named for the Hungarian grandmaster Géza Maróczy. When the Bind is discussed as an opening, it is defined as 1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 ...

, can be reached from the

Sicilian Defence The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the following moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c5, c5 The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4. Ope ...

: :1. e4 c5 :2. Nf3 d6 :3. d4 cxd4 :4. Nxd4 g6 :5. c4 Bg7 :6. Nc3 Nf6 :7. f3 Nc6 :8. Be3 0-0 The identical position can also be reached from the

King's Indian Defence The King's Indian Defence is a common chess opening. It is defined by the following moves: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 Black intends to follow up with 3...Bg7 and 4...d6 (the Grünfeld Defence arises when Black plays 3...d5 instead, and is cons ...

: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 g6 :3. Nc3 Bg7 :4. e4 0-0 :5. f3 d6 :6. Be3 c5 :7. Nge2 cxd4 :8. Nxd4 Nc6 The position on the right can be reached from the

: :1. e4 c5 :2. Nf3 d6 :3. d4 cxd4 :4. Nxd4 Nf6 :5. Nc3 g6 :6. Nc3 Bg7 :7. f3 a6 :8. Qd2 h5 :9. 0-0-0 Nbd7 :10. Kb1 h5 :11. h4 Bb7 The identical position can also be reached from the

Pirc Defence The Pirc Defence (pronounced ) is a chess opening characterised by the response of Black to 1.e4 with 1...d6 and 2...Nf6, followed by ...g6 and ...Bg7, while allowing White to establish a with pawns on d4 and e4. It is named after the Slovenian ...

: :1. e4 d6 :2. d4 Nf6 :3. Nc3 g6 :4. Be3 Bg7 :5. Qd2 a6 :6. 0-0-0 b5 :7. f3 Bb7 :8. Nge2 Nbd7 :9. Kb1 c5 :10. h4 cxd5 :11. Nxd4 h5 The position on the right can be reached from the

Giuoco Piano The Giuoco Piano (Italian: "Quiet Game"; ), also called the Italian Opening, is a chess opening beginning with the moves: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 "White aims to develop quickly – but so does Black. White can construct a pawn cen ...

: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bc4 Bc5 :4. d3 Nf6 :5. c3 d6 :6. 0-0 0-0 :7. Nbd2 a6 :8. Bb3 Ba7 :9. h3 h6 :10. Re1 Ne7 :11. d4 exd4 :12. cxd4 b5 :13. Bc2 c5 The identical position can also be reached from the Berlin Defence: :1. e4 e5 :2. Nf3 Nc6 :3. Bb5 Nf6 :4. d3 Bc5 :5. c3 d6 :6. 0-0 0-0 :7. Nbd2 a6 :8. Ba4 Ba7 :9. h3 h6 :10. Re1 Ne7 :11. d4 exd4 :12. cxd4 b5 :13. Bc2 c5 The position on the right, featuring an '' isolani'' can be reached by many different openings and move orders. For example, there's the

: :1. d4 Nf6 :2. c4 e6 :3. Nc3 Bb4 :4. e3 0-0 :5. Bd3 c5 :6. Nf3 cxd4 :7. exd4 d5 :8. 0-0 dxc4 :9. Bxc4 Nc6 :10. a3 Be7

Caro–Kann Defence The Caro–Kann Defence is a chess opening characterised by the moves: :1. b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4, e4 b:Chess Opening Theory/1. e4/1...c6, c6 The Caro–Kann is a common defence against the King's Pawn Opening. It is classified as a Semi-Op ...

: :1. e4 c6 :2. d4 d5 :3. exd5 cxd5 :4. c4 Nf6 :5. Nc3 e6 :6. Nf3 Bb4 :7. Bd3 dxc4 :8. Bxc4 0-0 :9. 0-0 Nc6 :10. a3 Be7

Transposition possibilities of some openings

Some openings are noted for their wide range of possible transpositions, for example the

Catalan Opening The Catalan Opening is a chess opening where White plays d4 and c4 and fianchettoes the white bishop on g2. A common opening sequence is 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.g3, although various other openings can transpose into the Catalan. The ''Encyclopaedia of ...

and

. For a simple example, the opening moves 1.d4 e6 can transpose very quickly into a wide range of openings, including:

References

{{chess Chess terminology