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H

Half-open file: A file that contains none of one player's Pawns but one or more of his opponent's.

Half- pin: A pin in which the Chessman subject to the pin may move along the same line (file, rank or diagonal) which it shares with the attacker.

Handicap: A means of trying to equalize chances in a game played between opponents of greatly different strengths. There are numerous methods of implementing a handicap; the stronger player might (among other things): treat a draw as a loss; play several opponents at the same time; give his opponent more time on the clock; give his opponent two moves in a row at the opening of the game; or remove one or more of his men from the board before play begins.Hang, Hanging To be unprotected and exposed to capture. Slang term to describe a piece left en prise.

Hanging Pawns: Steinitz's term for two adjacent Pawns which are on the fourth rank, cannot be supported by other Pawns, are not passed Pawns, and which are on half-open files.

Harkness Score: Tie-breaking system applicable to Swiss tournaments. The scores of the opponents of each of the tied players are summed, first leaving out the highest and lowest scores. In tournaments with a large number of rounds, two or more of the highest and lowest scores may be deleted. Also called the Median Score.

Hastings: A town in Sussex, England, on the south coast. Since 1920, a Chess congress is held there which begins in late December.

Heavy Piece: A Queen or Rook. Sometimes called a major piece.

Helpmate: A special Chess problem invented by Max Lange where both sides cooperate in mating the black King.

Hole: A square that cannot be defended by a Pawn. Such a square makes an excellent home for a piece because the piece cannot be chased away by hostile Pawns. Also known as outpost .

Home Pawns: A Kmoch's term for the P awns in front of the castled K ing.

Home side: Kmoch's term for the flank which contains the castled K ing.

Hypermodern: A school of thought that arose in reaction to the classical theories of Chess. The Hypermoderns insisted that putting a Pawn in the center in the opening made it a target. The heroes of this movement were Richard Réti and Aaron Nimzovich, both of whom expounded the idea of controlling the center from the flanks.