Premove

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    On certain chess websites: a move set during the opponent's turn which is played automatically (if possible) after the opponent has made their move, done in order to save time in predictable positions. Internet

    "Kasparov's loss to Caruana was a tragedy in a winning position. He wanted to trade queens by Qe4-c2, but a mouse slip landed the queen on d3. He tried to drag it to c2, which the computer registered as a premove that fatally lost a bishop. "Computers hate me!" said Kasparov, who famously lost to IBM Deep Blue in 1997."

Verb
  1. 1
    To make a premove. Internet

    "Game 18 was another up-and-down affair. First, Esipenko dropped a full rook, which went unpunished as Sarana had probably premoved his reply."

  2. 2
    To incite or cause someone to do something. rare

    "Let it be assumed, then, that God does premove earthly phenomena, and let the further very obvious supposition be also made that He does not desire this premovement to be a visible and palpable fact."

  3. 3
    To promote or endorse. obsolete

    "The succeſs that the Presbyterians had in the late troubles againſt the King and his adherents, were undeniable Signs of God's Favour to that party; to follow and premove their Succeſs, was to follow Providence, […]"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Before a move. not-comparable

    "I agree to perform residence premove surveys on domestic shipments estimated at 4,700 pounds or more, and/or international shipments estimated at 3,200 pounds or more, at origin points within a 50-mile radius of my nearest agent facility."

Example

More examples

"Kasparov's loss to Caruana was a tragedy in a winning position. He wanted to trade queens by Qe4-c2, but a mouse slip landed the queen on d3. He tried to drag it to c2, which the computer registered as a premove that fatally lost a bishop. "Computers hate me!" said Kasparov, who famously lost to IBM Deep Blue in 1997."

Etymology

From pre- + move.

Related phrases

in advance

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.