Patzer
Last updated on Tue, 04/01/2008 at 7:15am.
Patzer (alternately patser) is a derogatory description, connoting someone whose chess abilities are minimal. The term is drawn from the German word for bungler, or maladept.
A patzer may be a beginning chess player, or someone whose play appears to be stuck at the beginning level. Yet the term is also relative: a resounding defeat may be said to make a player of any level "look like a patzer".