P.S. For anyone that doesn't know the term. It refers to a bishop or queen facing down a diagonal where it is opposed by 2 or more pawns...
"Biting on granite"
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@SupremeCommander:
Yes, I know what it means ;)...where does the term originate, though?
No problem...somebody must know :)...
The term originates from Bobby Fischer's brain.
That would make sense, but are you sure it actually originated with Fischer, or was it just picked up and used by him?
Kingscrusher mentioned an author much older than Fischer as his reference for the phrase in one of his videos that I watched several months ago. Sadly, I cannot remember who. I checked Edward Winter's page with a search for the word granite. The two references were not useful.
I believe the term is one that was either coined by or the popular saying of Nimzowitsch at least from a source I read recently. It may have in fact been coined in "My System" but don't quote me on this.
*edit*
This appears to support what I was unsure of. http://everything2.com/title/Aron+Nimzowitsch
Yes!
Nimzowitsch makes sense, I have My System in my library...
That might have come up on Google if I had not been searching on "biting on granite" ;)...
Thanks much.
Yes, I can verify that, I read it a couple months ago and mention it frequently with my coach. By the way, if any body hasn't read it, do so. It's classic, a must read for chess players and just enjoyable.
For what it is worth, the phrase "biting on granite" occurs repeatedly in Siegbert Tarrasch's _The Game of Chess_, which was first published in German in 1931 and in English in 1935. It is used specifically in reference to one or more rooks facing a castled king with a pawn advanced to KKt3 with support on either side at KR2 and KB2, forming a "pawn triangle."
Ostensibly, a knight or bishop sacrifice is worthwhile to open a king's fortress, but not so much a rook sacrifice, especially when at least two pawns remain. (See, e.g., "The Attack Along the Knight's File," p. 161 of the 1987 English reprint by Dover Publications). That the phrase could also be applied to bishop or queen facing a flank of pawns seems likely and reasonable, but Tarrasch, at least, did not use it that way. Elsewhere in the text, however, he advocates a knight sacrifice to expose the king, and ostensibly would not have a problem with a (proper) bishop sacrifice--raising some degree of uncertainty if the phrase is properly applied to a bishop. Then there's also the fact rooks (i.e., "castles" in English, or "Turm" in German" which translates as "towers") are made of stone, such as granite. Hence, the phrase could very well be reserved for rooks alone--at least for a linguistic purist. But, I'm purely guessing. (Although the image of an actual rooksman going crazy in his castle biting the walls because he cannot attack the enemy king by virtue of a measely pawn is quite enthralling.)
Whether it was Lasker or Nimzowitch (or someone else) who first coined the phrase, I cannot tell. _My System_ was published in serial format roughgly a decade earlier (German in 1925, English in 1930), but I have not (yet) read it. (Give me three months.)
Based just upon the dates of publication--and assuming the other comments about the phrase's origin being properly attributable to Nimzovitch are true--it is very possible Nimzo. was, in fact, the first to popularize the phrase (although, of course, the phrase would be "bissen auf Granit" auf Deutsch).
The earliest reference I have found was an attribution to Frederick the Great (Friedrich II) of Prussia in the papers of Bernhard von Bülow, who was Chancellor of the German Empire from 1900 - 1909.
Bülow's citation was in a speech to the Reichstag in late 1902 in response to a public speech by the British Colonial Secretary, Joseph Chamberlain (father of WWII Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain) that criticized the German army's conduct during the Franco-Prussian War.
Bülow was trying to gently end the discussion in the Reichstag, so he said of Chamberlain: "Let the man alone, he's biting on granite!" [orig. "Lasst den Mann laufen, er beisst auf Granit!"] meaning that Chamberlain's criticism required no response because it would have no effect.
I have never been able to find what Frederick the Great was talking about. It was widely publicized at the time so I can see where it would find its way into later publications.
Never thought this would get traced all the way back to 1900...so it looks like it was a possibly a political term that was borrowed for use in a chess context...wonder if Frederick the Great was also using a term coined elsewhere...
I think that Nimzowitsch used it before Tarrasch did, as My System dates from 1925 and it's in there. I didn't know about the earlier political use.
Looks like maybe it came from Napoleon 
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From:
Napoleon's notes on English history
By Napoleon Bonaparte
1905 (written on the eve of the French Revolution, no less)
Note that this occurrence comes *after* the 1902 speech, but the implication by Napoleon's own hand (speaking of himself in the 3rd person) would seem to indicate that he coined the term and had been using it for some time. Then again, it would not be hard to imagine, given Napoleon's legendary ego, that he appropriated this term and attributed it to himself later 
...
Frederick the Great (1712-1786)
Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)
It does seem to be a phase adopted by chess somewhere along the line. However, one can find a pre-Nimzovitch chess use. Dr Wiener Schachzeitung (vol. 8 p.349) of 1906 attributed a use of this expression to Siegbert Tarrasch:
Die offene d-Linie des Nachziehenden sei hier belanglos, meint Dr. Tarrasch, denn: "Dame und Turm beißen auf Granit, wenn d2 — d3 geschehen ist."
I have known this chess term/phrase for decades, but I just cannot remember where it comes from...I'm sure someone can help me out here :).