In Icelandic chess and check has the same word:

Skák

(My username - skákmaðurinn, means ''The chess man''

Skák - Chess

Maður - Man

Inn - The


Stalemate is ''patt'' 

queen is called vizier

knight is called horse

king is called shah 

pawn is called walker,someone who is on foot not riding anything

bishop is called elephant 

the story behind rook is interesting.it is pronounced rokh in farsi and to be honest i didnt know the meaning i had to look into the best and detailed dictionary to find the meaning since the word is very old.

it actually means a giant and legendary hen who is capable of killing horses and elephants.over centuries it is combined with other words and made interesting expressions.

That's interesting! There haven't been any Japanese names yet, right? I was also thinking about African languages, but maybe the different African piece names are the same as their former colonizers' piece names, like the Spanish and Portugese names in Latin America?..

Very fascinating.

In english that bird is known as a "Roc."

Of course there is no evidence of such a bird in the fossil record. But many native American tribes have tales of the sightings of such a bird.

Like Bigfoot.

In INDONESIA!

Pawn - Pion

Rook - Benteng

Knight - Kuda

Bishop - Menteri

Queen - Ratu (personaly i call her 'darling') ;)

King - Raja.

I'm surprised by the refernce to the French revolution when commenting "Dame".
This word sounds rather aristocratic when talking of history : the wife or girlfriend of medieval knights was called their "Dame".
And, BTW, the corresponding word for "Sir", when talking today of an aristocratic lady in England, is the French "Dame" !

for me, it is classic ol' Knight

"Dame" still means "lady" in the meaning of "respectable woman".

Did a bit more research and I couldn't trace the dame/reine decision to confirm or infirm that stuff (which I did hear somewhere). What is generally accepted is that the Persan for counsellor ("vizir") was distorted into vierge (virgin) hence the feminine figure.

I found this text from 1834 which says "...the piece we call dame or reine..." as if the terms were equally valid at the time.

springer

cannon-fodder

Esperanto:

Reĝo = King

Damo = Lady (Queen)

Ĉevalo = Horse(Knight)

Kuriero = Courrier(Bishop)

Piono = Pion(Pawn)

Pawn - Piyon Rook - Tore Knight - Kabayo Bishop - Obispo Queen - Reyna King - Hari

In Indonesia:

King - King (Raja)

Queen - Minister (Menteri)

Rook - Fortress (Benteng)

Bishop - Elephant (Gajah)

Knight - Horse (Kuda)

Pawn - Pawn (Pion)

In czech:

Rook => věž (tower), věžka (informal, little tower)

Knight => jezdec (rider), kůň (informal, horse), koňík (informal, little horse)

Bishop => střelec (shooter)

Queen => dáma (lady), královna (queen, informal)

King => král (king)

Pawn => pěšec (chess word, no translation), pěšák (informal, infantryman)

Sounds Byzantine to me.

Finnish:

King - King (Kuningas)
Queen - Dame (Daami) - some people call her Queen (Kuningatar) too
Rook - Tower (Torni)
Bishop - Courier (Lähetti)
Knight - Steed (Ratsu)
Pawn - Soldier (Sotilas)