---
title: Chess pieces in Portuguese; Brazilian and Portuguese openings!
description: There is no Brazilian chess opening, right? or is there? Octávio Trompowsky (born and died in Rio de Janeiro) has an opening named after him. In that sense, we've got a Brazilian opening in chess! Let's revise the names of chess pieces in Portuguese and check out the Portuguese notation for the basic moves of the Trompowsky attack! And after that, we will have a look at the Portuguese Gambit.
image: https://image.lichess1.org/display?fmt=png&h=550&op=thumbnail&path=id1_xp4ef5AF.png&w=880&sig=345c874959ee79ca7e670327c40203ded66d5559
---

## The names of chess pieces in Portuguese

| chess pieces in English | chess pieces in Portuguese |
| ----------------------- | -------------------------- |
| king | rei |
| queen | dama (sometimes: rainha) |
| bishop | bispo |
| knight | cavalo |
| rook | torre |
| pawn | peão |

In Portuguese, similar in Spanish and other Romance languages, competitive chess players tend to use a name for the queen that's not the literal translation of "queen" as they often start with a "R" such as the Romance languages' king, e.g. "rei" in Portuguese. As people don't want to use the same letter for two pieces when writing down moves by using the first letter of a word, speakers of Romance languages tend to use a word similar to "dama" ('lady') such as in Portuguese. For the knight, Portuguese speakers become more literal. The Portuguese "cavalo" is a literal horse. For the algebraic notation of moves in Portuguese, you can simply take the first letter of the name of a piece (except the pawn, as always) as the abbreviation for a piece (easier as in English with the knight using an "N").

## The Trompowsky attack

The Brazilian chess player, Octávio Trompowksy, brings his country into the chess opening books. To honor that, let's check out his opening but use the algebraic notation of the moves in Portuguese!
**1\. d4 Cf6**
**2\. Bg5**
According to the Lichess Master's database, the move 2.Bg5 is only played in 4% of games with 2.c4 (72%) and 2.Cf3 (21%) being the more common moves. White's plan is to exchange the **bispo** against the **cavalo**. That leads to White giving up their **par de bispos** but also giving Black a **peão dobrado** on the f-line.

* [Brasilbase with Trompowsky games](https://brasilbase.pro.br/jtromp.php) 

## The Portuguese Gambit (Scandinavian Defense)

Portugal reached its place in the opening books as well. The Portuguese Gambit is a line in the modern Scandinavian Defense.
**1.e4 d5**
**2.exd5 Cf6**
**3.d4 Bg4**
The main line in the modern Scandinavian Defense would be **3...Cxd5**. GM José González says about **3...Bg4** "Black tries to create a mess" in [his video about the Portuguese gambit](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRo3t8EpoLk) on his Youtube channel. 4.f3 is the best move and refutation against the Portuguese Gambit. According to González, that variation is more theory heavy.

## Learning Portuguese step by step

On my Instagram channel, I've created a [reel with the pronunciation of the names of chess pieces in Portuguese](https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaIqBCZI9kH/?igsh=NzhubWYxZXc1Z21k). Feel free to check the material out!