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Use of English

Level C2

Part 2 - Open Cloze

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For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

The Quiet Logic of Chess

To the casual observer, chess can look (0) LIKE a slow, almost ceremonial pastime, yet its drama lies in what is left unsaid. A player may appear to be merely shuffling pieces, but every move is made (1) .......... a view to shaping the position several turns ahead. What separates strong players from the rest is not raw calculation (2) .......... the ability to recognise patterns and to judge when a plan has run its course. In tournament play, nerves matter: one lapse of concentration can be enough to turn a comfortable advantage (3) .......... a lost endgame. Time pressure adds another layer. With seconds remaining, you may have to choose (4) .......... two imperfect continuations, trusting intuition where analysis would normally prevail. Even then, the best defence is often to keep options open, refusing to commit (5) .......... a line that can be met by a simple tactical refutation. And while spectators tend to focus on spectacular sacrifices, many games are decided by quieter choices: a pawn advanced at the right moment, a king brought (6) .......... safety, or a rook placed on an open file. In the end, chess rewards those who can think clearly (7) .......... the board looks chaotic, and who accept that progress is rarely linear: you win not by avoiding mistakes entirely, but by making fewer (8) .......... your opponent.

What to do

This part consists of a short text with a series of gaps. There are no words from which to choose the answers, candidates have to think of a word which fits the gap correctly.

Errors in punctuation are ignored, although spelling must be correct.

Contractions (e.g. don’t, we’ve, won’t) count as two words. However, can’t is a contraction of cannot, which is one word.

Sometimes, there is more than one correct answer. Cambridge will always account for this and all options will be accepted. However, you should not write more than one answer.

Don't spend time in a word you don't know. Wasting time on this activity might cost you points later in the exam because you won’t have enough time to do other tasks well.

Strategy

  1. Read the title and the whole text so that you understand what it is about.
  2. Read the whole sentence in which the gap occurs, to look for clues as to what kind of word you need.
  3. Check the words before and after each gap and look for grammatical collocations.
  4. Remember you must write only one word.
  5. You are never required to write a contraction. If you think the answer is a contraction, it must be wrong, so think again.
  6. Read the whole text through once you have completed it to make sure you have not missed any connectors, plurals or negatives.

Instructions

For questions 1-8, read the text below and think of the word which best fits each gap.

Exercise Details

Author

James Ford

@james-ford

User Prompt

"An exercise about the game of chess."

Tone: Standard
Level: C2

Created on:

Apr 1, 2026

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