The Checkmate
Checkmate
The objective of the game of chess is to checkmate your opponent. The king is in checkmate when it is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces and has no legal move that escapes the attack.
In Figure 1, the White queen has just captured the f7-pawn. The Black king is in check and the queen also guards the e7-square. The only other way out for the Black king is the f7-square where the queen stands and that square is guarded by the White light-square bishop. The other Black pieces are not able to help because of their locations and the way they move. Black has no legal moves and he is in check. This is checkmate and the game is over.
Check
If the king is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces and has a move that escapes the attack, he is in check, and must move out of check - the game will continue.
In Figure 2, the White queen has just moved to the e8-square and the Black king is in check. He has two moves that provide relief, c7 or b7.
If a player has no legal move, but his king is not in check, this is a type of draw called a stalemate. It is also the end of the game (see Figure 3).
The Rules of Chess
- Basics Improve logical thinking, memory and problem solving
- Chess Board The pathways of the pieces
- Queen The most powerful piece on the board
- Rooks Form a battery to increase their power
- Bishops A long range attacking piece
- Knights Must be centralized to be effective
- Pawns They move along the file and attack on the diagonals
- King If your king is in checkmate you lose the game
- Castling Keep the king safe and give him a castle
- Checkmate Game over
Stalemate