Check, checkmate and stalemate
How to get out of check, and how a game is won, lost or drawn.
The idea
A king in check must escape at once; if it cannot, it is checkmate.
- The rook goes to the back rank and gives check.
- The king cannot step away: its pawns block it and the rook covers the rest.
- Nothing can block the check or take the rook, so it is checkmate.
In a game: When you are winning, check your opponent still has a move: no move and no check is a draw.
The lesson
When a king is attacked it is in check. Here the white rook on e2 attacks the black king along the e-file. A player in check must get out of it at once. There are three ways: move the king, block the check, or capture the piece that gives it.
Find the move
Black is in check. Move the king to a square the rook does not attack.
A hint
The king can step to d8, d7, f8 or f7.
Show the answer
1... Kd8
The king stepped off the e-file, so the rook no longer attacks it. Moving the king is often the simplest way out of check.
Find the move
White’s bishop on b5 gives check. Black cannot move the king or take the bishop, so block: put a piece between the bishop and the king.
A hint
The check runs along b5, c6, d7, e8. Put a piece on c6 or d7.
Show the answer
3... Bd7
You blocked the diagonal. A check from a bishop, rook or queen can be blocked, but never a check from a knight or a pawn.
Find the move
The rook on e2 gives check. Capture it.
A hint
Your rook on h2 can take along the second rank.
Show the answer
1... Rxe2+
Taking the piece that gives check removes the danger. It works only when one piece gives the check and you can take it.
If a king is in check and none of the three ways out works, it is checkmate. The game is over at once, and the player who gave the mate wins.
Here the rook gives check on a8. The king cannot move, nothing can block, and nothing can capture the rook.
- 1. Ra8# Checkmate. The pawns block f7, g7 and h7, and the rook covers f8 and h8.
A question
Black has only a king, in the corner, and it is Black’s move. The king is not in check, but every square it could go to is attacked. What is the result?
Show the answer
The game is a draw: this is stalemate.
Right. Stalemate is a draw. A queen that covers every square without giving check throws the win away.