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The King Check, Checkmate, and Stalemate

by Mark Donlan

The king is the most important piece on the chessboard. In other languages the king goes by the following names: according to Davidson, in Arabic the word for the king is "shah"; in Czech it is "kral"; in Dutch it is "konig"; in French it is "roi"; in German it is "konig"; in Greek it is "basiles"; in Italian it is "re"; in Russian it is "korol"; in Spanish it is "rey"; and in Turkish it is "shah."

In the starting position, the white king stands on the e1-square and the black king stands on the e8-square. The king walks at a stately pace and moves just one square at a time in any direction. The king can move forward, backward, sideways, or diagonally one square at a time.

The king captures in the same way that it moves – one square at a time in any direction. If an undefended enemy unit stands on a square adjacent to the king, then the king can capture the enemy unit. If an enemy unit is defended by a friendly unit, then the king cannot capture it. The reason for this is that the king is restricted in that it cannot move onto a square that is controlled by an enemy unit. Thus, the two kings cannot stand on adjacent squares. If you placed the white king on square d4 and the black king on square d6, neither king would be able to move to squares c5, d5, e5, because both kings attack those squares.

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When a king is under attack it is called check, and the king is not allowed to move into check. The king itself can never be captured. Yet, this was not always the case. In the early days of chess the king could be captured. To avoid premature game endings players would call out "king" when they were threatening the enemy king. This tradition is continued today when players announce check if the enemy king is under attack. To further avoid premature game endings and disputes over if a player heard the opponent's monition, the Persians decided to disallow the king to move into check.

Whenever a king is placed in check, it is the duty of the player whose king is under attack to protect his king and get it out of check. There are three ways to do this:

● Capture the piece that is attacking the king, either with the king or another unit.

● Put a unit in the way of the checking piece, thereby blocking the check.● Move the king to a square that is not under attack.

For instance, from the next diagram, if White were to advance the d6 pawn to d7, this would put the black king on e8 in check:

The resulting position would look like this:

The black king is in check (attacked) by the d7-pawn, and neither pawn is defend by a friendly unit. Thus, the king can answer the check by capturing either white pawn or by moving out of check to square f7. Here the best move is to capture the e7-pawn and then the d7-pawn on the next move (because the white king will not be able to move close enough to the d7-pawn to defend it). In algebraic notation a plus sign is used to denote a check and the letter x signifies a capture. Thus, the move sequence illustrated above would be written as 1.d7+ Kxe7. This tells us that the d6-pawn moved to d7 with check and Black answered by using his king to capture on e7.

If your king is under attack and you do not notice it and move another piece, you must take your move back and make a move that gets your king out of check. When a king cannot get out of check, it is called checkmate. This comes from the Persian words shah, which means king, and mat, which means dead. Being checkmated is the only way to lose at chess unless one of the players chooses to resign before checkmate occurs.

For example, let's modify our diagram by placing the white king one square closer to the white pawns (we will return to this position in the exercises below):

If White were to now advance the d6-pawn to d7, this would put the black king in check and the white king is in position to defend both pawns from being captured:

The black king is in checkmate, because any square that it could move to is controlled by a white unit. The white king defends the pawns from capture and the three white units combine to control all the squares the king could move to. White would then be declared the winner of this game and would score one point if it were a tournament game or match. In algebraic notation a checkmate is denoted by the number symbol, so White's last move would be written as 1.d7#. This signifies that the d6-pawn moved to d7 and it is checkmate.

However, there were once maneuvers that allowed the king to escape from checkmate. The king had the ability to use the maneuver "The King's Leap." This would allow the king for one turn to jump like a knight to escape checkmate. (We will learn later how the knight moves.) There was also "The

King's Ransom" is which the opponent would allow the player to save his king in exchange for another piece on the board.

We have seen that if the king is in check and has no legal moves, then the game ends in checkmate, which is a win for the side giving the checkmate. However, there are situations when a king is not in check, but has no legal moves, and this is called stalemate. A stalemate is a tie, or a draw as it is known in chess. In this case both players would score a half-point if it were a tournament game or a match.

A stalemate position is illustrated in the following diagram:

If it were black to move, the black king would have no legal moves, because all the squares it could move to (d8, f8, d7, e7, and f7) are controlled by a white unit. This results in stalemate.

Note that if there were another black unit on the board, then it would not be stalemate. The black king would not have any legal moves, but the extra black unit would. Also, if it were white to move in the diagrammed position, then the white king could move to d6 or f6, and allow the black king a free square to which to move at f7 or d7.

Exercises

Place as many kings as needed on the chessboard so that every square is attacked one time. How many kings are needed? (Answer below.)

From our illustrative diagram above, could the following position with White to move legally arise during a game? What could have been Black's last move? (Answer below.)

The Opposition Game

In the diagram below it is White to move. If White can play his king to f8 or h8, White wins. If Black can prevent it, Black wins. Remember the kings cannot stand on adjacent squares.

Play the position from both sides. Then try it again as follows:

● With the white king on square g4 and the black king on square f6. ● With the white king on square g3 and the black king on square f7. ● With the white king on square a1 and the black king on square a8.

Hint: White should always win.

Playing the Pawn Game with Kings

Set up the pawns and kings in their starting positions. Choose for colors by having one player hide a black pawn in one hand and a white pawn in the other. The opponent then selects one of them and plays whichever color he selected. After the first game, the players switch colors every game. Remember: the white side always moves first. The ways to win the game are as follows:

● If you are the first player to get a pawn all the way across the board to the last rank.

● If one side checkmates the other.

The game is a draw if both sides are blocked so that neither player can get a pawn to the last rank or if a stalemate occurs.

Chess players are polite! Before every game, chess players always shake hands and wish each other good luck. During the game, they do not disturb their opponents. When the game is over, they always shake hands and thank their opponent for a good game.

Exercise Answers

Nine kings are needed. For instance, on squares b1, e1, h1, b4, e4, h4, b7, e7, and h7.

It looks as though Black had no legal last move because every square the black king could have moved from is controlled by White. However, the diagrammed position could legally arise during a game if White had just captured a black piece on e7 with a pawn from f6 (fxe7+), giving check to the black king on f8, and then Black answered by moving the king to e8. If it were Black to move in the diagram, Black would be stalemated. (Thanks to Sy Samet for suggesting this as an exercise.)

Opposition Game Answer

The answer from the diagrammed position is 1.Kf6 Kg8 2.Kg6 and now any move by the black king allows White access to f8 or h8. When the kings are

placed across from one another like this they are said to be in opposition. Because White has the opposition, Black must give ground. It is a useful tool for outflanking the enemy king in certain positions. Note if 1.Kf6 Kg8 2.Ke7, then Black would play 2...Kg7 and White would never reach the f8- or h8-squares, because Black would then have the opposition. This is an important concept to learn and the opposition game should be played from numerous positions until each student is familiar with the concept of opposition and outflanking. It will play a part in future exercises!

One answer with the white king on square a1 and the black king on square a8 is 1.Ka2 Kb8 2.Kb2 Kc8 3.Kc2 Kd8 4.Kd2 Ke8 5.Ke2 Kf8 6.Kf2 Kg8 7.Kg2 Kh8 8.Kf3 (Only this move allows White to outflank the black king.) 8...Kg7 9.Kg3 Kf7 10.Kh4 Kg6 11.Kg4 Kh6 12.Kf5 Kg7 13.Kg5 Kf7 14.Kh6 Kg8 15.Kg6 Kh8 16.Kf7 and White will reach square f8.

A PDF file of this article, along with all previous articles, is available in the ChessCafe.com Archives.

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© 2013 Mark Donlan & BrainGamz, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

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