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62-408: In chess, the king is never actually captured—the player loses as soon as the player's king is checkmated. In formal games, it is usually considered good etiquette to resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated. If a player is not in check but has no legal moves, then it is stalemate , and the game immediately ends in a draw . A checkmating move is recorded in algebraic notation using

124-465: A Swiss system tournament or round-robin tournament ) or, in the case of casual play, mutual agreement, in which case some kind of random choice such as flipping a coin can be employed. A common method is for one player to conceal a pawn of each color in either hand; the other player chooses a hand to open and receives the color of the piece that is revealed. Each type of chess piece has its own method of movement. A piece moves to

186-412: A chessboard . Each type of piece moves in a distinct way. The object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king ; checkmate occurs when a king is threatened with capture and has no escape. A game can end in various ways besides checkmate: a player can resign , and there are several ways a game can end in a draw . While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during

248-424: A draw either by the fifty-move rule or stalemate . Opinions differ as to whether or not a player should learn this checkmate procedure. James Howell omits the checkmate with two bishops in his book because it rarely occurs but includes the bishop and knight checkmate. Howell says that he has had it three times (always on the defending side) and that it occurs more often than the checkmate with two bishops. On

310-408: A rook , which can occur on any edge of the board. The black king can be on any square on the edge of the board, the white king is in opposition to it, and the rook can check from any square on the rank or file (assuming that it cannot be captured). The second diagram shows a slightly different position where the kings are not in opposition but the defending king must be in a corner. With the side with

372-448: A through h , from White's left (i.e. the queenside ) to White's right. Similarly, the horizontal ranks are numbered from 1 to 8 , starting from the one nearest White's side of the board. Each square of the board, then, is uniquely identified by its file letter and rank number. The white king, for example, starts the game on square e1 . The black knight on b8 can move to a6 or c6 . In formal competition, each player

434-461: A computer device are published by other organizers and governing bodies. Although the touch-move rule is generally observed even in non-organized, non-sanctioned play, the interpretation of that rule to special situations such as capturing, castling, and promotion is not obvious; thus it is elaborated further in FIDE rules. The movement of pieces is to be done with one hand. Once the hand is taken off

496-404: A corner). With the side with the bishops to move, checkmate can be forced in at most nineteen moves, except in some very rare positions (0.03% of the possible positions). The third checkmate position is possible but not forceable. It is not too difficult for two bishops to force checkmate, with the aid of their king. Two principles apply: In the position from Seirawan, White wins by first forcing

558-422: A draw based on claiming no progress or no effort, to be ruled by the arbiter. These rules have been relevant when playing with mechanical clocks, which do not allow setting an increment and are today with digital clocks of second importance only, as playing with increment is recommended. Each square of the chessboard is identified with a unique pair of a letter and a number. The vertical files are labeled

620-403: A draw offer. Under FIDE Laws, a resignation by one player results in a draw if their opponent has no way to checkmate them via any series of legal moves, or a loss by that player otherwise. The game ends in a draw if any of these conditions occur: In addition, in the FIDE rules, if a player has run out of time (see below), or has resigned, but the position is such that there is no way for

682-479: A famous instance of this rule.) With mechanical clocks only, flag-fall for both players can occur. With digital clocks, the clock indicates which flag fell first, and this information is valid. In the last period of a standard chess game or rapid games, if played without increment, a special set of rules applies regarding the clock, referenced as "Quickplay Finishes". These rules allow a player with under two minutes time to request an increment introduced, or request

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744-423: A game. Before about 1600, the game could also be won by capturing all of the opponent's pieces, leaving just a bare king . This style of play is now called annihilation or robado . In Medieval times , players began to consider it nobler to win by checkmate, so annihilation became a half-win for a while, until it was abandoned. Two major pieces ( queens or rooks ) can easily force checkmate on

806-413: A piece after moving it, the move cannot be retracted unless the move is illegal . As for the touch-move rule , an arbiter who observes a violation of this rule must intervene immediately. When castling, a player should first move the king with one hand and then move the rook with the same hand. In the case of a promotion , if a player releases the pawn on the eighth rank, the player must promote

868-441: A rook and a queen. There are four fundamental checkmates when one side has only their king and the other side has only the minimum material needed to force checkmate, i.e. (1) one queen , (2) one rook , (3) two bishops on opposite-colored squares, or (4) a bishop and a knight . The king must help in accomplishing all of these checkmates. If the winning side has more material, checkmates are easier. The checkmate with

930-401: A rook or queen along a back rank (that is, the row on which the pieces [not pawns] stand at the start of the game) in which the mated king is unable to move up the board because the king is blocked by friendly pieces (usually pawns) on the second rank. An example of a back-rank checkmate is shown in the diagram. It is also known as the corridor mate . The scholar's mate (also known as

992-420: A vacant square except when capturing an opponent's piece. Except for any move of the knight and castling , pieces cannot jump over other pieces. A piece is captured (or taken ) when an attacking enemy piece replaces it on its square. The captured piece is thereby permanently removed from the game. The king can be put in check but cannot be captured (see below). Castling consists of moving

1054-439: Is detrimental . Play continues until a king is checkmated , a player resigns , or a draw is declared, as explained below. In addition, if the game is being played under a time control , a player who exceeds the time limit loses the game unless they cannot be checkmated. The official chess rules do not include a procedure for determining who plays White. Instead, this decision is left open to tournament-specific rules (e.g.

1116-426: Is pinned against its own king) may still deliver check to the opposing player. It is illegal to make a move that places or leaves one's king in check. The possible ways to get out of check are: In informal games, it is customary to announce "check" when making a move that puts the opponent's king in check. In formal competitions, however, check is rarely announced. If a player's king is placed in check and there

1178-462: Is "surprised", in the military sense of "ambushed". "Shāh" ( شاه ) is the Persian word for the monarch. Players would announce "Shāh" when the king was in check. "Māt" ( مات ) is a Persian adjective for "at a loss", "helpless", or "defeated". So the king is in mate when he is ambushed, at a loss, helpless, defeated, or abandoned to his fate. In modern Persian, the word mate depicts a person who

1240-405: Is a checkmate by the bishop, with the black king in the corner. The bishop can be on other squares along the diagonal, the white king and knight have to be on squares that attack g8 and h7. The second position is a checkmate by the knight, with the black king on a side square next to the corner. The knight can be on other squares that check the black king. The white king must be on a square to protect

1302-490: Is a fundamental principle in chess, ensuring that players commit to moves deliberated mentally, without physically experimenting on the board. According to this rule, a player who touches a piece with the intention of moving it must then move it if legally possible. This rule also applies to capturing: a player who touches an opponent's piece must capture it if a legal capture is available. Special considerations apply for castling and pawn promotion, reflecting their unique nature in

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1364-414: Is an example of a stalemate, from the end of a 1966 endgame study by A. H. Branton. White has just moved 1.Na3+? If Black moves 1...Kc1!, then White must move his bishop to save it because if the bishop is captured , the position is a draw because of the insufficient material rule. But after any bishop move, the position is a stalemate. A back-rank checkmate is a checkmate delivered by

1426-567: Is dead", as chess reached Europe via the Arab world , and Arabic māta ( مَاتَ ) means "died" or "is dead". Moghadam traced the etymology of the word mate . It comes from a Persian verb mandan ( ماندن ), meaning "to remain", which is cognate with the Latin word maneō and the Greek menō ( μένω , which means "I remain"). It means "remained" in the sense of "abandoned" and the formal translation

1488-535: Is different. USCF Rule 14E defines "insufficient material to win on time", that is lone king, king plus knight, king plus bishop, and king plus two knights opposed by no pawns, and there is no forced win in the final position. Hence to win on time with this material, the USCF rule requires that a win can be forced from that position, while the FIDE rule merely requires a win to be possible. (See Monika Soćko rules appeal in 2008 and Women's World Chess Championship 2008 for

1550-405: Is frozen, open-mouthed, staring, confused and unresponsive. The words "stupefied" or "stunned" bear close correlation. So a possible alternative would be to interpret mate as "unable to respond". A king being in mate (shah-mat) then means a king is unable to respond, which would correspond to there being no response that a player's king can make to the opponent's final move. This interpretation

1612-428: Is impossible for either side, such as the diagrammed position; these too are dead positions. USCF rules, for games played under a time control that does not include delay or increment, allow draw claims for "insufficient losing chances". For example, if each player has only a king and a knight, checkmate is only achievable with the co-operation of both players, even if it is not a dead position. The touch-move rule

1674-456: Is much closer to the original intent of the game being not to kill a king but to leave him with no viable response other than surrender, which better matches the origin story detailed in the Shahnameh . In modern parlance, the term checkmate is a metaphor for an irrefutable and strategic victory. In early Sanskrit chess ( c. 500–700), the king could be captured and this ended

1736-433: Is no legal move that player can make to escape check, then the king is said to be checkmated , the game ends, and that player loses. Unlike the other pieces, the king is never captured. The diagram shows an example checkmate position. The white king is threatened by the black queen; the empty square to which the king could move is also threatened; and the king cannot capture the queen, because it would then be in check by

1798-584: Is obliged to record each move as it is played in algebraic chess notation in order to settle disputes about illegal positions, overstepping time control, and making claims of draws by the fifty-move rule or repetition of position. Moves recorded in any other systems of notation cannot be used in evidence in such a dispute. Other chess notation systems include ICCF numeric notation for international correspondence chess and descriptive chess notation , formerly standard in English speaking countries. The current rule

1860-412: Is played on a chessboard , a square board divided into a grid of 64 squares (eight-by-eight) of alternating color (similar to the board used in draughts ). Regardless of the actual colors of the board, the lighter-colored squares are called "light" or "white", and the darker-colored squares are called "dark" or "black". Sixteen "white" and sixteen "black" pieces are placed on the board at the beginning of

1922-460: Is that a move must be made on the board before it is written on paper or recorded with an electronic device. Glossary of chess#ranks This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess , in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin . For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece ; for a list of terms specific to chess problems , see Glossary of chess problems ; for

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1984-405: Is the checkmate of a lone king by the opponent's two bishops and king. The superior side is able to drive the lone king into a corner and force mate using the two bishops and king collaboratively. The only stipulation is that the two bishops must move on opposite-colored squares. Accomplishing the mate requires a maximum of 19 moves. The king and bishops cooperate to drive

2046-512: Is then promoted (converted) to a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color at the choice of the player (a queen is usually chosen). The choice is not limited to previously captured pieces. Hence it is theoretically possible for a player to have up to nine queens or up to ten rooks, bishops, or knights if all of the player's pawns are promoted. A king is in check when it is under attack by at least one enemy piece. A piece unable to move because it would place its own king in check (it

2108-653: The Barnhart Etymological Dictionary, an alteration of the Persian phrase "shāh māt" ( شاه مات ) which means "the King is helpless". Persian "māt" applies to the king but in Sanskrit "māta", also pronounced "māt", applied to his kingdom "traversed, measured across, and meted out" thoroughly by his opponent; "māta" is the past participle of "mā" verbal root. Others maintain that it means "the King

2170-491: The Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The rules also varied somewhat from region to region. Today, the standard rules are set by FIDE (Fédération Internationale des Échecs), the international governing body for chess. Slight modifications are made by some national organizations for their own purposes. There are variations of

2232-406: The basic checkmate positions with a queen , which can occur on any edge of the board. Naturally, the exact position can vary from the diagram. In the first of the checkmate positions, the queen is directly in front of the opposing king and the white king is protecting its queen. In the second checkmate position, the kings are in opposition and the queen mates on the rank (or file ) of

2294-404: The bishop and cover a square not covered by the knight. With the side with the bishop and knight to move, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from any starting position, except those in which the defending king is initially forking the bishop and knight and it is not possible to defend both. However, the mating process requires accurate play, since a few errors could result in

2356-439: The black king to the side of the board, then to a corner, and then checkmates. It can be any side of the board and any corner. The process is: This is not the shortest forced checkmate from this position. Müller and Lamprecht give a fifteen-move solution; however, it contains an inaccurate move by Black (according to endgame tablebases ). Avoid stalemate One example of a stalemate is this position, where 1.Kb6 (marked with

2418-511: The edge of the board using a technique known as the ladder checkmate . The process is to put the two pieces on adjacent ranks or files and force the king to the side of the board by using one piece to check the king and the other to cut it off from going up the board. In the illustration, White checkmates by forcing the Black king to the edge, one row at a time. The ladder checkmate can be used to checkmate with two rooks, two queens, or

2480-510: The enemy king to an edge of the board, and then into a corner to deliver the mate. "The process, though a bit lengthy, is fascinating because it gives us a glimpse of the power of the two bishops on the open board." Three basic checkmate positions are possible via the two bishops checkmate. The first is a checkmate in the corner. The second position is a checkmate on a side square next to the corner square (this position can theoretically occur anywhere along an edge, but can only be forced adjacent to

2542-400: The enemy pawn as if it had moved only one square. This capture is legal only on the move immediately following the pawn's advance. The diagrams demonstrate an instance of this: if the white pawn moves from a2 to a4, the black pawn on b4 can capture it en passant , moving from b4 to a3, and the white pawn on a4 is removed from the board. If a player advances a pawn to its eighth rank, the pawn

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2604-469: The fifty-move rule will eventually come into effect. More often, the players will simply agree to a draw. A dead position is defined as a position where neither player can checkmate their opponent's king by any sequence of legal moves. According to the rules of chess the game is immediately terminated the moment a dead position appears on the board. Some basic endings are always dead positions; for example: Blocked positions can arise in which progress

2666-456: The four-move checkmate) is the checkmate achieved by the moves: The moves might be played in a different order or in slight variation, but the basic idea is the same: the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 (or f2 if Black is performing the mate). There are also other ways to checkmate in four moves. The fool's mate , also known as the two-move checkmate, is the quickest possible checkmate. A prime example consists of

2728-492: The game. A player who touches a piece to adjust its physical position within a square must first alert the opponent by saying J'adoube or "I adjust". Once the game has started, only the player with the move may touch the pieces on the board. The following rules are applicable to games in organized tournaments and matches, sanctioned by FIDE. They mention timing (chess clocks), arbiters (or, in USCF play, directors), keeping score, and adjournment. The FIDE Laws of Chess define

2790-464: The game. The Persians (c. 700–800) introduced the idea of warning that the king was under attack (announcing check in modern terminology). This was done to avoid the early and accidental end of a game. Later, the Persians added the additional rule that a king could not be moved into check or left in check. As a result, the king could not be captured, and checkmate was the only decisive way of ending

2852-495: The game. The board is placed so that a white square is in each player's near-right corner. Horizontal rows are called ranks , and vertical columns are called files . Each player controls sixteen pieces: At the beginning of the game, the pieces are arranged as shown in the diagram: for each side one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . The pieces are placed, one per square, as follows: Popular mnemonics used to remember

2914-560: The hash symbol "#", for example: 34.Qg3#. A checkmate may occur in as few as two moves on one side with all of the pieces still on the board (as in fool's mate , in the opening phase of the game), in a middlegame position (as in the 1956 game called the Game of the Century between Donald Byrne and Bobby Fischer ), or after many moves with as few as three pieces in an endgame position. The term checkmate is, according to

2976-446: The king two squares towards a rook, then placing the rook on the other side of the king, adjacent to it. Castling is only permissible if all of the following conditions hold: An unmoved king and an unmoved rook of the same color on the same rank are said to have castling rights . When a pawn advances two squares on its initial move and ends the turn adjacent to an enemy pawn on the same rank , it may be captured en passant by

3038-408: The king. With the side with the queen to move, checkmate can be forced in at most ten moves from any starting position, with optimal play by both sides, but usually fewer moves are required. In positions in which a pawn has just promoted to a queen, at most nine moves are required. In the position diagrammed, White checkmates easily by confining the black king to a rectangle and shrinking

3100-457: The moves: resulting in the position shown. (The pattern can have slight variations, for example White might play f4 instead of f3 or move the g- pawn first, and Black might play ...e6 instead of ...e5.) Resign (chess) The rules of chess (also known as the laws of chess ) govern the play of the game of chess . Chess is a two-player abstract strategy board game . Each player controls sixteen pieces of six types on

3162-400: The opponent to give checkmate by any series of legal moves, the game is a draw. FIDE's competitive rules of play allow a player to claim a draw in either of two situations: These rules help prevent games from being extended indefinitely in tournaments. There is no longer a rule specifically defining perpetual check as a draw. In such a situation, either the threefold repetition rule or

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3224-477: The other hand, Jeremy Silman includes the checkmate with two bishops but not the bishop plus knight checkmate because he has had it only once and his friend John Watson has never had it. Silman says: "... mastering it would take a significant chunk of time. Should the chess hopeful really spend many of his precious hours he's put aside for chess study learning an endgame he will achieve (at most) only once or twice in his lifetime?" Avoid stalemate This position

3286-415: The pawn. After the pawn has moved, the player may touch any piece not on the board and the promotion is not finalized until the new piece is released on the promotion square. Although it is a common practice in informal play, under FIDE rules an upturned rook may not be used to represent a promoted queen; such a move would be treated as a legal rook promotion. If the correct piece is not immediately available,

3348-691: The player may stop the clocks and call the arbiter. Tournament games are played under time constraints, called time controls , using a chess clock . Each player is timed separately and must make moves within the time control or forfeit the game. There are different types of time controls applied. For standard chess, different periods can be defined with different fixed times (e.g. first 40 moves in 100 minutes, next 20 moves in 50 minutes, remaining moves in 15 minutes). For rapid and blitz chess, only one period can be defined where all moves must be performed. Additionally, an increment or delay per move may be defined. The United States Chess Federation (USCF) rule

3410-402: The queen is the most common, and easiest to achieve. It often occurs after a pawn has queened . A checkmate with the rook is also common, but a checkmate with two bishops or with a bishop and knight occurs infrequently. The two-bishop checkmate is fairly easy to accomplish, but the bishop and knight checkmate is difficult and requires precision. The first two diagrams show representatives of

3472-428: The rectangle to force the king to the edge of the board: Avoid stalemate The winning side must be careful to not stalemate the opposing king, whereas the defender would like to get into such a position. There are five general types of stalemate positions that can occur, which the stronger side must avoid. The first two are more common. The first diagram shows the basic checkmate position with

3534-471: The rook to move, checkmate can be forced in at most sixteen moves from any starting position. Again, see Wikibooks – Chess/The Endgame for a demonstration of how the king and rook versus king mate is achieved. In the third diagram position, White checkmates by confining the black king to a rectangle and shrinking the rectangle to force the king to the edge of the board: Avoid stalemate There are two stalemate patterns: The two bishops checkmate

3596-444: The rook. Either player may resign at any time, conceding the game to the opponent. To indicate resignation, the player may say "I resign". Tipping over the king also indicates resignation, but it should be distinguished from accidentally knocking the king over. Stopping both clocks is not an indication of resigning, since clocks can be stopped to call the arbiter. An offer of a handshake is sometimes used, but it could be mistaken for

3658-405: The rules for fast chess , correspondence chess , online chess , and Chess960 . Besides the basic moves of the pieces, rules also govern the equipment used, time control , conduct and ethics of players, accommodations for physically challenged players, and recording of moves using chess notation . Procedures for resolving irregularities that can occur during a game are provided as well. Chess

3720-508: The rules for standard chess, rapid chess , blitz chess , and guidelines for Chess960 . For standard chess, the players must record the moves, which is optional in rapid chess and blitz Chess. Some rules are specifically adapted for blind and visually impaired players. These rules are used for over-the-board (OTB) games. The rules for correspondence chess are defined by the ICCF . Rules for computer chess and for online chess played on

3782-414: The setup are "queen on her own color" and "white on right". The latter refers to setting up the board so that the square closest to each player's right is white. The player controlling the white pieces is named "White"; the player controlling the black pieces is named "Black". White moves first, then players alternate moves. Making a move is required; it is not legal to skip a move, even when having to move

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3844-407: The x) would be stalemate. Of the basic checkmates, this is the most difficult one to force , because these two pieces cannot form a linear barrier to the enemy king from a distance. Also, the checkmate can be forced only in a corner that the bishop controls. Two basic checkmate positions are shown with a bishop and a knight , or the bishop and knight checkmate . The first position

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