The king (♔, ♚) is the most important piece in the game of chess . It may move to any adjoining square; it may also perform, in tandem with the rook , a special move called castling . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check , and the player must remove the threat of capture immediately. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate , resulting in a loss for that player. A player cannot make any move that places their own king in check. Despite this, the king can become a strong offensive piece in the endgame or, rarely, the middlegame .
41-606: White King may refer to: The White King chess piece White King (Through the Looking-Glass) , a character from Lewis Carroll's fantasy novella Through the Looking Glass White King (comics) , a number of comics characters White King, a brand of household bleach marketed by Symex Weisskunig , The White King , a romanticized autobiography by Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor The prophecy of
82-425: 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
123-408: 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
164-407: 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
205-426: 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
246-420: 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 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
287-443: 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
328-402: 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
369-428: A special move, in conjunction with a rook of the same color, called castling . When castling, the king moves two squares horizontally toward one of its rooks, and that rook is placed on the square over which the king crossed. Castling is permissible under the following conditions: Castling with the h-file rook is known as castling kingside or short castling (denoted 0-0 in algebraic notation ), while castling with
410-405: 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
451-415: 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
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#1732772851917492-440: Is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with capture ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. 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
533-457: 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
574-408: 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
615-653: Is the past participle of "mā" verbal root. Others maintain that it means "the King 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
656-439: The promotion of the player's remaining pawns. It is not meaningful to assign a value to the king relative to the other pieces, as it cannot be captured or exchanged and must be protected at all costs. In this sense, its value could be considered infinite. As an assessment of the king's capability as an offensive piece in the endgame, it is often considered to be slightly stronger than a bishop or knight. Emanuel Lasker gave it
697-839: 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 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"
738-559: The White King , prophecy revived by William Lilly 1644 The White King , award winning Hungarian novel by György Dragomán The White King (film) , a film produced in the United Kingdom Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title White King . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
779-418: The a-file rook is known as castling queenside or long castling (denoted 0-0-0). A king that is under attack is said to be in check , and the player in check must immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible ways to remove the king from check: If none of the three options are available, the player's king has been checkmated , and the player loses the game. In casual games, when placing
820-406: 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
861-405: 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
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#1732772851917902-440: 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
943-513: 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
984-513: 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
1025-457: 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
1066-422: The game and can move to any neighboring square. However, in shatranj, baring the king is a win unless the opponent can do the same immediately afterward; stalemating the king is a win; and castling does not exist. Unicode defines three codepoints for a king: ♔ U+2654 White Chess King ♚ U+265A Black Chess King 🨀 U+1FA00 Neutral Chess King Checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate )
1107-484: The game on e1; the black king starts on e8. Unlike all other pieces, each player can have only one king, and the kings are never removed from the board during the game. The white king starts on e1, on the first file to the right of the queen from White's perspective. The black king starts on e8, directly across from the white king. Each king starts on a square opposite its own color. A king can move one square horizontally, vertically, and diagonally unless
1148-465: 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
1189-446: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=White_King&oldid=771798059 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages King (chess) In algebraic notation , the king is abbreviated by the letter K among English speakers. The white king starts
1230-411: 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
1271-473: The opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate (see swindle ). In the opening and middlegame , the king will rarely play an active role in the development of an offensive or defensive position, with the notable exception of a king walk . Instead, it will normally castle and seek safety on the edge of the board behind friendly pawns . In the endgame , however, the king emerges to play an active role as an offensive piece, and can assist in
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1312-418: The opponent's king in check, it is common to announce "check", but this is not required by the rules of chess. A stalemate occurs when a player, on their turn, has no legal moves, and the player's king is not in check. If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated, and the game ends in a draw . A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often, in order to avoid a loss, try to entice
1353-478: 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
1394-402: 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
1435-429: 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
1476-473: 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
1517-479: The sense of "abandoned" and the formal translation 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,
1558-443: The square is already occupied by a friendly piece or the move would place the king in check. If the square is occupied by an undefended enemy piece, the king may capture it, removing it from play. Opposing kings may never occupy adjacent squares (see opposition ) to give check, as that would put the moving king in check as well. The king can give discovered check , however, by unblocking a bishop , rook , or queen. The king can make
1599-415: The value of a knight plus a pawn (i.e. four points on the scale of chess piece relative value ), though some other theorists evaluate it closer to three points. It is better at defending friendly pawns than the knight is, and it is better at attacking enemy pawns than the bishop is. The king's predecessor is the piece of the same name in shatranj . Like the modern king, it is the most important piece in
1640-442: The word mate depicts a person who 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
1681-411: 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