Hello Everyone,
Welcome to my new article for players below 800 Elo. Today I will explain another fundamental principle of chess: “Check and how to defend from a check”.
The King
Kings play a major part in this lesson. They are necessary for a game of chess. You cannot play chess without them.
Check
In the position below, the rook is attacking the king.
There is a particular name for an attack on the king: check. The attack on the king works just like an attack on another piece, but the defense is different. The king cannot allow itself to be captured.
Remember
We have already seen that the king cannot allow itself to be captured.
That means that there is one of the ways of defending from the previous lesson which we cannot use.
Do you know which one that is?
It’s Protecting! Protecting the king does not make sense because the king can still be captured.
Getting out of check: moving away
The king cannot remain in check. The only way Black can defend here is by moving away.
Possible moves are displayed with a green square.
The e7-square – the one with the red square – is a forbidden square. On it, the king would still be in check.
Another example
Exercise
Make your move
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
Puzzle 3
Getting out of check: capturing
As well as moving away, we can get out of check by capturing. In the position below, Black can move away with the king, but it is much better to defend by making a capture.
Exercise
Puzzle 1
Puzzle 2
Moving away and capturing do not work
In this position, Black cannot move away with his king. Taking the bishop on d5 does not work either.
Interposing has to be the way out here.
Interposing
As well as moving away and capturing, we can get out of check by interposing.
Black defends himself by moving his bishop into the way. The bishop is protected by the king. This is important when you are interposing because otherwise, you will lose a piece.
It’s a matter of choice
In this position, Black has three different ways to get out of check.
Of course, capturing the bishop is the best move. But moving away or interposing the knight on f7 is also allowed.
The king is in check. Black can move away with the king. An excellent move, which does not cost him any material.
Black can also interpose the knight on c6. But the knight will not be protected. So Black will lose a piece.
Kings: keeping their distance
The king may never remain in check. One result of this rule is that the kings can never stand right next to each other. Otherwise, one king could take the other one.
There must always be one square between the kings.
Summing up
- An attack on the king is called a check.
- You can get out of check in three different ways…
- Move your king away, capture the piece which is giving check, or put a piece between the attacker and your king.
- Black can move away with the king, capture the white queen, or interpose his own queen on e7.
All three of these moves are good here.
Two kings must always have at least one square between them. They can never stand next to each other.
