How to Get Out of Check in a Chess Game

Video Transcript

In chess I mentioned, that it is all about getting the opponent's king. And when you attack the opponent's king, the king is said to be in "check". And most players, as a courtesy, when they attack an opponent's king, will say "check". So here is an example of some body getting a check. The white queen is now attacking the black king. Check. Now once you are in check, there are three possible ways to get out of it. And if you can not get out of it then you are check mated and the game is over. These are the three possible ways. Firstly, let us assume that there are pawns here and here, just to clarify the example, and that no other pieces are in the immediate vicinity. Now the queen moves in, checks. The king has to get out of the check for the game to continue. Now what can he do in this situation? Three possible ways to get out of it. Firstly, can he take the attacking piece? Actually, as the board is set up here at the moment, for this example, he can not. There is no piece that can capture the white queen. So that alternative is not going to work. Alternative two, can he get a piece between himself and the opposing queen? Is there any defensive piece that he could bring in. Now if he had a knight here, for example, you will remember the move of the knight he could indeed bring the knight between himself and the attacking queen. But as shown in this particular example he can not get anything in between. So his third and last possibility, is can he move out of the way of the attacking queen. Well, he can not move here because he is blocked by his own piece. If he moves here, he is still attacked by the queen. And also here, and also here. Now here, he could take the pawn, the white pawn. That would get him out of the way of the queen for sure. But the problem is that he would then be in check with this pawn, because you remember that pawns take sideways and on the diagonal. And of course you can not move into check, so therefore, he can not do that either, and therefore, he can not get out of it he is check mated and the game is over.

Watch these related videos

• 
  Opening Moves in the Game of Chess

  playlist Views: 13,775

• 
  How Pawns Capture in Chess

  playlist Views: 1,438

• 
  Conclusion of a Game when Playing Chess

  playlist Views: 3,371

• 
  Queen's Pawn Opening Move in Chess

  playlist Views: 7,142

• 
  King's Pawn Opening Strategy in Chess

  playlist Views: 9,267

• 
  Introduction to the Game of Chess

  playlist Views: 11,589

Community Members who...

• Favorited this Video
• Rated This Video

Thumbs up or Thumbs down? Be the first to rate this video!

Top Tags