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What is checkmate?

Checkmate means the king is under attack and there is no legal move that makes it safe.

The game ends immediately, the king is never captured.

Check does not mean you have lost

Check is an attack on your king, your next move must remove that threat.

Three ways to defend

• Move your king to a square that is not attacked
• Capture the attacking piece, if your king will be safe
• Place a piece between the attacker and your king, when the attack can be blocked

You cannot block a knight's attack by placing a piece between it and your king.

A checkmate example

Imagine the black king on h8, your king on f6 and your queen on g6, with no other pieces on the board.

Moving the queen to g7 gives check, the queen covers g8 and h7, and your king protects g7 so the enemy king cannot capture her.

The black king has no defense, that is checkmate.

Stalemate: no moves, but no check

If a player has no legal move on their turn but their king is not in check, the game is a draw by stalemate.

Before calling checkmate, check that the king is actually under attack.