Check

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Chess journey. Lesson 22 of 41.

Time for the most important word in chess. When an enemy piece attacks your king, so that it could capture him on the very next move, your king is in check. Here the white rook stares straight down the open e-file at the black king:

White rook on e1 giving check to the black king on e8 along the open e-file

Nothing stands between the rook on e1 and the king on e8. The black king is in check.

Check is the one situation in chess with an ironclad priority: you must answer it now. No developing a knight first, no grabbing a pawn on the other side of the board. Whatever move you play must leave your king out of check. Any piece can deliver it; here a bishop does the job along a diagonal:

Black bishop on b4 giving check to the white king on e1 along the diagonal

The bishop on b4 attacks e1 through c3 and d2. Now it is the white king who is in check.

The sneakiest checks come from the knight, because it attacks around corners and through crowds. The knight on f6 is not even close to the king, yet g8 is one of its L-shaped landing squares:

White knight on f6 giving check to the black king on g8

The knight on f6 attacks g8. Knight checks are the easiest ones to miss.

Check does not end the game; it is an alarm, not a verdict. The next lesson counts the ways to switch the alarm off. But understand the stakes: a check you cannot answer at all has a different name, and that name is checkmate.

Try it yourself

White has three pieces on the board, and the black king on g8 is in check. Click the piece giving the check.