- How Does the King Move in Chess?<\/div><\/div>The king can move one square in any direction \u2013 vertically, horizontally or diagonally.<\/div><\/li>How Many Spaces Can the King Move in Chess?<\/div><\/div>The king can only move one square at a time.<\/div><\/li>What Does A King Look Like In Chess?<\/div><\/div>The king is the tallest piece in chess. You can also identify the king by the cross on his head.<\/div><\/li>Can A King Take A Queen In Chess?<\/div><\/div>Yes, theoretically the king can take a queen in chess. That would however require a blunder by the opponent, as the king can't approach the queen without putting himself into check (which would be an illegal move).<\/div><\/li>Can A King Still Castle After Its Been In Check?<\/div><\/div>Yes, the king can still castle after it has been in check. However, it is not allowed to castle while the king is in check or the king would be passing through a check.<\/div><\/li>Can a King Put a King in Check?<\/div><\/div>No, that is not possible. For a king to check another king, it would move itself into check, which is not allowed.<\/div><\/li>Why is the King so Weak in Chess?<\/div><\/div>As in real-life, the king on its own is usually quite weak, commanding his army from the safety of a castle. But in chess the most probable reason why the king is comparetively weak, is the fact that it shouldn't be too hard to checkmate.<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div><\/article><\/section>\n
Read More About the King in Chess<\/h1>\n\n\n
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- \n\t\t\t\tCan a King Take a Queen in Chess?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
- \n\t\t\t\tHow Much is Each Chess Piece Worth?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
- \n\t\t\t\tHow Does The King Move in Chess?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
- \n\t\t\t\tWhich Chess Piece Moves Diagonally?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
- \n\t\t\t\tCan a Pawn Take a King in Chess?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\n<\/ul>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
- \n\t\t\t\tHow Much is Each Chess Piece Worth?<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t
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Make sure that the white king is on a dark square, while the black king is on a light square. If they’re not, you probably made a mistake setting up the board. We have a detailed guide on how to properly set up a chess board<\/a> on our website.<\/p>\n In the\u00a0starting position<\/a> the king is surrounded by pawns<\/a>, his queen<\/a>, and\u00a0a bishop<\/a>.<\/p>\n The king is not a very strong piece regarding movement<\/a> \ud83d\udc22. He can only move one square vertically, horizontally or diagonally at a time, meaning he can only reach squares that are directly next to his current one:<\/p>\n There are a few limitations, in which case a reachable square can not be stepped onto<\/strong> by the king:<\/p>\n The king can, however, capture pieces as long as they are not defended.<\/p>\n Since the king can only move one square at a time, he has no way of jumping over other pieces (unlike the <\/span>knight<\/a>). Even though the king is quite limited in his movement, he will become increasingly strong in the endgame<\/a>, as other pieces leave the board.<\/span><\/p>\n The king is without a doubt the most complex chess piece. So let’s look at some things that make him special compared to other pieces.<\/p>\n Traditionally, we measure the value of a chess piece in the amounts of pawns they are worth. However, since the game is lost whenever the king is “captured” (i. e. checkmated), we don’t assign the king a certain value. He is invaluable \ud83d\udc51<\/strong>.<\/p>\n An important concept in chess is that of attacking the king, otherwise known as “checking the king”. Basically, check is a condition in which the king is under threat of being captured in the opponent’s next move.<\/p>\n There are three ways of getting out a check:<\/p>\n If the check cannot be defended by any of these three measures, the game ends with a checkmate \u274c.<\/p>\n A checkmate happens whenever a king is in check (i. e. under threat of being captured in the opponent’s next move) and there is no possible escape. The player that gets checkmated loses the game.<\/p>\n Besides the checkmate, there is another way a game of chess can end (let’s ignore technicalities like running out of time or agreeing to a draw for now). If a player has no legal move but his king is not in check,<\/strong> the game is declared a stalemate, meaning it ends in a draw. That usually happens in the endgame, where one player might only have a king left. If the other player is not careful, he can easily rob the king of legal moves without checking him:<\/p>\n Stalemates usually happen when one player has a significant material advantage. That makes it all the more infuriating for the player that made the mistake. No matter the position, a stalemate is always a draw \ud83e\udd1d<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The king does have one last trick up his sleeve; castling. We have an in-depth guide on castling<\/a> on our website, so we’ll keep it brief here.<\/p>\n Castling is a move in which a player moves the king two squares towards a rook and the rook “jumps over” the king, placing it directly next to the king. Sounds confusing? \ud83d\ude35<\/span> Don’t worry, it sounds way more complicated than it is. Have a look at this:<\/p>\n As you can see, the move itself is not that complicated. Just remember: Two steps for the king and the rook gets placed directly next to it (always jumping over the king!). The king can castle with both rooks, meaning there are two different kinds of castling:<\/p>\n The latter happens whenever the king castles with the rook that is closer to the queen (in case of White that would be the rook on a1).<\/p>\n There are four requirements that need to be met for a player to be allowed to castle:<\/strong><\/p>\nMovement of the King in Chess<\/h1>\n
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Special Rules for the King<\/h1>\n
Value of the King<\/h2>\n
Checking the King<\/h2>\n
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Checkmate<\/h2>\n
<\/i> Fun fact<\/div>The fastest checkmate is called the Fool’s Mate.<\/em> White makes two ill-advised mistakes and gets checkmated within 2 moves (happens to the best of us \ud83d\ude09).<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n<\/span>Stalemate<\/span><\/h2>\n
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Castling<\/h2>\n
![\"Castling](\"https:\/\/chessily.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/king-in-chess-castling.gif\")
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<\/i> Fun fact<\/div>Castling is the only move in which a player is allowed to move two pieces in one turn. <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n3 Tips for Using the King<\/h1>\n
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King \u2013 Frequently Asked Questions<\/h1>\n