{"id":388,"date":"2022-06-07T19:36:20","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T17:36:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessily.com\/?p=388"},"modified":"2022-06-11T20:59:35","modified_gmt":"2022-06-11T18:59:35","slug":"how-does-the-king-move-in-chess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessily.com\/questions\/how-does-the-king-move-in-chess\/","title":{"rendered":"How Does The King Move in Chess?"},"content":{"rendered":"

How Does The King Move In Chess?<\/h1>\n

The king is by far the most valuable piece in chess; lose your king<\/a> and you’ll lose the game! Reason enough to learn the king’s movement by heart. So let’s dive right into how the king moves (and also attacks!) in chess.<\/p>\n

The King Moves One Square in Every Direction<\/h1>\n

The movement of the king is fairly straight-forward to remember.<\/p>\n

The king can move one square in any horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction in a given turn. <\/strong>Here you can see how the king could move on an empty chess board:<\/p>\n

\"Movement
Movement of the King in Chess: The King Can Move One Square in Every Direction<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As you can see, the king is a rather slow piece and lacks any sort of long-range capabilities.<\/p>\n

Because the king is such a special piece, there are a few limitations and exceptions to his movement. We’ll look at all of them later in this article.<\/p>\n

Castling: A Special King-Move<\/h2>\n

You might’ve heard of a special move that rook<\/a> and king can perform together: castling<\/a>.<\/p>\n

First, let’s look at the requirements that need to be met, for a player to be allowed to castle. There are four in total:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The\u00a0king\u00a0and (castling)\u00a0rook\u00a0have not yet moved in the game<\/li>\n
  2. The king is\u00a0not<\/strong>\u00a0currently\u00a0in check<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. No<\/strong>\u00a0square the\u00a0king<\/strong>\u00a0would castle through is under attack<\/li>\n
  4. The squares between king and rook are\u00a0unoccupied<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    If all those preconditions are met, you are free to castle your rook and king! How exactly does that work? Let’s break it down:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The king moves two squares<\/strong> towards the rook<\/li>\n
    2. The rook jumps over the king and gets placed\u00a0directly next to it<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Here is the castling process animated:<\/p>\n

      \"short
      The King Castling Together With The Rook<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      Since each player starts the game with two rooks (one closer to the queen and one closer to the king), there are two different ways of castling:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Kingside-Castle: <\/strong>Performed with the king and rook that is closer to the king.<\/li>\n
      2. Queenside-Castle: <\/strong>Performed with the king and rook that is closer to the queen.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        How Can The King Attack in Chess?<\/h1>\n

        Although the king is usually in need of protection by your pieces, it can become quite an aggressive, and capable attacking piece in the endgame<\/a>, where most other pieces are already traded off.<\/p>\n

        The king attacks in the same way it moves across the board under normal circumstances: one square in every direction.<\/strong><\/p>\n

        However, unlike other chess pieces, the king cannot capture protected enemy pieces, as he would be putting himself in check by doing so. Remember: The king can only capture unprotected pieces.<\/p>\n

        <\/i> Fun Fact<\/div>
        A king can never capture a\u00a0queen<\/a> by moving towards it, as he would be putting himself in check. The only way for a king to capture a queen is for the queen to move directly next to the king while being unprotected. <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n

        Limits To The King’s Movement<\/h1>\n

        While the king is the most valuable piece in chess, it is also the piece with the most limited movement of them all. So, let’s look at what exactly the king cannot do; split up into moves that chess pieces in general can’t do, and moves that are prohibited for the king specificially.<\/p>\n

        <\/span>Moves Chess Pieces Can’t Do In General:<\/span><\/h2>\n