Check, checkmate and stalemate

Check is a threat to the king. Checkmate is a threat you cannot meet, and it ends the game. Stalemate is having no legal move while not in check, and it ends the game too, as a draw, which is why it ruins so many won positions. Those three sentences are the heart of chess, and the pages below go one question at a time through what follows from them: the three ways out of check, why the king is never actually captured, whether a pinned piece can still give check (it can), whether two kings can ever stand next to each other (they cannot), and how to tell check from mate from stalemate at a glance.

1. What is check in chess?

   Check means an enemy piece is attacking your king.

2. What is checkmate in chess?

   Checkmate is check that cannot be answered.

3. What is stalemate in chess?

   Stalemate is when the player to move has no legal move at all and is not in check.

4. Check vs checkmate vs stalemate

   Check is an attack on your king that you must answer this move.

5. How do you get out of check?

   There are exactly three legal ways out of check: capture the piece that is giving check, put one of your own pieces between it and your king, or move the king to a square nothing attacks.

6. Can you capture the king in chess?

   No.

7. What happens if you don't notice check?

   Nothing you played counts.

8. Can a king check a king?

   No, not directly.

9. Can you checkmate with just a king?

   No.

10. Can a pawn give check?

    Yes.

11. Can you castle to get out of check?

    No.

12. Why is stalemate a draw?

    Because checkmate means the king is under attack with no way out, and a stalemated king is not under attack at all.

13. How to avoid stalemate when you are winning

    Before every move that is not a check, count how many legal moves your opponent will have after it.

14. Can the two kings stand next to each other?

    No.

15. Can a pinned piece give check?

    Yes.

16. Can you move a pinned piece?

    It depends what it is pinned to.