King (chess)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

King in the standard Staunton pattern.
King in the standard Staunton pattern.

In chess, the King (, ) is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that it would not be able to avoid capture (checkmate). If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must move so as to remove the threat of capture. If it cannot escape capture on the next move, the king is said to be in checkmate, and the player which owns that king loses the game.

Contents

[edit] Movement

Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 b8 c8 d8 e8 kd f8 g8 h8 Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 b7 c7 d7 e7 f7 g7 h7
a6 b6 c6 d6 e6 f6 g6 h6
a5 b5 c5 d5 e5 f5 g5 h5
a4 b4 c4 d4 e4 f4 g4 h4
a3 b3 c3 d3 e3 f3 g3 h3
a2 b2 c2 d2 e2 f2 g2 h2
a1 b1 c1 d1 e1 kl f1 g1 h1
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Initial placement of the kings.
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 __ b8 __ c8 __ d8 __ e8 __ f8 __ g8 __ h8 __ Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 __ b7 __ c7 __ d7 __ e7 __ f7 __ g7 __ h7 __
a6 __ b6 __ c6 __ d6 __ e6 __ f6 __ g6 __ h6 __
a5 __ b5 __ c5 __ d5 xw e5 xw f5 xw g5 __ h5 __
a4 __ b4 __ c4 __ d4 xw e4 kl f4 xw g4 __ h4 __
a3 __ b3 __ c3 __ d3 xw e3 xw f3 xw g3 __ h3 __
a2 __ b2 __ c2 __ d2 __ e2 __ f2 __ g2 __ h2 __
a1 __ b1 __ c1 __ d1 __ e1 __ f1 __ g1 __ h1 __
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Possible movements of the unhindered King piece
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Image:chess zver 22.png a8 __ b8 __ c8 __ d8 __ e8 __ f8 rd g8 __ h8 __ Image:chess zver 22.png
a7 __ b7 __ c7 __ d7 __ e7 __ f7 __ g7 __ h7 __
a6 __ b6 __ c6 __ d6 __ e6 __ f6 __ g6 nl h6 __
a5 __ b5 __ c5 xo d5 xx e5 xx f5 __ g5 __ h5 __
a4 __ b4 __ c4 xx d4 kd e4 xo f4 __ g4 __ h4 __
a3 __ b3 __ c3 xo d3 xo e3 xo f3 __ g3 __ h3 __
a2 bl b2 __ c2 __ d2 __ e2 __ f2 xx g2 xw h2 xw
a1 __ b1 __ c1 __ d1 __ e1 __ f1 xx g1 kl h1 xw
Image:chess zhor 22.png
Possible movements of the King piece when hindered by the borders or other pieces. The black king cannot move to the squares under attack by the white bishop or the white knight, and the white king cannot move to the squares under attack by the black rook.

In a conventional game of chess, White starts with the king on the first rank to the right of the queen. Black starts with the king directly across from the white king. In algebraic notation, the white king starts on e1 and the black king on e8.

A king can move one square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally). The exceptions to this rule are that it may not move onto a square that is threatened by an enemy piece, or one that is already occupied by another piece on its own side. As a result, the opposing kings may never occupy adjacent squares (see opposition (chess), but the king can give discovered check by unmasking a bishop, rook, or queen. The king is also involved in the special move of castling. As with all pieces except the pawn, it captures by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece.

[edit] Castling

Main article: Castling

In conjunction with a rook, the king may make a special move called castling, in which the king moves two squares toward one of his rooks and then the rook is placed on the other side of the king. Castling consists of moving the king two squares on its first rank toward either one of the original rooks, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed. Castling is allowed only when neither the king nor the castling rook has previously moved, when no squares between them are occupied, when the king is not in check, and when the king will not move across or end its movement on a square that is under enemy control.

[edit] Status in games

Chess pieces
Image:Chess kdt45.svg King Image:Chess klt45.svg
Image:Chess qdt45.svg Queen Image:Chess qlt45.svg
Image:Chess rdt45.svg Rook Image:Chess rlt45.svg
Image:Chess bdt45.svg Bishop Image:Chess blt45.svg
Image:Chess ndt45.svg Knight Image:Chess nlt45.svg
Image:Chess pdt45.svg Pawn Image:Chess plt45.svg

[edit] Check and checkmate

Main articles: check (chess) and checkmate

If a player's move places the opponent's king under attack, that king is said to be in check, and the player in check is required to immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible methods to remove the king from check:

  • Moving the king to an adjacent non-threatened square
  • Interposing a piece between the king in check and the attacking piece in order to break the line of threat (not possible when the attacking piece is a knight, or when in double check).
  • Capturing the attacking piece (not possible in double check, unless the king captures)

If none of these three options are possible, the player's king has been checkmated and the player loses the game.

[edit] Stalemate

Main article: Stalemate

A stalemate occurs when, for the player with the move:

  • The player has no legal moves, and
  • The player's king is not in check

If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated and the game ends in a draw. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often try to entice the opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate in order to avoid a loss.

[edit] Role in gameplay

A standard king piece and three pawns.
A standard king piece and three pawns.

In the opening and middlegame, the king will rarely play an active role in the development of an offensive or defensive position. Instead, a player will normally try to castle and seek safety on the edge of the board behind friendly pawns. In the endgame, however, the king emerges to play an active role as an offensive piece as well as assisting in the promotion of their remaining pawns.

It is not meaningful to assign a value to the king relative to the other pieces, as it cannot be captured or exchanged. In this sense, its value could be considered infinite. As an assessment of the king's capability as an offensive piece in the endgame, it is often considered to be slightly stronger than a bishop or knight – Emanuel Lasker gave it the value of a knight plus a pawn (i.e. four points on the scale of chess piece point value) (Lasker 1934:73). It is better at defending nearby pawns than the knight is, and it is better at attacking them than the bishop is (Ward 1996:13).

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links