Hello! I’m Coach Rob from Kids Academy, and today we’re going to learn something exciting about chess. We’re going to talk about a special word called “check.” Are you ready to dive into the world of chess with me?
In chess, “check” means that the king, the most important piece on the board, is in danger. Imagine the king as the leader of your army. You must always keep him safe! When your opponent’s piece can attack your king, we say the king is in “check.”
Let’s see how “check” works with different pieces:
If your king is in check, you must find a way to keep him safe. You can move the king, block the attack, or capture the attacking piece. But remember, you can never leave your king in check!
Here are some important things to remember:
Did you know that kings can never check each other? They must always have at least one square between them. This keeps them from touching and attacking each other.
Always be on the lookout for check. It’s like being a detective! After your opponent moves, check to see if any of their pieces are aiming at your king. If they are, your king might be in check and in danger.
Now you know all about “check” in chess! Remember to keep your king safe and have fun playing. Thank you for learning with us! Don’t forget to subscribe to our channel for more fun chess videos and check out our apps in the comments below.
Chess Piece Exploration: Gather some chess pieces and a board. Set up different scenarios where the king is in check. Ask your child to identify which piece is putting the king in check and how they can move to get the king out of danger. This hands-on activity will help them understand how different pieces can threaten the king.
Checkmate Detective: Create a simple chess puzzle where the king is in check, and challenge your child to find all the possible ways to get the king out of check. Encourage them to think about moving the king, blocking the attack, or capturing the attacking piece. This will help them practice problem-solving and strategic thinking.
Everyday Check: Ask your child to observe situations in their daily life where someone or something needs protection, just like the king in chess. For example, a crossing guard helping children cross the street safely. Discuss how they can be like a chess player, thinking ahead to keep others safe.
Welcome to Kids Academy! Hi, it’s Coach Rob from Kids Academy, and welcome to Chapter 3 in our chess video series. In this chapter, we’ll be discussing two very important chess vocabulary words: check and checkmate. Today, we’ll focus on the word “check.”
The term “check” means that the king is under attack or being threatened. You might wonder why this is such a big deal since pieces in chess get attacked all the time. Remember, the king is the most important piece in chess; he is the leader of the army, and we must keep our king safe. The objective in chess is to protect our own king while attacking and surrounding our opponent’s king, which is called checkmate. We’ll discuss that in another video.
For now, just know that “check” means the king is under attack. In this game, it’s White’s move. If White plays the move rook from f2 to d2, sliding the rook across the board, we now have an example of a check. Rooks can move along ranks and files, and this rook is aiming at the black king. The black king is in danger; he is in check.
If White had another turn and this were a regular piece, the white rook could try to capture, but in chess, we do not capture kings. It’s Black’s responsibility to recognize that the king is in danger and that he is in check. Black will have to save the king, and there are three strategies a chess player can use to do this, which we’ll discuss in another video. For now, we are just recognizing the word “check” and being aware when kings are in danger.
Let’s take this rook back and put a bishop here. Now the king is on a light square, and the white bishop is also on a light square. This bishop should be able to check the black king. Think for a moment about where this bishop can go to put the black king in check. We could say either bishop to a4 or bishop to e6; both would result in the bishop checking the king.
Now, let’s remove the bishop and the rook and add a knight. Where could this knight go to check the black king? The knight has one L-shape move available. Remember, knights move in an L-shape. This knight can hop to e5, and now the black king is in danger; he is in check. Whatever Black’s plans are, he or she must put them on hold to get the king safe.
Let’s give Black a piece. We’ll put a pawn here. Even pawns can perform check in chess. In this game, it’s Black’s turn, and this black pawn can move forward. We know black pawns start on the seventh rank, so he can march down the board. This pawn can move from c4 to c3, and now the white king is in check; White is in danger. Even a pawn can perform check.
Of course, a queen can give check as well. This queen has several squares to consider. Let’s name all the squares this queen can go to check the white king. First, looking at the diagonal, queen to f6 will check the king, and queen to e5 will also check the king. Now looking at the ranks, I can put the queen on f2 to check the king, and I can also place the queen on c2 to check the king. If we look at the file, I can play queen to b5 check or even queen to b1 check. All these moves would allow the queen to aim at the king and put him in check.
It’s very important that if you’re playing a game and writing your moves, whenever you give a check in chess, the move you write should be followed by a plus sign. The plus sign signifies that the move was a checking move and that the king was under attack.
Now we know that check is when the king is in danger. Checks occur when the opposing player moves a piece that can see or aim at the other player’s king. However, sometimes in chess, we encounter interesting positions, especially with beginning players, where someone moves their own king into check. For example, if a player moves from king b2 to king b3, they may suddenly realize that their king is in check. In this case, the player should recognize that they made an illegal move. You can never put your king in check.
The player whose king is in check should politely inform their opponent that they made an illegal move. Remember, you can never put your king in check; you should think of a new move. The only time check should happen is when one player moves one of their pieces to aim at the king. The king should never be put into danger, as he is the leader of your army, and you need to keep him safe.
If you find yourself in a position where your opponent unknowingly puts their king in danger, you should offer them a redo or a take-back and say, “You can’t put your king in danger; take your move back and try again.”
Today, we learned that every piece—pawns, knights, bishops, rooks, and queens—can perform check, and check is when the king is in danger and must escape. You’ll notice we did not say that kings can check kings because that’s not allowed. For example, if White plays king to c3 and Black plays king to c5, White can never use a king to check the black king, and vice versa. Kings can never touch; there always needs to be a square between two kings, or else they will be touching and attacking one another, which means one player moved their king into check.
So remember, always be on the lookout for check. It’s polite to say “check” to your opponent in a casual setting, but it’s not necessary to say it in a chess tournament; your opponent should be aware. Always look to see after your opponent’s move what piece is aiming at your king, as it could mean your king is in check and in danger.
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