Questions tagged [checkmate]
Questions relating to checkmating.
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Why is it illegal to move into check?
In chess, it is against the rules to move into check, or to not move out of check. But why? Obviously, if you went against this rule, you'd immediately lose. But it seems strange to make it illegal to ...
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What is sufficient mating material?
The FIDE chess rules describe that "The game is draw when a position is reached from which a checkmate cannot occur by any possible series of legal moves" (FIDE rule 9.6). This rules is sometimes ...
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Is it possible to force checkmate with King, Knight, and Bishop vs. King?
If a King, Knight, and Bishop are pitted against the opposing King, is it possible to force checkmate? I find it very hard to do, enough so that I'm not sure whether there's a clean method.
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How do you checkmate with a rook?
How do you checkmate with a Rook and King versus King? Is there a good and fast method? Can you explain it in a good way? Thanks!
user2001
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Does checkmate over ride 50-move rule?
If a move reaches the 50-move rule and gives checkmate at the same time, does the checkmate take priority over the draw?
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What is the longest proven forced win (including 50 & 75 move rules)?
What is the longest (currently discovered) number of moves for a forced mate position where players will use both the 50-move draw rule and the 3-fold repetition rule if it will help them avoid losing?...
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A position in which checkmate is forced (obligatory)
I am looking for a position in which all possible moves are checkmate. This means, that if the player does not want to checkmate the opponent, because for example he feels sorry for him, even in that ...
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A mysterious mate in one
Here's a question that's a little off the usual format, but problem questions like this have been done before and are on topic, so here we go!
Question: Can you find the mysterious mate in one? The ...
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Is it a draw by insufficient material if the board is K vs K, N & N?
It isn't possible to force checkmate with King vs. King, Knight & Knight. A checkmate position, however, is still possible to achieve, so does that mean the 50 move rule applies, or does ...
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With only a king left, how many moves remaining until a draw?
I am a beginner in chess. If I have only a king left, how many moves does my opponent have to mate me?
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Checkmate with two knights?
Is it really possible to checkmate with two knights and king against a king?
There is a mating position with this but no extra tempo to do it in real game.
What are the explanations, why knights ...
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What is the highest number of pieces from one side that can be involved in a checkmate?
What is the highest number of pieces from one side that can be involved in a checkmate? "Involved in a checkmate" is defined below.
A non-king piece is involved in a checkmate 'if removing ...
user11382
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Is it possible to checkmate with knight and king against king?
I would like to clarify two things:
Is it possible to checkmate with only a knight and a king against a lone king?
What will happen when one side has a king and knight and the other has just a king, ...
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When you check someone, do you have to say "check"?
Yesterday I was playing with a friend, I was almost out of time, he checked me, didn't say anything, I didn't see the check as i was in a hurry to make my move. And I was mated.
Computers don't let ...
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How do you checkmate with the pair of bishops?
How do you checkmate with the pair of Bishops and King versus King?
Are there any stalemates to look out for?
What are the key ideas / positions / tricks to make it work?
Thanks!
user2001
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Why is this a checkmate?
I'm new to chess and I'm confused about a puzzle I was practicing.
As you can see my black queen has put the white king in check, but I'm confused how this is possible if a rook is right next to my ...
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A position with the only legal move resulting in checkmate
Theoretically, is it possible that for some position, the only legal move for a side leads to a checkmate (that is, the opposite king gets checkmated)? If so, has this ever occurred in a real game?
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Fastest possible checkmate by en passant
En passant is somewhat of a rare move in chess. Checkmating by en passant, however, is an even rarer occurrence. But suppose both sides had the same goal to help cause a checkmate to their opponent ...
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Is it possible for a white piece to deliver check to the black king, but for black's counter move to result in white getting checkmated?
Is it possible for a white piece to deliver check to the black king, but for black's counter move to result in white getting checkmated?
Has this happened in games between top players?
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What is the longest forced win with 3 to 6 pieces (ignoring 50 & 75 move rules)?
I am wondering, what endgame, with 3 to 6 pieces, has the longest checkmate with optimal play? Right now, the longest I'm aware of is the two knights versus one pawn endgame, which in certain ...
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Checkmate with King and Knight vs King and Knight
I just have a quick question. I was playing on chess.com and got into the following position:
[FEN "8/4n/6k1/8/K2/3N1/8/8 b - - 0 1"]
Now, I assumed that once we traded off the last pawns, the game ...
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Minimum moves to checkmate?
What is the minimum number of moves, counting both sides, in which a checkmate can be made?
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Is it true that at any time only one piece can put king in check?
I am writing a simple chess game in which I have to determine the end game conditions. My algorithm requires the piece that is putting the opponent king in check, and checks the following:
King ...
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How many steps to mate the only king with all pieces?
Suppose Black has only one king in its initial place and White has all 16 pieces in their initial places. How many steps does it take to ensure a checkmate? And what are all solutions?
Now that White ...
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The quickest mate in n
Obviously inspired by the analogous selfmate question. (Helpmate would also be possible in principle, but looks a bit silly.)
Thus, 1.f3 e5 2.g4 allows Black a #1, and 1.f3 e5 2.h3 a #2. 1.f4 e5 2....
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What is the farthest away a game can be from a guaranteed checkmate?
What is the maximum number of moves away from checkmate that a player can be where checkmate is guaranteed? There are many positions that are a guaranteed win for a player if played perfectly, right? (...
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Moving into check?
I will try to be specific. I was playing a game, and the only piece my opponent could move was their king. It was taking forever for me to checkmate the king. I had a queen, two rooks, and a few pawns,...
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How fast can checkmate occur by just moving the king?
How short can a game be in which (after the first move) one player moves only their king, and yet checkmates their opponent?
This is assuming that the players cooperate, i.e. this is a kind of "...
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What are some checkmates with very few moves from the starting position?
I would like to learn about a few checkmates using very few moves. I know one where you develop the knight and march it directly towards the King. Does anyone know the name of this mate and suggest ...
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On an infinite board, which pieces are needed to checkmate?
Most of the winnable endgames require cornering the opposing king to checkmate, often using zugzwang. However, if you have an infinite board (infinite in every direction), you won't be able to corner ...
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Another Unusual Mate in One
Here is another mate-in-one of my own i.e. a not quite usual one...
[title "Mate in one"]
[FEN "3b4/R3P3/2kPR1n1/P1p1n3/4K1p1/2Nr4/5p2/1b6 w KQkq - 0 1"]
Imagine, you ...
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Can a player in check win, by checkmating the opponent, while not getting themselves out of check?
Consider a player who is in check. Suppose they can make a move that would checkmate the opponent, but would not stop themselves from being in check. Would that be a legal move?
For example, in the ...
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Is there a double-forced mate position?
A usual forced mate position is where the winning player can play in a way that ensures checkmate, no matter what (legal) moves the opponent makes (unless the game ends due to a non-play reason, i.e. ...
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How often do grandmasters miss checkmate?
Although top players are extremely good at finding checkmate, the number of permutations of moves in just 3 moves can be hundreds of thousands, and the farther out the possible mate (e.g. mate in 4, ...
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How many such positions are there? (chess/math checkmate puzzle)
I'm interested in this kind of position:
There are only 4 pieces on the board. If Whites goes first, they can checkmate in one move. If Blacks goes first, they can checkmate in one move. For example:
...
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Can a player resign after checkmating their opponent?
A friend of mine recently told me that once, he checkmated his opponent and then immediately resigned because he thought his win was unfair. This happened in a FIDE-rated tournament.
Searching the ...
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How many moves of head start does white need for a guaranteed win?
As we all know, it is not known whether white can always win in chess with optimal play. If, however, white got to make two moves before black made their first move would they be able to win with ...
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Which piece combinations can mate a lone king without being aided by the attacking king?
Clearly not a practical question since the king can and should be used in the endgame, but I was curious if anyone has done a comprehensive analysis of which combinations of pieces (including some ...
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How to solve this puzzle of Martin Gardner?
Martin Gardner mentioned the following "chess" problem in his column, Mathematical Games, for Scientific American (he got it from Smullyan, who learned about it from a high school math ...
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When checkmate is impossible in a position
The laws of chess say
1.5. If the position is such that neither player can possibly checkmate the opponent’s king, the game is drawn (see Article 5.2.2).
5.2.2. The game is drawn when a position has ...
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Mate in One the Missing King
The post "A mysterious mate in one" made me think of one of my last problems which is also a Mate-in-One with no black King:
[Title "White to move and mate in one"]
[FEN &...
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Helpmate of arbitrary length
One of the FIDE rules states that if someone's flag falls, and there exists a legal sequence of moves such that the other player mates the first player, then the position is a win for the second ...
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Full board with full point mutual zugzwang
I have two questions.
1) Is there a position with all pieces on board such that the side to move loses?
2) Is there a position with all pieces on board such that the side to move is checkmated in 1?
...
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Why does the game end at checkmate and not upon taking the king? [duplicate]
Ever since I was a kid this has felt kind of odd to me. Victory in chess is achieved by "cornering" the king, and not by taking him outright, like what you do to all the other pieces. I always ...
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Could two kings force checkmate against a lone king?
I was looking at minimal combinations of material needed to force checkmate (K+R, Q+B, R+N+N, etc). You end up with a sort of threshold of how much material is needed, and that sort of assigns a ...
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What is a pure checkmate?
Recently I heard something about pure checkmate. This is a special kind of checkmate where each of the squares around the king has to be covered by just one single piece. One simple example of this ...
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Is this considered checkmate if I touch a piece which can't make a legal move?
What if there's a touch move rule, and my knight or bishop is blocking my king, and I touch it. Is that a checkmate? If not, what is it called?
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How to checkmate with king + two knights vs king + pawn
King + two knights vs a king is a book draw, as the knights cannot get the enemy king into a checkmating position (only a stalemating position), because of the inherent clumsy nature of the knight. ...
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KNN-K Chess Endgame
[FEN "8/8/8/4N3/4N3/4K3/8/4k3 - - - 0 0 "]
I have this chess problem that I have played with. Logically, there are positions that have the Black King in checkmate. But untill now, I haven’t been able ...
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