51
votes
Accepted
King or Queen-Which piece is which?
In general, a chess set has the king as the tallest piece, followed by queen, bishop, knight, rook and pawn in that order. Notice in the starting position how the piece height decreases smoothly from ...
- 4,980
34
votes
I'm new to chess-what should be done here to win the game?
This position is a draw, the game is over. It is not possible for either side to checkmate the other from this position, not even if the side with the bare king would try to help.
The same is true for ...
- 27.7k
26
votes
Was there ever a time when the goal in chess was to capture the king?
Wikipedia claims that
In early Sanskrit chess (c. 500–700) the king could be captured and this ended the game. The Persians (c. 700–800) introduced the idea of warning that the king was under ...
- 14.7k
26
votes
Accepted
Is endangering the king a good strategy in some positions?
Whereas "sacrifice" is a bad word, as already was pointed out ("endangering" maybe), from the standpoint of game theory this strategy may be completely rational...if the players ...
- 15.4k
21
votes
King or Queen-Which piece is which?
At first glance, the taller piece with skinnier top would appear to be the King while the shorter, rounder piece would appear to be the Queen.
There are a few reasons why this would appear to be the ...
- 219
20
votes
Accepted
Could two kings force checkmate against a lone king?
If these are two real kings, it is not possible. This is because one requirement of checkmate is that the black king is in check which cannot be achieved with any of the white kings, since it would ...
- 20.7k
18
votes
Could two kings force checkmate against a lone king?
A King and a Man (or commoner; i.e., a non-royal King) can mate a lone King. The longest distance to mate on a standard 8x8 board is 18 moves.
The result quoted above was obtained by H.G. Muller in ...
- 1,939
16
votes
Is this an illegal chess move?
Playing Kg2 in this position would "put your king in check" in that the black king is attacking that square already. So, no, that would be an illegal move.
The fastest way to checkmate in ...
- 5,713
13
votes
Accepted
Is this the quickest way to clearing the board to two kings?
Samuel Loyd found faster in 1895.
[FEN ""]
1. c4 d5 2. cxd5 Qxd5 3. Qc2 Qxg2 4. Qxc7 Qxg1 5. Qxb7 Qxh2 6. Qxb8 Qe5 7. Qxc8+ Rxc8 8. Rxh7 Qxb2 9. Rxh8 Qxa2 10. Rxg8 Qxd2+ 11. Kxd2 Rxc1 12. Rxg7 Rxb1 ...
- 4,980
12
votes
Accepted
Checkless Chess
Your "checkless" chess AI would run into problems with the stalemate rule. It would consider the poaition with white king on a6, white pawn a7, black king a8, a win for White because wherever Black ...
- 3,762
12
votes
Accepted
Is castling a king move or a rook move?
The FIDE rules say this about castling:
This is a move of the king and either rook of the same colour along
the player’s first rank, counting as a single move of the king
- 18.4k
12
votes
King or Queen-Which piece is which?
It doesn't matter.
As long as you and your opponent are in agreement about which one is the king and which one is the queen, it doesn't really matter what they were "supposed" to be.
That said, if ...
- 281
12
votes
Accepted
Series of illegal moves in check
The answer depends on whether or not the games are being recorded. The way this is elliptically referenced in the FIDE Laws of Chess is that a distinction is made between, on the one hand, standard ...
- 94.5k
11
votes
Pawn giving checkmate
Maybe your pawn happened to be pinned?
8/8/7r/5K1k/7p/8/6P1/7R w - - 0 1
1. g4+# hxg3?? 2. Rxh5
- 6,524
11
votes
Accepted
When to move/centralize king?
The general rule of thumb is that: if the queens are off the board then it's generally safe to keep the kings central in order to use them as active pieces (specially in endgames) instead of tucking ...
- 12k
10
votes
Accepted
What happens if me and my opponent only have kings?
Since you can't move your king into check, you can't legally check the other king.
The Laws of Chess, section 5.2b, states that:
The game is drawn when a position has arisen in which neither ...
- 216
10
votes
At what playing strength level should one be able to mate with King Bishop and Knight vs King?
A member of my club, rated about 1900 FIDE, had this in a championship blitz game about 2 years ago with 30 seconds left on the clock. He delivered mate with time to spare. IMs have failed. Go figure....
- 94.5k
10
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to win with a king and one bishop vs a king?
No. There is no position you can construct in which the black king is in check (has to be from the bishop), white only has king and bishop and the black king can't move.
The closest you can get is ...
- 94.5k
10
votes
Accepted
Why was this stalemate?
Stalemate
Stalemate is a situation in the game of chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check but has no legal move. ... In popular usage, the word stalemate refers to a conflict ...
- 807
10
votes
Is it possible to reach King vs King by moving each piece at most twice?
Answer 1: Yes, this is possible. Here is an example game in 27 moves:
[FEN ""]
1. a4 a5 2. b4 b5 3. bxa5 bxa4 4. Rxa4 Nc6 5. g4 Nxa5 6. Rxa5 Rxa5 7. h4 g5 8. hxg5 h5 9. gxh5 d5 10. c4 Nf6 ...
- 780
9
votes
King or Queen-Which piece is which?
The piece on the right clearly reminds me of kings from German "Bundesform" piece sets, which are still occasionally used in Germany, although very rarely in tournament play. The left piece does not ...
- 2,346
9
votes
When can king and pawn win against another king and pawn?
As far as I can tell, in your proposed variant a player could always force a draw by placing the king in a reasonably centralized position, regardless of what the other side chooses. Even if he allows ...
- 18.4k
9
votes
Developing the king before developing most of your pieces
Don't try this at home. ;-)
First of all, a simple LiChess search gives this is B12 Caro-Kann Defense: Advance Variation, Tal Variation, i.e. it has even a name and is legit.
Second, 8 games listed, ...
- 15.4k
9
votes
Is endangering the king a good strategy in some positions?
What checkmate in 1 might be tricky to spot? One possibility: promoting a pawn to a knight. This might work better online than over the board: the software your opponent uses might make it easier to ...
- 6,265
8
votes
What is the required material to force a king move checkmate?
As you noted, no "K + single piece" can achieve this. Here is an overview to the "K + two x" cases, of which only three cases don't work.
Note that these base cases allow for any ...
- 861
7
votes
Can the king capture his attacker?
As long as the queen is not protected by another piece, the king can capture it. The king can in fact be a strong attacking piece, particularly in the ending, when it doesn't have to worry as much ...
- 2,984
7
votes
At what playing strength level should one be able to mate with King Bishop and Knight vs King?
I don't think it's that relevant; most chess players are unlikely to ever get this endgame on the board. I'd rather spend my time studying other tricky pawnless endgames like Queen vs. Rook, which is ...
- 24.8k
7
votes
If not in check, can a king capture an opposing chess piece?
Yes, it can, as long as the opposing piece is not protected. It's even possible when the king is in check; all that matters is the position after the piece is captured. If there is an opposing piece ...
- 24.8k
7
votes
Accepted
With regards to the safety of the king when castling kingside
In praxis, a nonissue. You see a backranker coming from miles ahead. Unless you are really a beginner. But in this case, as you observed, the weakening of the king position is even worse: The backrank ...
- 15.4k
6
votes
Moving into check?
It is illegal for a King to move into check, or by moving a piece, expose one's King to check. Check can only happen by the opponent attacking the King.
If this leaves a player with no legal moves, ...
- 19.9k
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