The King Chess Piece: Chess Pieces Rules

On a standard chessboard, the king always begins on the e-file, on the opposite side of the board from the opposing king. White begins on e1, black on e8. (You’ll notice that the king also begins on a square opposite its own color.) The side of the board with the king is usually called the kingside, as opposed to the queenside.

In traditional chess sets, the king is the tallest of the chessmen.

Like the queen, the king can move in any direction. That said, it can only move one square at a time. This might seem to make the king one of the more versatile chess pieces, but there’s a major exception: According to the rules of chess, the king can never move into a square that’s being attacked by an opponent’s piece. (I.e., the king can never place itself in check.)

This also means that a king can never be adjacent to another king.

The king’s position and vulnerability mean that for large parts of the game it’s likely to remain in the back ranks. If you’re just starting to play chess or still early in your chess training it may seem like the king doesn’t do much. That said, the chess king’s role may change as the game develops:

• In the opening stages of the game, protecting the king is the priority. Ignoring the king can force you to sacrifice pieces or delay development due to a quick attack. For a good example of what can happen to an undefended king, look at the Scholar’s Mate.
• In the middlegame, an aggressive player will attempt to attack the king with a variety of chess tactics. Knowing the basics of pawn structure, skewers, and pins will help you protect your own king while threatening your opponent’s.
• During the endgame, the king’s role in the game can change dramatically. By this point, many, if not most, of the other high-value pieces have been removed from the board, limiting many threats to the king and also giving both players more room to maneuver. Not only can the king become a powerful attacking piece when it comes to controlling the center, it can also assist in pawn promotion by guarding pawns as they advance along their files.

While the king may not be as powerful a piece as your high-value material pieces, it does have one noteworthy special move: Castling. Simply put, castling is a special rule (like en passant for pawns) that allows your king to move two spaces to its right or left, while the rook moves to the opposite side of the king.

Castling can be a very powerful move because it’s essentially two moves at once. It can be a great way to get your king to safety while developing a powerful attacking piece in your rook. While castling can never be your first move, it’s a critical part of many openings. That said, knowing when to castle is critical.

In many situations, it’s better to have your king safely in the corner, where they’re less vulnerable to diagonal attacks. That makes an early castle a potentially appealing move. That said, there may be situations where a number of bishops or even queens exit the game early. In these endgame-like situations, it may be better to have the king near the center, where it may reveal itself to be a powerful attacking piece.

A king is said to be in check when it’s in a square being attacked by an opponent’s piece and may be captured on the next move. Checking the enemy king is a powerful move, since it forces the other player to respond immediately. There are three ways out of check, each with its own special considerations.

1. 1. Move the king. It may be possible to simply move the king to a square that is not currently under attack, though at a minimum this is likely to cost you a tempo, and may also put you in a weaker strategic position.
2. 2. Capture the attacking piece. In some situations it may be possible to capture the attacking piece, either with the king itself or with another piece. Generally speaking, this is the best way to get out of check, since it also removes an opponent’s material, but you’ll also want to make sure that your opponent isn’t baiting you into capturing the attacking piece in order to set up a more devastating attack later.
3. 3. Block the check with another piece. If the attacking piece is a queen, rook, or bishop, and there’s at least one space between the attacker and the king, you may be able to block the attack with another of your own pieces. (This also creates a pin, since the blocking piece now cannot be removed without placing the king in check.)

It’s also important to note that you can never place your own king in check, either by moving your king onto a square being attacked by an enemy piece, or by moving another piece that then exposes your king to attack from an opposing rook, queen, or bishop.

Note also that in casual games it’s customary for the attacking player to announce check, but this is rarely done in tournament settings.

Checkmate is the endstate of a chess game. It means the defending king has been placed in check with no way out. Technically, the king is the only piece that is never captured in a game of chess, as the game ends the moment checkmate is declared.

In games where there are no valid moves, or where it’s impossible to successfully checkmate an opponent, chess rules dictate that the game ends in a stalemate.

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