I must be stupid - how is this not a check?

Noobie here - been playing for a couple of months and still don’t understand the end game here’s my quandry. Let’s say I am playing white -the black king is all alone (not supported by other black pieces) on e8 - I *think* I check him with my queen on e7 (AND my queen is NOT danger from other black pieces) but instead the black king takes my queen!  What am I missing????

It is a check, but if the queen is not defended, it can be taken by a king.

Thanks for the reply. I was a bit inarticulate in not say that there were a fair number of other pieces on the board both black and white. Here is what I see as the root of my misunderstanding: if a king is in check he cannot take the checking piece. Having been beat about a jillion times by the queen-happy Nelson bot that certainly seems to be the case - lord knows I’ve tried. My understanding of check then mate is that the piece presenting the check is protected on of the other pieces of the same color - I used to think that until playing Nelson...again, many early losses with just a queen checking my king. I also understood, perhaps incorrectly, that the only time the queen and king had to team up was to checkmate an opponent with only a king still in play. Is that correct? Thanks again for your kind indulgence for helping me understand chess.

This is indeed incorrect.

If the king is in check, the golden rule is that you have to make some move that will make the check disappear.

There are 3 options: 

1) You can take the piece which is causing the check. 
2) You can block the check. 
3) You can move your king out of check. 



 All 3 options are ok as long as you are not leaving your king in check with your preferred move. Let's see the example:

In the example if there was another piece defending d7, that other piece would be able to take the queen because that move deals with check, there is no check after that move is made.


So... as long as your move (one of the 3 options) deals with check in a way that there is no check after your move is made, you can make that move.

The King can capture a piece to get out of check if by taking that piece it wouldn't still be in check. This is why if you attack a king with a queen you need to line up another piece that attacks the square your queen will sit after you mate. 

So in the example above, if you had the queen on E7 checking  the King on E8 the king could just take the queen as no other black piece would be checking the KIng after he takes the Queen.  Now, if instead, you had the Queen on E7 checking the black King and a bishop on  G5 that would be checkmate because the King couldn't move into E7 to capture the Queen because they would still be in check by the bishop. 

Thanks - that fits what I originally thought but I’ll have to watch Nelson bot a lot closer because I swear there is no support on some of his queen checks - and I’ve looked carefully. Best Regards 

Nah, you’re not stupid, just crazy like the rest of us trying learn and be better today than yesterday. Keep on!

No problem. In the case of Nelson, It is probably the case where it is illegal move to take the queen, as in the example above or it is protected and you can't take with the king.

In any case, you can download the pgn file of the game and then post it here. Someone will clarify the example that is not clear to you.