Rules Surrounding Check & Checkmate - Chess Forums

rachelwalker27

Mar 28, 2025

0

#1

I’m new to chess and hoping someone can clarify the rules surrounding check and checkmate for me, please! I read that it’s okay if the king is in check multiple times consecutively, whether that’s multiple times by the same piece or if another piece joins the party. However, I’ve seen on TV that if a king escapes a check and then is immediately checked again either by the original offending piece or by a different piece, that’s checkmate. So, is there a limit as to how many times the king can be in check consecutively?

Martin_Stahl

Mar 28, 2025

0

#2

rachelwalker27 wrote:

I’m new to chess and hoping someone can clarify the rules surrounding check and checkmate for me, please! I read that it’s okay if the king is in check multiple times consecutively, whether that’s multiple times by the same piece or if another piece joins the party. However, I’ve seen on TV that if a king escapes a check and then is immediately checked again either by the original offending piece or by a different piece, that’s checkmate. So, is there a limit as to how many times the king can be in check consecutively?

You can be checked as many times as possible. The only limit is if there have been 50 moves with no captures or pawn moves a draw can be claimed (in live Chess here it's automatic).

Checkmate is only when the king is in check and there is no legal moves to get out of check.

Ziryab

Mar 28, 2025

0

#3

To see if a check is checkmate, do ABC:

A Avoid — Can the king move to a square where he is not in check?
B Block — Can another piece get between the checking piece and the king?
C Capture — Can the piece giving check be captured?

If none of these are true, the check is checkmate.