Check & Checkmate
If a man makes a move that attacks the opposing King, the King is said to be in check. The player whose King is in check must make a move that gets the King out of check or he forfeits the game. This is the only case in which a player can not make any move that he wants.
If the attacking man can not be captured, there are only two ways to get out of check. One of the ways is to interpose a man between the King and the attacking man. The other is to move the King out of the line of attack. In the following diagram, Black could give check by moving the Bishop to c5. To escape check, White has four moves that he can play. He may move the King to f1, h1, or h2, or he may interpose his Rook on e3. Moving the Rook to e3 would be very unwise because Black would simply take the Rook with his Bishop, again checking White's King. The situation would then not have changed at all except that White would have lost his Rook. White's King could not move to f2, because he would still be attacked by the Bishop.
Instead of checking on c5, Black could have attacked White's King on h2. In this case, the King would have simply captured the Bishop. If it were White's move he could give check with the Rook on e8, but Black could take the Rook with his Knight. He would naturally do this instead of either moving out with the King to h7 or interposing the Bishop on f8.
If a King is in check and there is no move that can get him out of it, he is said to be in checkmate and the game is over. The following diagram shows an example in which both players can give checkmate on the next move.
If it were White's move, he would take the pawn on g6 with his Queen. Now Black's King is in check as White's Queen threatens to take him on the next move. The King cannot move to g7 or h7 because these two squares are also attacked by White's Queen. Also, the Queen can not be taken by the pawn on f7 because the black King would be in check by the Bishop on b3. The pawn is pinned by the Bishop. Black's Knight can not take White's Queen either because he is pinned by White's Rook. Finally, there is no piece available that can be interposed between White's Queen and Black's King. This means that Black is in checkmate and the game is over.
If it were Black's move he would take the pawn on g2 with the Queen. Now White's King is in check because Black's Queen threatens to take him on the next move. He can not take the Queen because he would then be captured by the Bishop b7. The Knight on f4 can not take the Queen because he is pinned by the Bishop on d6. The King may not escape to g1, h1 or g3 because these 3 squares are being attacked by Black's Queen. There is no move that can get White's King out of check. White is in checkmate and loses the game.
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