chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

and other related games, a double check is a check delivered by two pieces simultaneously. In

chess notation Chess notation systems are used to record either the moves made or the position of the pieces in a game of chess. Chess notation is used in chess literature, and by players keeping a record of an ongoing game. The earliest systems of notation used ...

, it is almost always represented the same way as a single check ("+"), but it is sometimes symbolized by "++" (however, "++" is also sometimes used to denote

checkmate Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with ) and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is ...

). This article uses "++" for double check and "#" for checkmate.

Chess

The most common form of double check involves one piece moving to deliver check and revealing a

discovered check In chess, a discovered attack is a direct attack revealed when one piece moves out of the way of another. Discovered attacks can be extremely powerful, as the piece moved can make a threat independently of the piece it reveals. Like many chess ...

at the same time from a piece it had been blocking. The only possible reply to a double check is a king move, as it is impossible to block or capture both checking pieces at once (though the king move may capture one of these pieces). In exceptional circumstances, it is possible for the moved piece in a double check to not give check. The only way for this to happen in orthodox chess is by way of an '' en passant'' capture. In the position shown, Black has just played 1...g7–g5. White replies 2.hxg6++. The result is a double check even though the white pawn does not give check: one check is given by the rook, discovered by the capturing pawn's move; the other by the bishop, revealed by the captured pawn's removal. Such a double check is extremely rare in practical play, but it is sometimes found in

chess problem A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by the composer using chess pieces on a chess board, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to ...

Game examples

A double check is a part of the

smothered mate In chess, a smothered mate is a checkmate delivered by a knight in which the mated king is unable to move because it is completely surrounded (or ''smothered'') by its own pieces. The mate is usually seen in a corner of the board, since fewer pie ...

pattern known as Philidor's legacy.

Aron Nimzowitsch Aron Nimzowitsch ( lv, Ārons Nimcovičs, russian: Аро́н Иса́евич Нимцо́вич, ''Aron Isayevich Nimtsovich''; 7 November 1886 – 16 March 1935) was a Latvian-born Danish chess player and writer. In the late 1920s, Nimz ...

wrote, "Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check." Because the only possible response to a double check is a king move, the double check is often an important tactical motif. A famous example is Réti– Tartakower, Vienna 1910, which arose after 1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nf6 5. Qd3 e5 6. dxe5 Qa5+ 7. Bd2 Qxe5 8. 0-0-0 Nxe4 9. Qd8+ ( sacrificing a queen in order to set up a double check) 9... Kxd8 10. Bg5++ and White mates after 10...Ke8 11.Rd8 or 10...Kc7 11.Bd8#.
A double check was also seen in the celebrated Evergreen Game, Anderssen– Dufresne, 1852. Anderssen won with 20. Rxe7+! Nxe7 21.Qxd7+!! (a queen sacrifice to set up a deadly double check) 21... Kxd7 22. Bf5++ Ke8 (or 22...Kc6 23.Bd7#) 23. Bd7+ Kf8 24. Bxe7#.

Variants

In chess with variant rules or

fairy pieces A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fair ...

, other ways of delivering a double check may be possible. Triple, quadruple and even quintuple checks may also be possible. For example, in the position shown, after Black plays 1...d5, White plays 2.exd6e.p.+++++ (the ''moa'' is a non-leaping knight which first takes a diagonal step, then an orthogonal one; the grasshopper captures by leaping over an intervening piece). After the ''en passant'' capture, five pieces check the black king: both moas, the rook, the grasshopper and the bishop.

Xiangqi

xiangqi ''Xiangqi'' (; ), also called Chinese chess or elephant chess, is a strategy board game for two players. It is the most popular board game in China. ''Xiangqi'' is in the same family of games as '' shogi'', '' janggi'', Western chess, '' ...

, the Chinese version of chess, triple check and even quadruple check is possible, as in the following examples:

References

{{chess Chess terminology de:Abzug (Schach)#Doppelschach sv:Schacka#Dubbelschack