The king (♔, ♚) is the most important
piece in the game of
chess
Chess is a board game for two players. It is an abstract strategy game that involves Perfect information, no hidden information and no elements of game of chance, chance. It is played on a square chessboard, board consisting of 64 squares arran ...
. It may move to any adjoining square; it may also perform, in tandem with the
rook, a special move called ''
castling
Castling is a move in chess. It consists of moving the king (chess), king two squares toward a rook (chess), rook on the same and then moving the rook to the square that the king passed over. Castling is permitted only if neither the king ...
''. If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be ''in
check'', and the player must remove or evade the threat of immediately, such as by moving it away from the attacked square. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in
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 ...
, resulting in a loss for that player. A player cannot make any move that places their own king in check. Despite this, the king can become a strong offensive piece in the
endgame or, rarely, the
middlegame.
In
algebraic notation, the king is abbreviated by the letter ''K'' among English speakers. The white king starts the game on e1; the black king starts on e8. Unlike all other pieces, each player can have only one king, and the kings are never removed from the board during the game.
Placement and movement
The white king starts on e1, on the first to the right of the
queen
Queen most commonly refers to:
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen (band), a British rock band
Queen or QUEEN may also refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Q ...
from White's perspective. The black king starts on e8, directly across from the white king. Each king starts on a square opposite its own color.
A king can move one square horizontally, vertically, and diagonally unless the square is already occupied by a friendly piece or the move would place the king in check. If the square is occupied by an undefended enemy piece, the king may capture it, removing it from play. Opposing kings may never occupy adjacent squares (see
opposition) to give check, as that would put the moving king in check as well. The king can give
discovered check, however, by unblocking a
bishop
A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
,
rook, or queen.
Castling
The king can make a special move, in conjunction with a rook of the same color, called ''castling''. When castling, the king moves two squares horizontally toward one of its rooks, and that rook is placed on the square over which the king crossed.
Castling is permissible under the following conditions:
* Neither the king nor the castling rook have previously moved.
* No squares between the two pieces are occupied.
* The king is not in check.
* None of the squares the king would move across or to are under enemy attack.
Castling with the h-file rook is known as ''castling kingside'' or ''short castling'' (denoted 0-0 in
algebraic notation), while castling with the a-file rook is known as ''castling queenside'' or ''long castling'' (denoted 0-0-0).
Status in games
Check and checkmate
A king that is under attack is said to be ''in
check'', and the player in check must immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible ways to remove the king from check:
*The king is moved to an adjacent non-threatened square. A player may not castle to get their king out of check. A king can capture an adjacent enemy piece if that piece is not protected by another enemy piece.
*A piece is interposed between the king and the attacking piece to break the line of threat (not possible when the checking piece is a
knight
A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity.
The concept of a knighthood ...
or
pawn, or when in
double check).
*The attacking piece is captured (not possible when in double check, unless the king captures).
If none of the three options are available, the player's king has been ''
checkmated'', and the player loses the game.
In casual games, when placing the opponent's king in check, it is common to announce this by saying "check", but this is not required by the rules of chess. In tournament games, it is not usual to announce check; competent players are expected to know when they are in check.
Stalemate
A stalemate occurs when a player, on their turn, has no legal moves, and the player's king is not in check.
If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated, and the game ends in a
draw. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often, in order to avoid a loss, try to entice the opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate (see
swindle).
Role in gameplay
In the
opening and
middlegame, the king will rarely play an active role in the development of an offensive or defensive position, with the notable exception of a
king walk. Instead, it will normally
castle
A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
and seek safety on the edge of the board behind friendly
pawns. In the
endgame, however, the king emerges to play an active role as an offensive piece, and can assist in the
promotion of the player's remaining pawns.
It is not meaningful to assign a value to the king relative to the other pieces, as it cannot be captured or
exchanged and must be protected at all costs. In this sense, its value could be considered infinite. As an assessment of the king's capability as an offensive piece in the endgame, it is often considered to be slightly stronger than a bishop or knight.
Emanuel Lasker
Emanuel Lasker (; December 24, 1868 – January 11, 1941) was a German chess player, mathematician, and philosopher. He was the second World Chess Champion, holding the title for 27 years, from 1894 to 1921, the longest reign of any officially ...
gave it the value of a knight plus a
pawn (i.e. four points on the scale of
chess piece relative value
In chess, a relative value (or point value) is a standard value conventionally assigned to each piece. Piece valuations have no role in the rules of chess but are useful as an aid to evaluating an exchange of pieces.
The best-known system assi ...
), though some other theorists evaluate it closer to three points. It is better at defending friendly pawns than the knight is, and it is better at attacking enemy pawns than the bishop is.
History

The king's predecessor is the piece of the same name in
shatranj
Shatranj (, ; from Middle Persian ) is an old form of chess, as played in the Sasanian Empire. Its origins lie in the South Asian game of chaturanga. Modern chess gradually developed from this game, as it was introduced to Europe by contacts in ...
. Like the modern king, it is the most important piece in the game and can move to any neighboring square. However, in shatranj, baring the king is a win unless the opponent can do the same immediately afterward; stalemating the king is a win; and castling does not exist.
Name translations
Unicode
Unicode
Unicode or ''The Unicode Standard'' or TUS is a character encoding standard maintained by the Unicode Consortium designed to support the use of text in all of the world's writing systems that can be digitized. Version 16.0 defines 154,998 Char ...
defines three codepoints for a king:
♔ U+2654 White Chess King
♚ U+265A Black Chess King
🨀 U+1FA00 Neutral Chess King
See also
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
*
FIDE Handbook: Laws of Chess
External links
Fianchetto variation of the King’s Indian Defenceby Fergus Duniho and
Hans Bodlaender, ''
The Chess Variant Pages
''The Chess Variant Pages'' is a non-commercial website devoted to chess variants. It was created by Hans Bodlaender in 1995. The site is "run by hobbyists for hobbyists" and is "the most wide-ranging and authoritative web site on chess variants". ...
''
{{Authority control
Chess pieces