The king and checkThe king moves one square and never enters an attacked square. In check you have three ways out: run, block, or capture the attacker.

The king moves one square at a time, in any direction — like the queen, but a single step. He is the most important and the weakest piece at once: the whole game exists to protect yours and hunt your opponent's.

Alone in the middle of the board, the king reaches the 8 squares around him.

Now a black rook has arrived on h5, and it owns the whole 5th rank. Look at the shape again: c5, d5 and e5 are gone. The king cannot enter a square where he is attacked — it is not that it is a bad idea, it is that it is not allowed. This is the most important rule in chess, and it explains everything that follows.

When an enemy piece is attacking your king, that is called CHECK, and you must deal with it immediately. There are exactly three ways out: run with the king, block the path with another piece, or capture whoever is giving the check. Here the black rook on e8 is attacking your king on e1 down the e-file — and your bishop on a4 is looking straight at it.

The king is in check. You can run with him and that does solve it — but there is a better way out. Find it.

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