Check and Checkmate
Check and checkmate sound almost the same and are very often confused by new players, but they describe two completely different situations — one is a temporary state you're required to respond to, and the other ends the game on the spot.
Check: the king is under attack, right now
A king is in check whenever an enemy piece could legally capture it on the next move. Being in check isn't itself a bad outcome — it happens constantly in normal games — but it comes with a rule: if your king is in check, your very next move must get it out of check. No other move is legal until that's resolved.
The three ways to get out of check
- Move the king to a square that isn't under attack.
- Capture the piece that's giving check.
- Block the check by putting another piece in between (only possible against a piece that attacks from a distance, like a rook, bishop, or queen — never against a knight or a pawn).
If even one of these options is available, the check can be answered and the game continues normally.
Starting position. Check is not the same thing as checkmate.
This is check, not checkmate — the king simply captures the piece giving the check, and the game continues.
Checkmate: check with none of those options available
Checkmate is what happens when a king is in check AND none of the three options above are available — the king can't move to any safe square, the checking piece can't be captured, and there's no way to block it. The instant that happens, the game ends immediately; there's no further move to play, and the side that delivered checkmate wins.
Check by itself never ends the game
No matter how many times a king is checked over the course of a game, none of those checks end anything on their own — only the specific check that leaves no legal response at all is checkmate. Most checks in a real game are answered easily and the game simply continues.
Why the confusion happens so often
New players sometimes assume any check is dangerous or close to game-ending, since the word sounds serious — but the large majority of checks in a normal game are answered in a single obvious move and change very little. Checkmate, by contrast, is rare enough in any single position that recognizing when it's genuinely happened, versus just another ordinary check, is a skill worth building deliberately.
How this gets written down
A check is marked with a plus sign after the move, like Qh5+, and checkmate is marked with a hash symbol instead, like Qh7#. Seeing that symbol at the end of a move label is the fastest way to tell, just from reading a game, that the position ended right there rather than continuing.
For real mating patterns worth recognizing on sight, see basic checkmate patterns, and for the related situation where a king has no legal move but ISN'T in check, see stalemate explained.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a player ever choose to ignore a check and play a different move instead?
No — if your king is in check, every legal move available to you must resolve that check. Any move that doesn't is simply illegal and can't be played, even if it looks otherwise reasonable.
Is it possible to be in check from more than one piece at the same time?
Yes, this is called double check, and it's an important special case — since blocking or capturing can only ever deal with one attacking piece, a double check can only ever be answered by moving the king, never by blocking or capturing.
Does giving check require saying anything out loud, like announcing 'check'?
No — under standard chess rules, there's no requirement to announce check verbally. It's simply a fact about the position that both players are expected to notice and respond to correctly on their own.