![]() I asked the class why it was stalemate and not checkmate. Today I set up this stalemate position in a class (Black to play).: Stalemate means “the king is not in check and the player has no legal moves”. I then remind students of the acronoym of CPR as the three ways to get out of check: However, of course this would not be checkmate as black can easily block the check with 2…c6. Bb5#, I don’t think many top players like …. Is this Pirc Defense an opening that loses on the spot? Students will often suggest “checkmate is when the king is in check and there is no way for the king to run.” This is a better definition but is also not correct…. He gets surprised when I explain to him how according to his definition of checkmate, the king would be in checkmate in the starting position. “Of course, not”, the student will generally reply. Evan ready for a new round at a Tournament in Kiryat Ono, Israel in August 2018 When a students says “checkmate is when there is no where for the king to go”, I will ask “is the king in checkmate in the starting position of a chess game?”. Every other type of answer may be close but is not correct. As Nikki Church likes to say, ” the whole world stops until you get out of check.”Ĭheckmate means “the king is in check and there is no way to get out of check”. Usually most of the beginners will fall for the trick and raise their hand…… One must get always get of check it is not something he should do. In beginner classes, I will often say “Raise your hand if when your in check, you should get out of it”. If the king were any other piece (pawn, rook queen, bishop or knight), it would be able to get captured on the next move). This means that the king is in a direct line of fire from one of his opponent’s pieces. While it may take a while for students to fully grasp the differences ad be able to independently describe the differences of these three related terms, this lesson must be done before students continue their chess study.Ĭheck means “the king is in danger”. I felt bad as he left the room crying but of course the rules were rules. However, I had to be the bearer of bad news and explain to him why it was stalemate and how he only would get a ½ point for the round. I told them to play on and a few moves later he made the exclamation. “I won!” He thought it was checkmate as his opponent’s king had no legal moves but it was not in check. When I went over to his board, he was excited as he exclaimed. Two years I was directing one our tournaments and a child raised his hand. All these answers are incorrect and will cause confusion to students when they are playing. Often when I ask beginners what checkmate means, I will get answers like “It is when the king cannot move anywhere”, “It is where anywhere the king goes, he will get captured”, “The king is surrounded”, etc. ![]() Knowing all the rules does not just mean piece movement before students learn any strategy, they should know how to castle and know the exact definitions of check, checkmate, and stalemate. Inexperienced chess coaches will often jump to instructing basic strategy, openings, endgames, etc. He did not remember that kings never get captured in chess. A few minutes later, he was playing against another student and attempted to capture his opponent’s king after he made an illegal move that did not get him out of check. Last week I was teaching curriculum classes at one of our partner schools and a student asked me to learn about the Sicilian Defense, something I typically would not teach until students are rated 1200+. ![]()
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