48
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Accepted
Can other pieces capture a threatening piece and prevent a checkmate?
Yes, you can capture the attacking piece with any one of your pieces, as long as you get out of the check.
But in this case, the king is also attacked by the rook. So, you are checkmate.
- 11.7k
45
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Is it true that all computer chess programs can be forced into a three-fold repetition draw?
What your friend is saying isn't "fake news", it's outright bull****. Of course computers can recognize 3-fold draws, in fact just about the first step of writing a new engine is to tell the engine ...
- 13.1k
39
votes
Checkmate but confused why
The queen is protected by the bishop on c5, i.e. the one on the dark square. Therefore you can't capture it. As the king has nowhere else to go, and no other piece can capture the queen or interpose, ...
- 29.6k
30
votes
Accepted
Is a pawn allowed to capture onto a promotion square?
No, this in incorrect. A pawn may capture and promote on the same move, there's no rule prohibiting this (§3.7 of the official rules regulate pawn moves, including captures and promotions).
With two ...
- 29.6k
29
votes
Can other pieces capture a threatening piece and prevent a checkmate?
This is called a double check. You're checked by both the pawn and the rook. Blocking, or capturing with a piece other than the king would only deal with one of those problems, so the only ways to ...
- 511
29
votes
Accepted
A tournament chess game with board sides reversed. Will it be considered valid?
Yes, the game is valid. The official rules don't say anything about coordinates alongside the board; as far as the rules are concerned, they don't exist.
A similar case, where the board is rotated by ...
- 29.6k
21
votes
Dominant strategy in chess
One of the following is true:
There is a dominant strategy for White.
There is a dominant strategy for Black.
There are strategies for both players that guarantee they don't lose, i.e. perfect play ...
- 11.1k
21
votes
Female world chess champion?
There's a correct list of World Champions (preceded by a list of players regarded as the world's strongest before the title existed) on Wikipedia. All of them are men, there hasn't been any woman ...
- 29.6k
21
votes
Accepted
Female world chess champion?
Yes there is a female world chess champion. Currently that person is Ju Wenjun, who won the most recent Women's World Chess Championship against Aleksandra Goryachkina.
If you're asking whether there ...
- 13.1k
20
votes
Is it true that all computer chess programs can be forced into a three-fold repetition draw?
Point 1 is the crucial one. Unless the coders have omitted the repetition rule altogether, then the bot will calculate its third repetition as leading to a draw. It may still choose it, but only when ...
- 533
17
votes
Is it true that all computer chess programs can be forced into a three-fold repetition draw?
It's possible that your friend has hit upon a sequence that works against a particular engine running at a particular difficulty. But this will almost certainly not generalize.
Engines can have ...
- 275
14
votes
Female world chess champion?
There has not yet been a female world champion in chess. According to Wikipedia, Judit Polgár is "generally considered the strongest female chess player of all time"; see the article for her ...
- 11.1k
13
votes
Why are Elo ratings for go higher than for chess?
There is no ELO rating in go. And even no official international rating at all. A common question in go forums is "how does my rating in [whatever country or online server] compare with [other country ...
- 1,061
12
votes
Accepted
In chess, what is the name for the tactics when a piece makes an attack by itself but also opens line(s) of attack for a friendly piece(s)?
The tactic in which one piece moves out of the way of a second so that the second can attack is called a discovered attack (and more specifically a discovered check if it results in check). The piece ...
- 478
12
votes
A tournament chess game with board sides reversed. Will it be considered valid?
Your question really boils down to this: what if you played a chess game exactly according to the rules in every way, but you gave the squares funny labels? Maybe they're labelled 0-63, or with roman ...
- 239
11
votes
Can a pawn be promoted to queen if the player is missing a knight, bishop or rook?
You can promote a pawn to any piece (other than a Pawn or King), regardless of how many of that piece is on the board. In theory, you could have nine Queens by the end of the game (unlikely, of course)...
- 648
11
votes
Using the King as an attacking piece
There was one very famous game, Spielmann vs. Tartakower, where Black kept his king in the center instead of castling, moved it forward on the 15th move, and again on the 21st move to reinforce his ...
- 21.8k
11
votes
Pawn movement in Chess?
Pawns cannot capture in a forward direction, even though they move that way. If they could, there would be no way of blocking them. E.g. 1. e4 e5. 2. e4xe5. So the pawn cannot capture the blocking ...
- 21.8k
11
votes
Accepted
A knight's movement
The move a Knight makes is typically called either a "Knight's move", or "L-Shaped".
There aren't really any more common names than those, as the Knight and it's move are both relatively unique, and ...
- 5,027
11
votes
Accepted
Does anyone know where this weird blue and green laughing chess set is from?
It's a "playmate" chess set by Umbra. UPC: 028295167055
- 10.8k
10
votes
Accepted
Are there any chess sets with more than 32 pieces?
The thing I know exists is a set with an extra queen each, so 34 pieces:
https://www.chessbazaar.com/tournament-series-staunton-chess-pieces-with-german-knight-in-sheesham-box-wood-3-7-king.html
...
- 134
10
votes
Can I capture threatening chess piece?
You're in check.
The black bishop on B7 is currently putting you in check, which means that you must stop that attack on your King.
Your only two legal moves at this time are
Qf3 - blocking the ...
- 4,550
9
votes
Why are Elo ratings for go higher than for chess?
There are three determining factors for how high the highest Elo rating for a given game will be:
Internal aspects of the rating system: First an foremost how the ratings are initialised. If you ...
9
votes
Pawn movement in Chess?
Pawns can only capture diagonally. If there is a piece directly in front of them, they cannot move forward into that space. This isn't any different if they are moving onto the 8th rank to be ...
- 73.9k
8
votes
Which player is responsible for completing a pawn promotion in tournament-level chess?
From the official laws of chess:
3.7.5.1 When a player, having the move, plays a pawn to the rank furthest from its starting position, he must exchange that pawn as part of the same move for a new ...
- 29.6k
7
votes
Why are Elo ratings for go higher than for chess?
The ELO system, as it was originally designed, has a mean of 1500 and a standard deviation of 400 points.
The central limit theorem defines how many people can exist by this model depending on their ...
- 319
7
votes
What is the purpose of castling in chess?
Castling is always an option - it is never forced upon a player. It is however a very commonly taken option as it:
places the king in an easily defended position
moves the rook towards the centre of ...
- 10.2k
7
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Help with the rules of checkmate
No, you may not ever move your king into a position in which it is threatened ("in check"). If you did, your opponent could just immediately capture your king, and you would lose.
Reference from the ...
- 2,640
7
votes
Accepted
In chess, if a player ran out of time, how to determine if his/her opponent has the 'possibility of checkmating'?
If in doubt of being able to by player B, player A now plays both sides towards a checkmate of his choice.
In your example, player A would be able to prove it if he comes to the said checkmate ...
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