The path between the king and rook must be clear (no pieces can block them).For the king, it must be the first move.For the rook, it must be the first move.However, to be able to castle, the following conditions must be fulfilled: You can move the king two squares to one side and then shift the rook right next to the king on the opposite side. Move your rook out of the corner and into the middle of the game.Castling allows you to do two important things: This special rule applies to the king and the rook. Castling (Special King Move)Ĭastling is a special movethat can only be done once in a game and involves moving the Rook and the King for the King’s protection. It’s checkmate because the checking piece cannot be taken, the check cannot be blocked and none of the squares that the white King could move to are safe. Here the white King cannot escape from the black Queen and so the game is over. The word checkmate comes from the Persian word shah mata which means the “King is dead”. If you cannot escape from check using any of the three escape methods, then you are in checkmate and the game is over.

In this case, the best move for white is to capture the black rook and draw the game. Move your King out of the way and out of check.Block the check by putting one of your pieces between the checking piece and the King.There are three ways to escape your King from check: Here the black Rook is attacking the white King: The King can never stay on or move to a square where he could be captured by an enemy piece. When the King is attacked by an enemy piece we say that he is in check.

Queen and king moves in chess