Editing King (chess) (section)

==Status in games==

===Check and checkmate===
{{Main|Check (chess)|Checkmate}}
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| Black's king cannot move to squares under attack by the white bishop, knight, queen, or pawn. Since White is checking Black, and Black can neither move, capture the checking piece, nor block the check, Black is checkmated.
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A king that is under attack is said to be ''in [[check (chess)|check]]'', and the player in check must immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible ways to remove the king from check:
*The king is moved to an adjacent non-threatened square. A player may not castle to get their king out of check. A king can capture an adjacent enemy piece if that piece is not protected by another enemy piece.
*A piece is interposed between the king and the attacking piece to break the line of threat (not possible when the checking piece is a [[knight (chess)|knight]] or [[pawn (chess)|pawn]], or when in [[double check]]).
*The attacking piece is captured (not possible when in double check, unless the king captures).

If none of the three options are available, the player's king has been ''[[checkmate|checkmated]]'', and the player loses the game.

In casual games, when placing the opponent's king in check, it is common to announce this by saying "check", but this is not required by the rules of chess. In tournament games, it is not usual to announce check; competent players are expected to know when they are in check.
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===Stalemate===
{{Main|Stalemate}}
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| White to move: White cannot move legally because of the black queen and king. Since the king may not move into check, White is stalemated.
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A stalemate occurs when a player, on their turn, has no legal moves, and the player's king is not in check.

If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated, and the game ends in a [[draw (chess)|draw]]. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often, in order to avoid a loss, try to entice the opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate (see [[Swindle (chess)|swindle]]).
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