White moved his rook to e8, inflicting checkmate to the black king. The game is over.

Checkmate occurs when a king that is in check cannot move out of check, block the check with other pieces, or capture the checking piece. It signifies the end of the game. The checkmate is the primary and the only aim in a chess game. However, checkmate rarely occurs, because in the most games a player resigns before that happens, or a draw is agreed.

Checkmate is different from Stalemate, where the king is NOT in check but cannot legally move either his King or any of his other pieces.

Basic CheckmatesEdit

Mating with two rooksEdit

Mating with two rooks.

This checkmate is very simple to deliver. The key position is shown at right. While the rook in g5 checks the king, the rook in h4 forces him to move towards the edge of the board. Then the sequence is continued with Rh6+, Rg7+ ext. Obiviously rotated or reversed schemes allow anyway to checkmate.

Mating with Queen and King together vs KingEdit

The basic idea is to force the opposing King into the corner by placing the queen just near enough to the opposing king to restrict his movement to either moving staying within two squares diagonal to each other (eg. If the queen is on e4, and the opposing king on g3, it can only move between g3 and f2 without moving closer to the corner), and then moving his own king to force the opposing king further into the corner. At this point, care must be taken not to stalemate the king, as it is very easy to do this in this position. Finally, when the king is at the side or at the corner, the kings should be maneuvered such that the are directly opposite each other while it is his turn to move, again taking care not to create a stalemate position. Then, a simple checkmate can be played by checking the opposing king using the Queen on a vertical level.