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In chess and other related games, a double check is a check delivered by two pieces simultaneously. [1] [2] In chess notation, it is almost always represented the same way as a single check ("+"), but is sometimes symbolized by "++". (The symbol "++", however, is also sometimes used to denote checkmate. [3] ) This article uses "++" for double check and "#" for checkmate.
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The most common form of double check involves one piece moving to deliver check and revealing a discovered check at the same time from a piece it had been blocking. The only possible reply to a double check is a king move, as it is impossible to block or capture both checking pieces at once.
In exceptional circumstances, it is possible for the moved piece in a double check to not give check. The only way for this to happen in orthodox chess is by way of an en passant capture. In the position shown from Gundersen–Faul, 1928, Black has just played 14...g7–g5. White replies 15.hxg6 e.p.#. The result is a double check even though the white pawn does not give check: one check is given by the rook, discovered by the capturing pawn's move; the other by the bishop, revealed by the captured pawn's removal. Such a double check is extremely rare in practical play, but it is sometimes found in chess problems.
A double check is a part of the smothered mate pattern known as Philidor's legacy.
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Aron Nimzowitsch wrote, "Even the laziest king flees wildly in the face of a double check." [4] Because the only possible response to a double check is a king move, the double check is often an important tactical motif. [1] A famous example is Réti–Tartakower, Vienna 1910, which arose after:
Réti sacrifices a queen in order to set up a double check.
White mates after 10...Ke8 11.Rd8# or 10...Kc7 11.Bd8#. [5]
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A double check was also seen in the celebrated Evergreen Game, Anderssen–Dufresne, 1852. [2] Anderssen won with:
A queen sacrifice to set up a deadly double check.
Or 22...Kc6 23.Bd7#.
With moas (shown as inverted knights) and grasshopper (shown as inverted queen). After Black moves his pawn to d5, taking it en passant results in quintuple check. |
With nightrider (shown as inverted knight). After Black moves his pawn to e5, taking it en passant results in triple check. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In chess with variant rules or fairy pieces, other ways of delivering a double check may be possible. Triple, quadruple and even quintuple checks may also be possible.
For example, in the position shown to the left, after Black plays 1...d5 to remove the check from the bishop on c4, White plays 2.exd6e.p.+++++. After the en passant capture, five pieces check the black king: both moas (the moa is a non-leaping knight which first takes a diagonal step, then an orthogonal one), the rook, the grasshopper (the grasshopper captures by leaping over an intervening piece) and the bishop. Black would now be obliged to escape the check and play one of either 2...Kxd6, to recapture the white pawn right away, or passively evade the checks from the grasshopper and the bishop by playing 2...Kd7 or 2...Kf6.
Another example is shown with the position shown on the right, after Black plays 1...e5 to remove the check from the nightrider on d3, White plays 2. fxe6e.p.+++. After the en passant capture, three pieces check the black king: the pawn, the nightrider, and the rook. Black would now be obliged to escape the check by recapturing the pawn with 2...Kxe6 or passively evading the check from the rook without capturing by playing one of either 2...Ke7, 2...Ke8, 2...Kg6, 2...Kg7, or 2...Kg8.
In xiangqi, the Chinese version of chess, triple check and even quadruple check are possible, as in the following examples. In janggi (Korean chess), even quintuple and sextuple check are possible as well.
Triple check: Red moved his horse from e5 to d7, giving check and exposing a double check from the chariot and cannon. | Quadruple check: Red moved his chariot from f9 to e9, uncovering two checks from the horses, giving a check of its own, and making a platform for the cannon at e7 to give yet another check. In janggi, using the same pieces and adding two elephants that both attack the general through the chariot's square allows a sextuple check. |
In chess, a fork is a tactic in which a piece attacks multiple enemy pieces simultaneously. The attacker usually aims to capture one of the forked pieces. The defender often cannot counter every threat. A fork is most effective when it is forcing, such as when the king is put in check. A fork is a type of double attack.
Descriptive notation is a chess notation system based on abbreviated natural language. Its distinctive features are that it refers to files by the piece that occupies the back rank square in the starting position and that it describes each square two ways depending on whether it is from White or Black's point of view. It was common in English, Spanish and French chess literature until about 1980. In most other languages, the more concise algebraic notation was in use. Since 1981, FIDE no longer recognizes descriptive notation for the purposes of dispute resolution, and algebraic notation is now the accepted international standard.
This glossary of chess explains commonly used terms in chess, in alphabetical order. Some of these terms have their own pages, like fork and pin. For a list of unorthodox chess pieces, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms specific to chess problems, see Glossary of chess problems; for a list of named opening lines, see List of chess openings; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants; for a list of terms general to board games, see Glossary of board games.
Alice chess is a chess variant invented in 1953 by V. R. Parton which employs two chessboards rather than one, and a slight alteration to the standard rules of chess. The game is named after the main character "Alice" in Lewis Carroll's work Through the Looking-Glass, where transport through the mirror into an alternative world is portrayed on the chessboards by the after-move transfer of chess pieces between boards A and B.
A fairy chess piece, variant chess piece, unorthodox chess piece, or heterodox chess piece is a chess piece not used in conventional chess but incorporated into certain chess variants and some chess problems. Compared to conventional pieces, fairy pieces vary mostly in the way they move, but they may also follow special rules for capturing, promotions, etc. Because of the distributed and uncoordinated nature of unorthodox chess development, the same piece can have different names, and different pieces can have the same name in various contexts as it can be noted in the list of fairy chess pieces.
Madrasi chess is a chess variant invented in 1979 by Abdul Jabbar Karwatkar. The game uses the conventional rules of chess with the addition that when a piece is attacked by a piece of the same type but opposite colour it is paralysed and becomes unable to move, capture or give check.
The Immortal Game was a chess game played in 1851 by Adolf Anderssen and Lionel Kieseritzky. It was played while the London 1851 chess tournament was in progress, an event in which both players participated. The Immortal Game was itself a casual game, however, not played as part of the tournament. Anderssen won the game by allowing a double rook sacrifice, a major loss of material, while also developing a mating attack with his remaining minor pieces. Despite losing the game, Kieseritzky was impressed with Anderssen's performance. Shortly after it was played, Kieseritzky published the game in La Régence, a French chess journal which he helped to edit. In 1855, Ernst Falkbeer published an analysis of the game, describing it for the first time with its sobriquet "immortal".
The Evergreen Game is a famous chess game won by Adolf Anderssen against Jean Dufresne in 1852.
Siegbert Tarrasch was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century.
The zwischenzug is a chess tactic in which a player, instead of playing the expected move, first interposes another move posing an immediate threat that the opponent must answer, and only then plays the expected move. It is a move that has a high degree of "initiative". Ideally, the zwischenzug changes the situation to the player's advantage, such as by gaining material or avoiding what would otherwise be a strong continuation for the opponent.
In chess, en passant describes the capture by a pawn of an enemy pawn on the same rank and an adjacent file that has just made an initial two-square advance. The capturing pawn moves to the square that the enemy pawn passed over, as if the enemy pawn had advanced only one square. The rule ensures that a pawn cannot use its two-square move to safely skip past an enemy pawn.
Hypermodernism is a school of chess that emerged after World War I. It featured challenges to the chess ideas of central European masters, including Wilhelm Steinitz's approach to the centre and the rules established by Siegbert Tarrasch.
Kriegspiel is a chess variant invented by Henry Michael Temple in 1899 and based upon the original Kriegsspiel developed by Georg von Reiswitz in 1812. In this game, each player can see their own pieces but not those of their opponent. For this reason, it is necessary to have a third person act as an umpire, with full information about the progress of the game. Players attempt to move on their turns, and the umpire declares their attempts 'legal' or 'illegal'. If the move is illegal, the player tries again; if it is legal, that move stands. Each player is given information about checks and captures. They may also ask the umpire if there are any legal captures with a pawn. Since the position of the opponent's pieces is unknown, Kriegspiel is a game of imperfect information.
In chess, a queen sacrifice is a move that sacrifices a queen, the most powerful piece, in return for some compensation, such as a tactical or positional advantage.
In chess, a desperado is a piece that is either en prise or trapped, but captures an enemy piece before it is itself captured in order to compensate the loss a little, or is used as a sacrifice that will result in stalemate if it is captured. The former case can arise in a situation where both sides have hanging pieces, in which case these pieces are used to win material prior to being captured. A desperado in the latter case is usually a rook or a queen; such a piece is sometimes also called crazy or mad.
The Falkbeer Countergambit is a chess opening that begins:
The nightrider, alternatively spelled knightrider and also known as the knightmare or unicorn, is a fairy chess piece that can move any number of steps as a knight in the same direction. The nightrider is often represented by an altered version of the knight's icon. In this article, the nightrider is represented by an inverted knight and notated as N; the knight is abbreviated as S for the German name Springer.
In chess, several checkmate patterns occur frequently enough to have acquired specific names in chess commentary. By definition, a checkmate pattern is a recognizable/particular/studied arrangements of pieces that delivers checkmate. The diagrams that follow show these checkmates with White checkmating Black.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to chess:
Wolf chess is a chess variant invented by Dr. Arno von Wilpert in 1943. It is played on an 8×10 chessboard and employs several fairy pieces including wolf and fox – compound pieces popular in chess variants and known by different names.
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