How the king moves

One square at a time, in any direction. The king is the slowest piece on the board and the only one you cannot afford to lose, and two extra rules shape everything he does.

One square at a time
Never into check
Castling is the exception

One square, any direction: up, down, sideways or diagonally. That is the move. There is one exception, castling, where he travels two squares and a rook jumps over him, and it is the only time in chess that two pieces move at once.

Eight squares, one step each

A king in the middle of an empty board covers eight squares, the same eight a knight would reach and much closer to home.

He may not move into check

A king can never move to a square that an enemy piece attacks. That is not a guideline you should follow, it is a move the rules do not contain: the engine will not generate it and an opponent is entitled to make you take it back.

The same rule stops you moving any piece that is shielding your king from a line, and it is why a pinned piece cannot legally move even when it looks like it can. What happens when the king is attacked and cannot get out is checkmate. What happens when he is not attacked and still has no legal move is stalemate, and it is a draw.

The two kings can never touch

Three squares the rules delete

White to move. The king on d3 has five legal moves, not eight: c4, d4 and e4 are all next to the black king, so all three are off the list. The engine computed the dots.

This follows from the rule above rather than being a separate one. Moving next to the enemy king would be moving into a square he attacks. It matters far more than it sounds, because it is the mechanism behind the opposition, which is how king and pawn endgames are actually won.

The king is a strong endgame piece

Keep him tucked away while queens and rooks are on the board, and then, once most of the pieces are traded, walk him straight into the middle. In an endgame the king is worth roughly a knight and a bit as an attacker, and the player whose king reaches the action first usually wins the pawns.

The switch from hiding to marching is one of the hardest habits to build, and it is worth more rating points than any opening.

He cannot be captured, and he is never taken off the board

Chess does not end with the king being captured. It ends one move earlier, at checkmate, when there is no legal move that would prevent it. The distinction matters for stalemate: a player with no legal moves and no check has not lost, and the game is a draw.

Black to move. A king who has run out of shelter. Punish it.

Show the answer

25.Bh2 25...Rd1+ 26.Rxd1 26...Rxd1+ 27.Rf1 27...Rxf1#

The line ends in checkmate. The position is from a real game on Lichess, rated 790 in their puzzle pool, and it is one of the positions in the Kingside Attack skill in the trainer.

Questions people ask

Can the king take pieces in chess?

Yes, any adjacent enemy piece, as long as that piece is not defended. A king capturing a defended piece would be moving into check, which is illegal, so the practical rule is that a king can only take something nobody is guarding.

Can two kings be next to each other?

No. Neither king may move to a square adjacent to the other, because every square next to a king is a square that king attacks. It means the two kings can never touch, and it is the whole basis of the opposition in pawn endgames.

Can the king move two squares?

Only when castling, which is the one move where he travels two squares sideways and the rook hops over to the other side of him. Every other king move in chess is exactly one square.

What happens if you have to move and only the king can move into check?

Then you have no legal move at all. If you are in check that is checkmate and you have lost. If you are not in check it is stalemate and the game is drawn, which is why a losing player will sometimes give away every piece they own on purpose.

King sits under How the pieces move in the reference. Nearby: