The King

Your king is your most valuable piece on the board!

Unlike all your other pieces, which can be captured by your opponent and removed from the board, your opponent may not capture and remove your king - so you will always have a king. That's the good news!

The bad news, however, is that your opponent will still attack your king, because if your king is being attacked and you cannot stop it from being attacked, then you lose the game! Of course, if you attack your opponent's king and your opponent cannot take the king out of attack, then you win the game!

In fact, your main objective in playing a game of chess is to checkmate your opponent's king

Therefore, you will take special care when playing a game of chess to look after your king and to use your other pieces to provide protection to your king. Fortunately, your king is also well able to look after itself, it is very mobile and can capture enemy pieces just like all your other pieces.

So, let's take a look at how you are allowed to move your king...