King 5: When to Check

Have you ever seen a check,

but wondered whether or not
you should play it?

This is one of the biggest
mistakes that ChessKids make,

and today, we're going to solve this
mystery once and for all!

I'm going to show you when to
make a check, and when to ignore it.

I know it seems like it's
halfway to checkmate, but

only the Masters know
when to give check.

Here, if you're White, you might be
considering the move Bb5+.

A lot of kids play this move.
Let's take a look at it.

If we play Bb5+,
what would Black do?

He's probably not
going to move his king.

He's probably going to block
with something.

And you know what?
If Black blocks with his bishop,

we're probably going to
end up taking that bishop.

And when Black takes back,
you know what just happened?

We just threw a move
in the trash can!

That's right! Our bishop moved twice,
his bishop moved once.

And since they're both
off the chessboard, it's like

giving one move
to our opponent for free.

Black is actually
caught up in development.

Black had another good option:

he could have also
blocked with his pawn,

and when he does that,
our bishop has to run away,

and we just gave Black
another free move!

Sure, this pawn move is not
a whole lot, but it is a freebie!

That pawn IS aiming at the center!

The Black queen DOES have
a new way to come out!

So, you don't want to go giving your
opponent free moves, do you?

No, I didn't think so!

Let's take a look now
at all the times in chess

that you SHOULD give check.

I can think of four examples.
#1...

#2...

#3...

and finally...

Don't believe me? Well,
stick around and I'll explain!

Let's take a look
at that first example.

Here, we're going to look at
the exact same check.

The bishop could still come all the
way up the board to this square b5.

But, you'll notice the difference:

Black no longer has
a pawn that can block,

nor does he have a
bishop that can block!

What's the only legal move for Black?

Well, unfortunately for him,
he's gotta block with his queen,

and by now you know the bishop is
worth way less than the queen--

this is a great trade for White.

So be on the lookout for checks
that win material by force!

Now, the second example,

which is very common
at the beginning of the game,

is to give a check if you
prevent your opponent from castling.

In this position, White has castled,
and Black has not.

But if we give Black one extra move,
his king is going to castle

behind that wall of pawns,
and he's going to feel safe.

But we're not going to
let him do that!

Notice the e-file has no pawns--
that's an open file.

Rooks and Queens love open files,

but I would say Rooks love them
even more than Queens!

Let's put the rook on the open file.

That actually prevents Black
from blocking with his queen.

If we had checked with our queen,
he could have offered a trade.

But because we checked with the
rook, Black would be really silly

to put his queen in the way--
we'd be very happy to capture.

And unfortunately, Black has
no other good way to block;

if he blocks with the knight, well...

I count two attackers,
and I only count one defender,

and we've already seen a video
explaining why 2 is better than 1!

So unfortunately for Black,

in this position he has
to move his king,

and he will no longer be allowed
to castle for the rest of the game.

That was a pretty useful check!

Now, I'm going to show you
an example of a check

that's going to save you
from losing material.

Let's give Black the next move.

Notice here White's
actually ahead by a knight,

but Black's about to
get that knight back!

The move pawn to d4
forks the rook and the knight!

Pretty cool chess move! But, if
you know about the power of check,

you'll be able to save
both of your pieces.

Why don't you pause your video
and see if you can figure out how

White can give check
to save all of his pieces?

Well, there's actually two answers!

Most of you probably saw Rg7+.

Now, we're not going to
win anything by this move;

it's just buying us time!

(Wouldn't that be cool
if you could buy time?!)

When the black king moves
somewhere, that gives us time

to now save our knight,

and White was able to save all of
his army; he's still ahead a knight.

There was one more example:

the knight could've also given check,
and when the king moves,

now you can save your rook!

Notice your knight's
actually in danger.

So you might want to move your
rook to a square like e5,

or even b3 would've worked,

and now your rook and your knight
are both safe!

So, sometimes you can give check
to buy yourself some time

to save your whole army!

And lastly...
this has nothing to do with check,

but a quick review:
we could've played Rd3;

that would've pinned the pawn,
and if he takes our knight,

we could've captured his rook.
So,

bonus points if you were
able to see that move, too.

And, in our final example,
I'm going to show you how

the power of check can
save you from losing the game.

Here, if it were Black's turn,
he would checkmate easily.

He's got a battery coming
down the a-file,

so notice the move
Qa1 is checkmate.

He can also do the queen-and-helper
checkmate--remember that one?

This time, the pawn
would be the helper.

But we're going
to make it White's move.

And if White checks
in just the right way,

he'll be able to save himself!

This check is the beginning

of a series of checks
that will save the game.

No matter which way the king goes,
we're going to bring the knight back

to give another check!

He's got to return,
because our rook is safe,

and we just keep giving check!

And there's a rule in chess that says

if you get in the same
position 3 times, it's a tie!

We'll cover that more
in a future video. But hey!

A tie is a lot better than losing!

Now, if he tries to run this way,
we're going to give check again,

and notice if he goes back to f8,

it will actually be the
3rd occurrence of the position;

it will be a draw!

If he tries to go to the corner
to get away,

well, that would be
really sad for Black,

because now, for the first time all
video, we get to play a checkmate!

All right, kids. I hope our ideas are
going to help you learn

whether or not to
play a check in your games.

Review this one, because this
is a super important idea

that comes up many times a game.

Know when to give check!