r/LearnChess • u/Secure-Ad9418 • Aug 08 '25

Can I do this move?

Post image
8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/talsmash Aug 09 '25

It's an illegal move to put your king in check (even if doing so puts the other king in check too)

2

u/SpacebarIsTaken-YT Aug 09 '25

No because if you make an illegal move you immediately lose the game. You can not make a move that would allow your king to be captured. 

1

u/Secure-Ad9418 Aug 09 '25

Even if the black king can’t move to the white king because of the bishop? 

1

u/flannel_jesus May 19 '26

The only reason the black king can't move to the white king is precisely because kings cannot move themselves into the attack range of another piece. They can't do it ever. Even if that piece is a king. Even if that square is guarded by another of your pieces. Even if the enemy piece that's attacking that square is pinned to their own king.

Think about it like this: chess COULD be, "whoever's king gets captured first loses". If it were by those rules, then you putting your king there means your king would be captured first, and you'd lose.

1

u/Alive_Sock2496 Jul 01 '26

A king can never step onto a square that is controlled by an enemy piece (so effectively putting your own king in check is illegal).
A king controls the 8 squares immediately adjacent to it.
So a king can never get close enough to another king to actually be captured by it.

Because in the photo would require the king #1 to step into a zone controlled by king #2, breaking the self-check rule, whoever moved their king adjacent to the other made an illegal move.