Check, Checkmate and Stalemate

If a king is under attack, but none of these methods can be used to prevent the king’s capture, the result is a checkmate. In the above diagram, the white king is under attack from the black rook on a1. There are no safe squares for the king to move to, and white has no pieces with which to block the check or capture the attacker. White’s king is checkmated, and black wins the game.

It is important to note that checkmate ends the game immediately. It is neither necessary nor correct to capture the checkmated king.