Introduction
A check is the result of a move that places the opposing king under an immediate threat of capture by one (or sometimes two) of the player's pieces. (In some chess variants, check by more than two pieces is possible.) Making a move that checks is sometimes called "giving check". If the king is in check and the checked player has no legal move to get his king out of check, the king is checkmated and the game is over: The player whose king is checkmated loses and his opponent wins the game.
It is against the rules to make a move that puts or leaves a player's own king in check. Such a move is illegal and must be retracted (except under some rules variations of fast chess). A king cannot itself directly check the opposing king, since this would place the first king in check. (All other types of pieces can check.) However a move of the king can expose the opposing king to a discovered check.
Announcing "check" to the opponent after playing a move that gives check, is optional.
Read more about this topic: Check (chess)
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