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Chess Moment · Learn · Lesson 4

Checks, captures and threats in chess

The scan to run before every move: your checks, your captures, their threats.

4 min · 4 steps

Study the positions and explanations, then test your understanding with the questions. To practise making the moves yourself, open the lesson in the app.

Step 1 · Your checks and captures

White to move

FEN: r1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p2Q/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR w KQkq - 4 4

Before moving, check the opponent’s threats, then compare your checks, captures and threats.

Three queen captures are possible. Which one is checkmate?

Quick check

  • Queen takes e5
  • Queen takes f7
  • Queen takes h7

Show the correct answer

Correct answer: Queen takes f7 — Yes. Queen takes f7 is check, the king cannot take back because your bishop on c4 guards f7, and nothing can block or capture. Checkmate.

  • Queen takes e5 — Check, yes — but the knight on c6 simply takes your queen on e5.
  • Queen takes h7 — The queen takes a pawn on h7, but the rook on h8 takes her right back. A capture is only good if you count what comes next.

Step 2 · Play it

White to move

Explore the moves

Starting position

Read the full continuation
  1. 4.Qxf7# — Checkmate. The king cannot capture on f7 — your bishop on c4 guards it — and a check from next door cannot be blocked.
FENr1bqkb1r/pppp1ppp/2n2n2/4p2Q/2B1P3/8/PPPP1PPP/RNB1K1NR w KQkq - 4 4

Queen takes f7.

The move: Qh5xf7

Common mistake: The game is not over. Queen takes f7 is mate: the bishop on c4 guards the queen.

Step 3 · Their threats

White to move

FEN: rnb1k1nr/pppp1ppp/8/2b1p3/4P2q/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4

Now the other half of the scan: what does your opponent want to do next move? Black's queen on h4 and bishop on c5 both look at your side of the board.

What is Black threatening?

Quick check

  • Queen takes h2
  • Queen takes f2 — checkmate
  • Queen takes e4 — a pawn, with check

Show the correct answer

Correct answer: Queen takes f2 — checkmate — Right. Only your king defends f2, and the bishop on c5 covers f2 too — so the king could not take back. That is mate next move unless you act.

  • Queen takes h2 — Queen takes h2 costs Black the queen: the rook on h1 takes her back. Look at the square your king alone protects.
  • Queen takes e4 — a pawn, with check — True, that is a threat too — but a pawn is small. Always find the biggest threat first: the one against your king.

Step 4 · Stop the mate

White to move

Explore the moves

Starting position

Read the full continuation
  1. 4.Qe2 — f2 is covered now, and e4 is still guarded. If the queen took on f2 she would be captured — the threat is gone.
FENrnb1k1nr/pppp1ppp/8/2b1p3/4P2q/8/PPPP1PPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 4

Defend f2 with your queen, and make sure the defence leaves nothing else loose.

The move: Qd1-e2

Common mistake: Black can still take on f2 with check. Defend f2 with the queen: to e2 or to f3.

What you learned

Before moving, check the opponent’s threats, then compare your checks, captures and threats.

Practise this idea

Put this lesson into practice with these puzzles from the public-domain collection.