Double Check in Chess: Two Checks at Once
A double check is the most forcing move in chess. It always grows out of a discovered check: the piece that moves gives check, and so does the piece it uncovers.
Step 1 of 4
Two checks at once
The white knight has just jumped from e4 to f6. It checks the king on e8, and by leaving the e-file it also uncovered a check from the rook on e1. That is a double check.
Only the king can move
What can Black do about the double check?
Mate with a double check
Your rook on e1 and the black king face each other on the e-file, with only your knight on e4 between them. Every knight move gives check from the rook. Find the one where the knight gives check too: then it doesn't matter that Black could otherwise take the knight.
Your move
Checkmate in one move with a double check.
Réti's finish
Réti against Tartakower, Vienna 1910. White mates in three, starting with a queen sacrifice: check on d8, and the king has to take. Then the bishop on d2 leaves the d-file with a double check, from itself and from the rook on d1. If the king goes to c7, the bishop mates on d8; if it goes to e8, the rook does.
Your move
Checkmate in three moves.
What you learned
- A double check is two checks at once, from the piece that moved and the piece it uncovered.
- Blocking or capturing can't answer it. Only a king move can.
- That makes a double check deadly when the king has few squares, even if one checker is left hanging.
In this course
Unit 1The pieces
Unit 2Special moves
Unit 3Winning the game
Unit 4Your first tactics
Unit 5Checkmate patterns
Unit 6More tactics
- Discovered Attack in Chess: Unmask a Hidden Attacker
- Double Check in Chess: Two Checks at Once
- Removing the Defender in Chess: Take the Guard
Unit 7Opening principles
Take it to the table.
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