The King

The King is the leader of your chess army, and this is a very important job! In fact, the King is the most important chess piece. The King is an old man with a long white beard. He has back problems, and likes to carry around a walking stick. The King is valuable, but he isn't very fast - he is actually the slowest chess piece on the chessboard. The white and black kings are located at squares e1 and e8 - as illustrated in the diagram.

Starting Position

The King can move in any direction, but only one step at a time. Since walking is such hard work, and the King is so very important, he likes to sit back and relax behind his castle walls while the other pieces do the work of fighting his wars for him. Though he is slow, don't ever forget that if you lose your King (get checkmated) you lose the game!

How it Moves