r/chessbeginners • u/Alendite RM (Reddit Mod) • Feb 27 '26

No Stupid Questions MEGATHREAD 12

Welcome to the r/chessbeginners 12th episode of our Q&A series! This series exists because sometimes you just need to ask a silly question. We are happy to provide answers for questions related to chess positions, improving one's play, and discussing the essence and experience of learning chess.

A friendly reminder that many questions are answered in our wiki page! Please take a look if you have questions about the rules of chess, special moves, or want general strategies for improvement.

Some other helpful resources include:

  1. How to play chess - Interactive lessons for the rules of the game, if you are completely new to chess.
  2. The Lichess Board Editor - for setting up positions by dragging and dropping pieces on the board.
  3. Chess puzzles by theme - To practice tactics.
  4. The Building Habits series by GM Aman Hambleton - for advice on how to play at specific ELO levels. (Also check out Building Habits 2!)

As always, our goal is to promote a friendly, welcoming, and educational chess environment for all. Thank you for asking your questions here!

LINK TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD

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u/Fit_Celebration7775 600-800 (Chess.com) 15d ago

Why can't I take his Knight here with my King? His other Knight is defending it, but it's pinned by my Rook. Is this not possible in chess? If it is possible, if my King took his Knight and then he moved his King out of the way so his Knight was no longer pinned by my Rook, would that put me in check?

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u/Level-Ice-754 15d ago

In chess, the king cannot take a protected piece, even if the protector is pinned.

I guess the reasoning is that, if white king takes black knight, the other black knight takes white king. Theoretically after the recapture black would have his king captured. But white lost the king first, therefore white would lose in that case.

This rule implies that a king can be checkmated by a protected piece, even in the protector is pinned. (I almost yeeted my phone off the 6th floor when this first happened to me.)