Short Answer: The king moves one square at a time for the forward, backward, left, right, and diagonal directions.
The main goal of the entire chess game depends on the king. Always the players should ensure the protection of the king while trying to trap the opponent’s king. In order to satisfy both the above necessities, a player must be more and more familiar with the moves of the king.
How to Identity King and How does King Move in Chess?
The king can be easily identified with the cross sign on the top of the piece and this is the tallest piece over the other pieces. Though the king is the most important piece of the game, it holds a very weak pattern of moving.
As per the initial regulations of the game, the king is only capable to move one square at a time in any direction. In any case other than the presence of the king in the first and the eighth rows there are eight squares around the king.
The king can move for any of above-mentioned squares as one square per time. If described in the simplest form, the king can move one square at a time for the forward, backward, left, right, and diagonal directions.
The situation when the king is attacked by the enemy force is called a “Check”. Because of the weak movements of the king, once if he gets trapped by the opponent he cannot escape quickly. The only survival and the hope for the king for these kinds of scenarios is the front defense line which is often called the “loyal army” in the game.
Considering the possible ways of escaping the king from a check, it can happen in three ways such as, capturing the pieces which have cause a check, Blocking the check with a piece of your own, or moving the king to another position. But the last point of the above is not much efficient due to the moves of the king. Always remember! King can move only one square at a time.
Is King able to Capture Pieces?
As same as the other pieces on the board, the action of capturing a piece can be performed by the king. Since the king can move only one square at a time, the capturing also processes in the same mechanism. The enemy piece can be captured by the king only if it is in the immediate next square. Furthermore, capturing with the king can be done in the same way that he moves.
Special Moves of the King
In the regular conditions of the moves of the king, it is permitted to move only one square and considering the entire chess game, only one piece can be moved at a time. But there is a movement that deviates from the moves mentioned above, which is often known as “Castling”. Perhaps, you might be already familiar with castling as a rule.
Castling is a rule which provides more security to the king by changing the positions of both the king and rook. This is the only time that the king can move more than one square at a time and the rule should be applied in certain conditions.