{"schema":"chessgrammar_motif_entry/1","slug":"double-check","name":"Double Check","aka":"double attack on the king","category":{"key":"check","label":"Compound checks"},"edition":{"version":"v3.0","year":"2026"},"certified":false,"canonical":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/double-check","tabs":{"identity":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/double-check#identity","structure":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/double-check#structure","examples":"https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/double-check#examples"},"citation":"ChessGrammar (2026). Double Check. In: ChessGrammar: A reference for chess concepts, Tactics grammar, edition v3.0. Entry cg:double_check@1. https://chessgrammar.com/motifs/tactics/double-check","variants":["cross_check","en_passant","knight","pawn","with_capture"],"seeAlso":["discovered-attack","fork","smothered-mate"],"definition":{"id":"cg:double_check@1","statement":"A move after which the enemy king is attacked by two or more pieces at once.","predicate":["After the move, the enemy king is attacked by two or more pieces of the side that just moved.","As a consequence, the only way to answer a double check is to move the king. Capturing one checker or blocking one line still leaves the other check unanswered."],"diagnosis":"Double Check differs from a discovered check by the number of checking pieces after the move, at least two instead of one. In the counter-example shown here, only the revealed bishop checks, so the position is a discovered check, not a double check.","maturity":{"state":"stable"},"holotype":{"fen":"6k1/8/4R3/8/2B5/8/8/1K6 w - - 0 1","move":"e6g6","san":"Rg6+","mover":"e6","unmasked":"c4","king":"g8","why":"The rook on e6 stands on its own bishop's diagonal. A rook does not attack diagonally, so there is no check yet. It moves to g6 and checks down the g-file, and leaving e6 also opens the bishop's diagonal check. One move gives two checks on two different lines. It is a double check with no other variant."},"nearMiss":{"fen":"6k1/8/4R3/8/2B5/8/8/1K6 w - - 0 1","move":"e6e1","san":"Re1+","mover":"e6","unmasked":"c4","king":"g8","delta":"the rook's destination changes from g6 to e1. It still leaves e6 and the bishop's diagonal still opens, but it no longer lands on a square that itself attacks g8","why":"Without the rook's own check, only the bishop checks. This is a single, plain discovered check and not a double check. The shape is that of a Discovered Check alone, in which the piece leaves the line and the slider behind it alone checks the king. It does not count as a realised discovered attack either. The black king has a free escape on h8 that loses no material and does not walk into mate, so the check gains nothing against best defence. Neither motif is realised here.","neighbour":"none"},"nearMissPending":null,"standing":{"certified":true,"scope":"definition"}},"axes":[{"key":"mover","name":"What piece delivers the mover's own direct check","values":["knight","pawn","en_passant"],"nature":"facts","exclusive":[["knight","pawn"]],"note":"Two values apply when the piece landing on the checking square is a knight or pawn and is itself one of the two checkers, while the second checker is a sliding piece revealed by the same move. A further value applies when the trigger is an en-passant capture that results in double check -- internally it also marks the pawn value whenever the capturing pawn is itself a checker, but only the en-passant value is published, since it is a more specific fact about the same moving piece, not a competing value. The complementary case -- the checking mover is a sliding piece, or a king move resolving an interposition, or no piece lands on a checking square at all -- carries no value of its own: it is the silent default on this axis."},{"key":"reply","name":"Whether the double check is itself the answer to a prior check","values":["cross_check"],"nature":"facts","note":"Cross-check means the moving side was in check before the move and its legal reply both resolves that check and delivers a double check. The complementary case has no dedicated label and remains the silent default. This axis is independent of the moving piece's type."},{"key":"mechanism","name":"Whether the double-checking move is itself a capture","values":["with_capture"],"nature":"facts","note":"This value applies when the trigger move is a capture, including en passant. A fact about the move's mechanism, independent of which piece arrives and of whether the mover's own side was already in check: it stacks with every other value in this file instead of competing with any of them. The complementary case -- a quiet double check -- has no value of its own: it is the silent default, exactly as on the other two axes. One structural implication runs into this axis: the en-passant value on the mover axis always implies this one, since an en-passant move is a capture by definition; nothing implies the reverse."}],"summary":"Two pieces give check at once, so the king must move, because nothing else can answer both checks."}