Glossary · Chess
Escape square
A square the king could legally move to if it were attacked.
An escape square is one of the king’s legal exits: adjacent, not attacked by the opponent and not occupied by one of its own pieces. Mating patterns are read by counting these squares and by naming the pieces or pawns that take each one away. A king with no escape square is not yet mated, because it may still capture the checking piece or block the check.
edition v3.0 · 2026slug escape-squareFR Case de fuite
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