Check (chess)

Okay kiddo, do you know what chess is? It's a board game where two players move little pieces around on a square board to try and capture the other player's king. Each piece moves in a different way, like a knight moves in an L shape and a queen can move in any direction.

Now, sometimes when you move a piece, it might attack the other player's piece, and this is called a check. If a player's king is in check, that means it's being attacked by one of the other player's pieces – and if that king is not moved to safety, it could be captured, and that means the other player wins.

So when you hear somebody say "check" in a game of chess, it means that the other player needs to move their king to safety or block the attack in some way, otherwise they might lose the game. It's like a warning signal, telling you that you need to be careful with your moves or else you might be in trouble.

Does that make sense, kid?