Check means the king is under attack. You cannot politely ignore it; the next move must solve the problem.

There are three exits: move the king, capture the attacker, or block the line. Sometimes only one door is open.

Checkmate means the king is attacked and nothing works. The game ends there. No need to actually capture the king; he got the memo.

Stalemate feels strange at first: not in check, but no legal move. Result: draw, even if one side had a huge advantage.

A game can be drawn by repetition, the 50-move rule, agreement, stalemate or insufficient material. Chess has its own way of saying: nobody gets through.

Resigning is not shameful. Sometimes it simply says: well played, let’s start a fresh one.