Checkmate Meaning Shah Mat

In chess the king is never captured the player loses as soon as their king is checkmated.

Checkmate meaning shah mat.

The term shah mat checkmate means literally the king is frozen. Checkmate often shortened to mate is a game position in chess and other chess like games in which a player s king is in check threatened with capture and there is no way to avoid the threat checkmating the opponent wins the game. Others maintain that it means the king is dead as chess reached europe via the islamic world and arabic māta means died or is dead. The poet firdausi responsible for versifying the persian epic poem the shahnama discussed the game and its origins in the epic.

Checkmate n mid 14c in chess said of a king when it is in check and cannot escape it from old french eschec mat modern french échec et mat which with spanish jaque y mate italian scacco matto is from arabic shah mat the king died see check n 1 which according to barnhart is a misinterpretation of persian mat be astonished as mata to die mat he is dead. The terminology of modern chess has persian etymological roots. From chekmat from eschec mat from shah mat the king is ambushed or the king is conquered. In formal games most players resign an inevitably lost game before.