Flight square

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Flight squares are marked with an X.

In chess, a flight square or escape square is a safe square to which a king or other piece can move if it is threatened. A bishop sometimes begins to get hemmed in after the Morphy Defence is used, and c2–c3 may be used to create an extra escape square.

One way to get a king out of check is to move to a flight square on the next move. The other ways to get out of check are to capture the checking piece or to interpose a piece to block the check. If the checked king has no flight square and there is no other way to get out of check, it is checkmate.

One way to win material from an opponent (i.e., end up with more pieces or more valuable pieces left on the board) is to dominate a piece by removing all of its flight squares (through attacking or occupying them), then threatening to capture it.

See also

• Luft

References

Bibliography

• Brace, Edward R. (1977), An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, ISBN 1-55521-394-4
• Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1996) [First pub. 1992]. The Oxford Companion to Chess (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-280049-3.