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In games such as chess, shogi and xiangqi, a check is an immediate threat to capture the king. A king so threatened is said to be in check. Either the threat must be stopped (by interposing a piece between the threatening piece and the king) or the king must be moved to a space where he is no longer in check. In chess, if the king is in check and the threat cannot be stopped by interposing a piece, and the king cannot be moved without placing him back into check at the new location (or the king cannot be moved), the king is said to be checkmated and the game is over. In chess, when a check is answered by a check, particularly when this second check is delivered by a piece blocking the first, it is termed a cross-check. In this usage, the words "check" and "chess" come via Arabic from Persian shāh = "king".
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