Many beginners try to check the king immediately but forget one of the most important ideas in chess — removing the king’s escape squares.

In this lesson from the Targeting the King series, students learn how strong attacks are built by first restricting the king’s movement before delivering checkmate.

Using the ChessHeroes training method, the opponent’s pieces are frozen and do not move or defend.
This allows students to focus completely on the key objective: controlling the squares around the king.

In this lesson, students learn how to:

• understand why escape squares must be removed first
• identify the squares the king can still run to
• use attacking pieces to control those squares
• build a clear mating net before giving the final check

This exercise teaches beginners how to create stronger attacks and recognize when the king is truly trapped.

Targeting the King is part of the ChessHeroes training system, where players improve by solving structured chess challenges instead of relying only on traditional gameplay.