What Happens To The King After He Is Checkmated?

The entire game of chess revolves around checkmating the king. For centuries, people have been studying the noble pursuit of chess theory, hoping to increase the odds of potentially trapping the opponent's king and checkmating him. But why? The obvious answer may be to kill him; however, the game stops right before you are able to do that, and there must be a good reason why the objective of the game is to trap the king rather than capture him. Since he is in a vulnerable position, you now have the power to make him do whatever you want him to do. What do you think goes on in the hypothetical behind-the-scenes aftermath of an ended chess game?


My idea is that since chess is the metaphorical display of a functioning kingdom, the loser king must forfeit the remainder of his kingdom to compensate for the losses that the winner had to go through to achieve the position. It explains why the game automatically draws upon two kings being left alone on the board; they have nothing left to give each other. But the game also draws when it's just a king vs. a king and a knight. Well, why would the winner want an incompetent knight whose sole purpose, in the historical sense, is defending the king and his kingdom, anyway?

Post your theories here.

Back, when chess was invented there was a certain respect for the kings and that's why the King is never captured or "killed", to indicate respect.

A lucky pawn promotes to King to replace his duties. 

Both Kings are actually in love. During a game they love to see pieces flying off the board cause in the end they can get closer to each other and make babies which fill the board once again. Because secretly one of them is a woman.

Actually, chess is a concept. It doesn't matter who wins and who loses. Ultimately, all pieces go back into the same box. This has several connotations. Existential, meaning, win or lose in life, it doesn't matter, religious, win or lose, it doesn't mater; philosophical, Win or lose, it doesn't matter and finally from a pacifistic perspective: war does not decide who's right, only who's left: again, it does n't matter since after the king is checkmated, there is no one left and  they are all in the same box eventually; similarly, humanistic: it doesn't matter who wins or loses, we are in the same boat (box) and thus it is now proven that a box is the same as a boat metaphorically.  

... And thus, the Nobel prize for literature hereby goes to .... ME!!!!! yippee. Oslo, here I come

Okay, I think I understand. Your chessmen storage box is made of same wood as your boat,

Yes?

And after you play, you sleep in the same boat with them,

Right?

He is immediately whisked off to Thailand by magical elves who replace him with an exact replica of himself, this way you notice nothing while they are doing their whisking.

Once in Thailand the loser King is taken to a damp dungeon that reeks worse than a Gm's sock drawer where he is locked up and shown pictures of Bobby Fischer doing unspeakable things to chess pieces.

The elves record everything. The entire process of breaking the humiliated king down is a big game for them. Finally when the poor king has nothing left in terms of emotion, inner strength or resolve he gets repackaged with a new set of pieces and sent off to toy shops in France.

This explains of course why the French is so bad at chess.

A great question OP! So many people all over the world play chess, yet there are still aspects of the game that no one thinks about. The topic that you have raised has certainly belonged in that category... until now.

Your thread reminds me of one of my own:

https://www.chess.com/forum/view/general/castling-and-the-4th-dimension

Drawn & quartered. Next time you lose remember that.

Incidentally, what happens to your king if you resign before it is checkmated?

A baby dolphin dies.

they take off his socks, tie him to the gallows and the kids wiggle feathers on his tootsies.

No, a baby dolphin dies. 

why do you feel the need to create a fanatasy answer after the correct one has been supplied?

very sorry about that.

dolphins are not fish.

you have just created this account please try a persona other than the idiotic one you just chose that speaks like a moron.

keep it real man. just because you are a troll doesn't mean you have to be an idiot too.

ok thanks, friendship binned.

It really is me that must thank you

and one of them shot a fish ?

The king is made to watch all citizens of his kingdom including his queen being put to death before he is put in prison. Or the other pieces allow the king to be taken and continue with the war.