Perpetual Check

Within a chess game, perpetual check a circumstance wherein a player can force a draw by an unending series of checks. Circumstances of this sort usually come into being when the player checking can’t deliver a checkmate, while any other move will give the opponent a winning position.

Perpetual check is one of six ways to end a chess game with a draw.

The earliest recorded perpetual check was in a game played by two unknown players in 1750 by The Oxford Encyclopedia of Chess Games, Volume 1 (1485-1866)

This is the notation;

1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.0-0 (castling has not yet been standardized in their current form, White moved his king to h1 and his rook to f1) Nf6 5.Nc3 Ng4 6.d3 0-0 (Black moved his king to h8 and his rook to f8) 7.Ng5 d6 8.h3 h6 9.Nxf7+ Rxf7 10.Bxf7 Qh4 11.Qf3 Nxf2+ 12.Rxf2 Bxf2 13.Nd5 Nd4 14.Ne7 Nxf3 15.Ng6+ Kh7 ½-½ in light of 16.Nf8+ Kh8 17.Ng6+ etc.

The perpetual check move no longer exists because a situation like the above will end with a draw automatically or by agreement.