Checkmate

Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is a game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with capture) and there is no way to remove the threat. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. ... mastering it would take a significant chunk of time. Should the chess hopeful really spend many of his precious hours he's put aside for chess study learning an endgame he will achieve (at most) only once or twice in his lifetime? Checkmate (often shortened to mate) is a game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check (threatened with capture) and there is no way to remove the threat. Checkmating the opponent wins the game. In chess, the king is never captured—the game ends as soon as the king is checkmated. In formal games, most players resign an inevitably lost game before being checkmated. It is usually considered bad etiquette to continue playing in a completely hopeless position. If a player is not in check but has no legal move, then it is stalemate, and the game immediately ends in a draw. A checkmating move is recorded in algebraic notation using the hash symbol '#', for example: 34.Qg7#.