Beginner here learning: why can the king not simply take the rook here?
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The rook is defended by black king. Moving the king to dangerous square is illegal move.
In this position, the king on the square f5 is guarding the rook on g4. The white king can't capture the guarded piece.
lostpawn247 wrote:
In this position, the king on the square f5 is guarding the rook on g4. The white king can't capture the guarded piece.
Oh okay so the Black King could capture the white king if it took the rook? I assumed as much because it's very obvious but I googled it and somehow got the answer that the king cannot directly capture the opposite king so I was confused
sorry if it seemed dumb but I'm leanring 
thanks
Its guarded by the white king and u cannot place ur king in a square where it can be captured
long_quach skrev:
sl41dev wrote:
]but I googled it and somehow got the answer that the king cannot directly capture the opposite king so I was confused
sorry if it seemed dumb but I'm leanring thanks
King can capture King.
In Vietnam, and America, I played chess with hand-me-down rules from the kids in the neighborhood.
So the rules were incomplete.
There is no announcing "check" rule.
A King can be captured like any other piece.
I did not know it, I was playing with the original rules of chess.
The modern rules of "sportsmanship" needlessly complicate things.
When in doubt, treat the King like any other piece. The King has no privileges.
Not a good advice. In all chess games following the FIDE rules, the king can't be captured, and it also can't be allowed to be captured. A check is always a check.