Why is the a win and not a draw

Hi, I am playing black and moved my queen to A8.  The engine gave me a win... but isn't this a draw? If not why not? The white king can not move right?

If you're referring to stalemate, that's only when there is no legal move and the king is NOT in check.

Thanks. But isn't white in check from my queen?

Hi! My name is Lauren Goodkind and I’m a chess coach and chess book author based in California:   www.ChessByLauren.com

 This position is checkmate since white's king is in check and cannot escape check on the very next move.  

   I hope that this helps.  

Thank you Lauren. I really appreciate your help. I know I am missing something on the basic rules.  I thought a 'King could not step into check'. If true then below is what I think is whites Kings move (all checks) are.

King to E8 or G8. Result Check from queen on row 8.

King to E7 , F7, or G7. Result: Can't go to either because a king can't "stand" next to another king. (also F7 is check from bishop on G6)

When the black queen was on a7, the white king could not move up to the seventh rank because of the black king and bishop on the sixth rank and also because of check from the black queen along the seventh rank. It also could not move to e8 because of check from the black bishop. On the other hand, the white king was not in check and it could safely move between f8, g8, and h8, so the game went on. 

Once the black queen moved to a8, the white king was in check everywhere along the eight rank and still could not move to the seventh rank. Since it was in check and had no safe escape squares, white was checkmated and black won.

I am not sure I understand your question... this is a win because the white king is in check and has no way of getting out of check.

When you get checked there are 3 possible ways of getting out of check:

1. You capture the piece that is checking the king;

2. You move the king to a safe  square ;

3. You block the check by putting one of your pieces between your king and the piece attacking it.

In this case the yellow highlighted squares means black just moved the queen from a7 to a8 checking the king....  If you cannot do any of the 3 options above, then you cannot get out of check, if you cannot get out of a check, it's a checkmate... as is this case... hence the win for black

There are a few ways to draw a game

Threefold repetition, 50-move rule, insufficient material, and stalemate.

I am not going to explain those to you just yet because it might be overwhelming information since by the looks of it you're still learning what a checkmate is.... but from what I understand I believe your confusion might be with stalemate that could draw a game so I am going to explain what a stalemate is. But feel free to research the other ways of drawing on your own. You can google it, or find some resources here on chess.com, or hire Lauren above to teach you what those are among other things such as opening principles, opening theory, tactics, strategy, endgames, checkmate patterns, etc.... She seems like the good kind of teacher (pun definitely intended which she probably heard 1000 times)

Stalemating means you have no legal moves but are NOT in check. A legal move is any move you can make that the chess rules allows. Stalemate happens when you have no pieces except for your king. Or when you have your king and pawns but your pawns cannot be pushed and your king has nowhere to go. So if you're not in check and has no legal moves then it's a draw by stalemate. For example, if black queen was on d5 and it was white's move it would be a stalemate, because the king would not be in check, but every possible square he could go to (Kf8, Kxg7, Kf7, Ke7, Ke8) is controlled/attack by a black piece.

So pretty much, the difference between winning (checkmating) and drawing (stalemating) is whether the king is in check or not.

Hope this helps! good luck with your chess improving

Wow, you managed to land a good checkmate with a king and a queen! It's certainly a win for White due to the king being under check, as everyone else has noted.

This is the book you need to get. It covers all the basics . . .

Yes, it's a checkmate as the white king has no legal moves

Thank you so much. I didn't get the subtle differences of stalemate. I do now.

it is checkmate

not stalemate. stalemate is not a check. it is when you move something somewhere the white king has to move but it can go nowhere that is stalemate, a draw

i have that book!

it is a checkmate i think

It is a checkmate

Yes, you are right

This is checkmate my friend