Checkmate
A check with no answer at all is checkmate (将死), and the game ends on that move. Deliver one now: send the chariot the length of the a-file to the ninth rank. Once it lands, the rank-9 exits d9 and f9 die to the chariot's line, and the last exit e8 dies to the crossed soldier on e7 — the general is sealed behind his own back rank. This chariot-and-soldier back-rank net is the skeleton of half the basic mates you will meet in the mating chapters.