Is there a way to speed up a "detect check" method in chess?

Samuel Khzym :

I'm developing a JavaFX chess application and I'm trying to implement a method that detects whether or not the black and white kings are in check or not. It works, but even when I only call it every time the user moves a piece, it still lags the application immensely. It works by detecting all the possible moves of the opposing colour, then checks if any of those moves are in the position of the king. Is there any way to make a more efficient method?

private boolean getCheck(String colour) {
    ArrayList<int[]> totalMoves = new ArrayList<int[]>();
    ArrayList<int[]> pieceMoves = new ArrayList<int[]>();

    int kingRow = 0;
    int kingColumn = 0;

    if (colour.equals("BLACK")) {
        for (int i = 0; i < chessPieces.size(); i++) {
            if (chessPieces.get(i).getPiece().equals("BLACKKING")) {
                kingRow = chessPieces.get(i).getRow();
                kingColumn = chessPieces.get(i).getColumn();
            }
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < chessPieces.size(); i++) {
            if (chessPieces.get(i).getPiece().contains("WHITE")) {
                pieceMoves = showPossibleMoves(new int[]{
                        chessPieces.get(i).getColumn(),
                        chessPieces.get(i).getRow()
                    }, chessPieces);

                for (int j = 0; j < pieceMoves.size(); j++) {
                    if (pieceMoves.get(j)[1] == kingRow && pieceMoves.get(j)[0] == kingColumn) {
                        return true;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    } else if (colour.equals("WHITE")) {
        for (int i = 0; i < chessPieces.size(); i++) {
            if (chessPieces.get(i).getPiece().equals("WHITEKING")) {
                kingRow = chessPieces.get(i).getRow();
                kingColumn = chessPieces.get(i).getColumn();
            }
        }

        for (int i = 0; i < chessPieces.size(); i++) {
            if (chessPieces.get(i).getPiece().contains("BLACK")) {
                pieceMoves = showPossibleMoves(new int[]{
                        chessPieces.get(i).getColumn(),
                        chessPieces.get(i).getRow()
                    }, chessPieces);

                for (int j = 0; j < pieceMoves.size(); j++) {
                    if (pieceMoves.get(j)[1] == kingRow && pieceMoves.get(j)[0] == kingColumn) {
                        return true;
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

    return false;
}

rcgldr :

You could start with the position of each king, scan for knight moves, vertically, horizontally, and diagonally for the appropriate opponent pieces that are putting the king in check.This should result in a smaller scan than all possible moves.