The rook, shaped like a castle, is one of the more powerful pieces on the board.
Rooks are worth a bishop or a knight plus two pawns.
The rook can move any number of squares in a straight line along any column or row. In the example shown in the diagram on the left, the rook can move or capture in any square that has a blue dot. The simplicity of the rook's movement is indeed what makes it powerful. The rook may also make a move in conjunction with the king. This maneuver will be explained in the section called castling .