Names Of All Chess Pieces - Chess Glossary Article WaddenCC Photography Names Of All Chess Pieces If you've been hunting around for the Names Of All Chess Pieces, then hunt no more, as this page has what you're looking for ... A game of Chess involves two opponents, each having a total of 16 pieces, made up of 6, er, characters. These are they: Names Of All Chess Pieces - Pawn - Being a war game, the Pawn is kind of like your common foot soldier - often the first ones into battle, while being more expendable than those of a higher rank, such as the Knight. In total, each player begins a game of Chess with 8 Pawns on the board. On a Pawns first move, it may move either 1 or 2 squares forward, depending on your opening strategy. However, thereafter, a Pawn may only move one square forward per turn and it can never move backwards. As for capturing, a Pawn can only capture on either one of the diagonal squares in front of its current position ...

This means that when another piece is on a square directly in front - on the straight line, your Pawn is stuck and cannot move forward until the blocking piece moves, or an enemy piece is within legal range for capture. Read More About The Pawn Names Of All Chess Pieces - Knight - The Knight is the piece that often looks like a horse - well, a horse's head (kind of like in The Godfather, but without the blood). Each player begins a game of Chess with 2 Knights on the board. We've said that it is often one of the Pawns that moves first, at the start of a game ... Often, but not always, as the Knight's ability to jump over pieces allows it to be the only other piece that can make a move at the very beginning of a game. The Knight is also unique in the way it moves ... Whereas other pieces go in straight lines - be it on the staights, or along the diagonals - the Knight moves in an L-shape. It goes either two squares forward and one to the left or right; or one square to the left or right and two squares forward ...

Which you choose will, naturally, depend on potential for positional advantage, capture, to avoid being captured, or for lack of options when your other pieces are blocking certain squares within the Knight's legal range of movement. Read More About The Knight Names Of All Chess Pieces - Bishop - At the start of a game, each player has 2 Bishops on the board. One patrols the light-colored squares; the other goes along the dark-colored squares. As for range of movement, the Bishops move only on the diagonals but are able to go from one corner of the board to the other, on their colored squares. This makes the Bishop a great, long-distance threat to your opponent - though, obviously, the flip side is your pieces are at an equal risk from the enemy Bishops. When it comes to realtive value, two Bishops are considered more valuable than either two Knights, or a Knight and a Bishop working together. Though, of course, the threat of the two Bishop pieces are only as good as the skill of the player who controls their movement. Read More About The Bishop Names Of All Chess Pieces - Rook - Each player gets 2 Rooks, at the start of a game of Chess.

Their range of movement is along the straights - if they have the space, they can get from one side of the board to the other, in a single move. The Rooks are most effective in the middle of the board. As they start a game in the corner squares, part of your opening strategy will be to, somehow, bring your Rooks inwards, while trying to mobilize your other pieces, ready for the carnage that takes place during the Middlegame stage. Two Rooks operating together can be more potent than a single Queen, if used wisely. The obvious threat is from the diagonals, which means one of the greatest threats to the Rook are from the Bishop and Queen, at distance; while at more close-range, Pawns that have good support can also prove hazardous to your Rooks. Read More About The Rook Names Of All Chess Pieces - Queen - The Queen is by far the most potent, attacking piece on the board. At one time, when the game of Chess was played in Medieval times, the Queen was restricted to one square move per turn and only on the diagonals. She was a much weaker piece back then.

However, it must have been when PMT was fully recognized as a potential threat to man, that the Queen, in a game of Chess, suddenly took on a more devastating range of attacking options ... She combines the diagonal power of the Bishops, with the straight-line threat of the Rooks. Read More About The Queen Names Of All Chess Pieces - King - Even with the Queen's attacking prowess, the King is your most precious piece on the board ... If it is attacked in such a way that there are no legally-safe places to move, your King will find itself in a situation known as "Checkmate" - and you'll lose the game, immediately. It doesn't matter if you have all your good pieces still on the board, if your King succumbs to Checkmate, it's gameover! So, use your pieces wisely, to protect your King, while you somehow exploit weaknesses in your opponent's setup. Does this mean a King is totally useless? It's vulnerable, for sure, but the King can work to secure a Win - though not on its own; you'll usually have a majority of pieces, over your opponent's ...

The King can be used to capture stray Pawns and, as Kings cannot be next to each other, on the board, you can use your King to tactically cut off escape routes for the enemy King. Read More About The King Illustrated rules of chess Las reglas del ajedrez (Spanish) Chess is a game, played by two players. One player plays with the white pieces, and the other player plays with the black pieces. Each player has sixteen pieces in the beginning of the game: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns. The game is played on a chessboard, consisting of 64 squares: eight rows and eight columns. The squares are alternately light (white) and dark colored. The board must be laid down such that there is a black square in the lower-left corner. To facilitate notation of moves, all squares are given a name. From the view of the white player, the rows are numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8; the lowest row has number 1, and the upper row has number 8.

The columns are named, from left to right, a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h. A square gets a name, consisting of the combination of its column-letter and row-number, e.g., the square in the lower left corner (for white) is a1. black white Alternately, the players make a move, starting with the white player (the player that plays with the white pieces.) A move consists of moving one of the pieces of the player to a different square, following the rules of movement for that piece - there is one special exception, named castling, where players move two pieces simultaneously. A player can take a piece of the opponent by moving one of his own pieces to the square that contains a piece of the opponent. The opponents piece then is removed from the board, and out of play for the rest of the game. (Taking is not compulsory.) At the start of the game, the position of the pieces is as follows. Thus, at the second row, there are eight white pawns, at the seventh row, there are eight black pawns.

At the first row, from left to right, we have a: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook. Note that the queens start of squares of their own color, with a dark square in each players left hand corner. Movement of the pieces Rook The rook moves in a straight line, horizontally or vertically. The rook may not jump over other pieces, that is: all squares between the square where the rook starts its move and where the rook ends its move must be empty. (As for all pieces, when the square where the rook ends his move contains a piece of the opponent, then this piece is taken. The square where the rook ends his move may not contain a piece of the player owning this rook.) Bishop The bishop moves in a straight diagonal line. The bishop may also not jump over other pieces. Queen The queen has the combined moves of the rook and the bishop, i.e., the queen may move in any straight line, horizontal, vertical, or diagonal. Knight The knight makes a move that consists of first one step in a horizontal or vertical direction, and then one step diagonally in an outward direction.

The knight jumps: it is allowed that the first square that the knight passes over is occupied by an arbitrary piece. For instance, white can start the game by moving his knight from b1 to c3. The piece that is jumped over is further not affected by the knight: as usual, a knight takes a piece of the opponent by moving to the square that contains that piece. Pawn The pawn moves differently regarding whether it moves to an empty square or whether it takes a piece of the opponent. When a pawn does not take, it moves one square straight forward. When this pawn has not moved at all, i.e., the pawn is still at the second row (from the owning players view), the pawn may make a double step straight forward. For instance, a white pawn on d2 can be moved to d4. When taking, the pawn goes one square diagonally forward. There is one special rule, called taking en-passant. When a pawn makes a double step from the second row to the fourth row, and there is an enemy pawn on an adjacent square on the fourth row, then this enemy pawn inthe next move may move diagonally to the square that was passed over by the double-stepping pawn, which is on the third row.

In this same move, the double-stepping pawn is taken. This taking en-passant must be done directly: if the player who could take en-passant does not do this in the first move after the double step, this pawn cannot be taken anymore by an en-passant move. A double pawn step, and a following en-passant capture Pawns that reach the last row of the board promote. When a player moves a pawn to the last row of the board, he replaces the pawn by a queen, rook, knight, or bishop (of the same color). Usually, players will promote the pawn to a queen, but the other types of pieces are also allowed. (It is not required that the pawn is promoted to a piece taken. Thus, it is for instance possible that a player has at a certain moment two queens.) Before and after a promotion King The king moves one square in any direction, horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. There is one special type of move, made by a king and rook simultaneously, called castling: see below. The king is the most important piece of the game, and moves must be made in such a way that the king is never in check: see below.

Castling Under certain, special rules, a king and rook can move simultaneously in a castling move. The following conditions must be met: The king that makes the castling move has not yet moved in the game. The rook that makes the castling move has not yet moved in the game. The king is not in check. The king does not move over a square that is attacked by an enemy piece during the castling move, i.e., when castling, there may not be an enemy piece that can move (in case of pawns: by diagonal movement) to a square that is moved over by the king. The king does not move to a square that is attacked by an enemy piece during the castling move, i.e., you may not castle and end the move with the king in check. All squares between the rook and king before the castling move are empty. The King and rook must occupy the same rank (or row).

When castling, the king moves two squares towards the rook, and the rook moves over the king to the next square, i.e., black's king on e8 and rook on a8 move to: king c8, rook d8 (long castling), white's king on e1 and rook on h1 move to: king g1, rook f1 (short castling). position before and after castling: white short, and black long Neither white nor black may castle: white is in check, and the black king may not move over d8 Check, mate, and stalemate Check When the king of a player can be taken by a piece of the opponent, one says that the king is in check. For instance, the white player moves his rook to a position such that it attacks the black king, i.e., if black doesn't do anything about it, the rook could take the black king in the next move: we say that the white rook gives check. It is considered good manners to say check when one checks ones opponent. It is not allowed to make a move, such that ones king is in check after the move.

If a player accidently tries to make such a move, he must take the move back and make another move (following the rules that one must move with the piece one has touched, see below .) Mate When a player is in check, and he cannot make a move such that after the move, the king is not in check, then he is mated. The player that is mated lost the game, and the player that mated him won the game. Note that there are three different possible ways to remove a check: Move the king away to a square where he is not in check. Take the piece that gives the check. (In case of a check, given by a rook, bishop or queen: ) move a piece between the checking piece and the king. Stalemate When a player cannot make any legal move, but he is not in check, then the player is said to be stalemated. In a case of a stalemate, the game is a draw. When black must move, the game is a stalemate Other rules Resign and draw proposals A player can resign the game, which means that he has lost and his opponent has won.

After making a move, a player can propose a draw: his opponent can accept the proposal (in which case the game ends and is a draw) or refuse the proposal (in which case the game continues). Repetition of moves If the same position with the same player to move is repeated three times in the game, the player to move can claim a draw. (When the right to make a certain castling move is lost by one of the players between positions, then the positions are considered to be different. For the fine points of this rule, see the official rules of chess .) One case where the repetition of move occurs is when a player continues to give check forever. See an explanation with animated gif . 50 moves rules CHESS - Chess.com Chess.com Sep 4, 2012, 7:19 AM 2,404 Reads 1 Comment Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard , a square checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs , online, by correspondence , and in tournaments .

Each player begins the game with sixteen pieces : one king , one queen , two rooks , two knights , two bishops , and eight pawns . Each of the six piece types moves differently. Pieces are used to attack and capture the opponent's pieces, with the object of the game being to ' checkmate ' the opponent's king by placing it under an inescapable threat of capture. In addition to checkmate, the game can be won by the voluntary resignation of one's opponent, which typically occurs when too much material is lost, or if checkmate appears unavoidable. A game may also result in a draw in several ways, where neither player wins. The course of the game is divided into three phases: opening , middlegame and endgame . The first official World Chess Champion , Wilhelm Steinitz , claimed his title in 1886; the current World Champion is Viswanathan Anand . In addition to the World Championship , there are the Women's World Championship , the Junior World Championship , the World Senior Championship , the Correspondence Chess World Championship , the World Computer Chess Championship , and Blitz and Rapid World Championships . The Chess Olympiad is a popular competition among teams from different nations.

Online chess has opened amateur and professional competition to a wide and varied group of players. Chess is a recognized sport of the International Olympic Committee , and international chess competition is sanctioned by the World Chess Federation . There are also many chess variants , with different rules, different pieces, and different boards. Since the second half of the 20th century, computers have been programmed to play chess with increasing success, to the point where home computers can play chess at a very high level. In the past two decades computer analysis has contributed significantly to chess theory as understood by human players, particularly in the endgame. The computer Deep Blue was the first machine player to overcome a reigning World Chess Champion when it defeated Garry Kasparov in 1997. Setup g h Initial position: first row: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, and rook; second row: pawns Chess is played on a square board of eight rows (called ranks and denoted with numbers 1 to 8) and eight columns (called files and denoted with letters a to h) of squares. The colors of the sixty-four squares alternate and are referred to as "light squares" and "dark squares".

The chessboard is placed with a light square at the right-hand end of the rank nearest to each player, and the pieces are set out as shown in the diagram, with each queen on its own color. The pieces are divided, by convention, into white and black sets. The players are referred to as "White" and "Black" , and each begins the game with sixteen pieces of the specified color. These consist of one king , one queen , two rooks , two bishops , two knights , and eight pawns . Movement White always moves first. After the initial move, the players alternately move one piece at a time (with the exception of castling , when two pieces are moved). Pieces are moved to either an unoccupied square or one occupied by an opponent's piece, which is captured and removed from play. With the sole exception of en passant , all pieces capture opponent's pieces by moving to the square that the opponent's piece occupies. A player may not make any move that would put or leave his king under attack. If the player to move has no legal moves, the game is over; it is either a checkmate —if the king is under attack—or a stalemate —if the king is not.

Each chess piece has its own style of moving. In the diagrams, the dots mark the squares where the piece can move if no other pieces (including one's own piece) are on the squares between the piece's initial position and its destination. The king moves one square in any direction. The king has also a special move which is called castling and involves also moving a rook. The rook can move any number of squares along any rank or file, but may not leap over other pieces. Along with the king, the rook is involved during the king's castling move. The bishop can move any number of squares diagonally, but may not leap over other pieces. The queen combines the power of the rook and bishop and can move any number of squares along rank, file, or diagonal, but it may not leap over other pieces. The knight moves to any of the closest squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal, thus the move forms an "L"-shape: two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically. The knight is the only piece that can leap over other pieces.

The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file; or on its first move it may advance two squares along the same file provided both squares are unoccupied; or it may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece which is diagonally in front of it on an adjacent file, capturing that piece. The pawn has two special moves: the en passant capture and pawn promotion . Moves of a king The United States Chess Federation - Ten Tips To Winning Chess The United States Chess Federation Ten Tips To Winning Chess February 4, 2009 by International Grandmaster Arthur Bisguier Getting Started Chess is a game of strategy and tactics. Each player commands an army of 16 chessmen --- pawns and other pieces (the king, queen, bishops, knights, and rooks). A well-played chess game has three stages. In the opening, the players bring out their forces in preparation for combat. The middlegame begins as the players maneuver for position and carry out attacks and counterattacks. The final stage is the endgame when, with fewer pawns and pieces left on the board, it is safer for the kings to come out and join the final battle.

As play proceeds, each player will capture some of the opponent's men; often, the capturing pieces are immediately recaptured. As long as the piece a player gives up is generally equal to the piece he gets in return, we say the players are exchanging. If you unintentionally place a piece where it can be captured without getting a piece of equal value in return, we say that you put that piece en prise. (This is a French term that literally means "in take.") Sometimes a player may place a piece en prise in order to trick an opponent. If the opponent captures the offered man, it may leave him open to attack. You're Ready to Go! It's time for you to take a look at these ten tips to help you learn some simple ways to win more games: Look at your opponent's move. Make the best possible move. Have a plan. Know when to trade pieces. Think about the endgame. Always be alert. Don't rush. Take your time and be sure to study the examples carefully. Then go out and practice - and have some fun! 1. Look at your opponent's move! Every time your opponent makes a move, you should stop and think: Why was that move chosen? Is a piece in danger?

Are there any other threats I should watch out for? What sort of plan does my opponent have in mind? Only by defending against your opponent's threats will you be able to successfully carry out your own strategies. Once you figure out what your opponent is attempting to do, you can play to nip those plans in the bud. Example A Black to move Pretend you're playing black in this position. White has just moved his queen to f3. What's the threat? How should you move to meet his threat? 2. Make the best possible move. When you are considering a move, ask yourself these questions: Will the piece I'm moving go to a better square than the one it's on now? Can I improve my position even more by increasing the effectiveness of a different piece? Does this move help to defend against my opponent's threats? Will the piece I move be safe on its new square? If it's a pawn, consider: Can I keep it protected from attack? If it's another piece, consider: Can the enemy drive itaway, thus making me lose valuable time? Even if your intended move has good points, it may not be the best move at that moment.

Emanuel Lasker, a former world champion, said: "When you see a good move, wait---look for a better one!" Following this advice is bound to improve your chess. Example B White to move You're white in this position. Black has just played cxd4 and is temporarily a pawn ahead. What's the best move you can make? Don't be too hasty! Answer 3. Have a plan. If you threaten something here in one move, something over there in the next move, and so forth, your opponent will have an easy time defending. Your pieces have to work together to be effective. Just imagine each instrument in an orchestra playing a different tune! When you develop a plan, your men can work in harmony. For example, you might plan to attack your opponent's king; one piece alone probably wouldn't be able to do much, but the combined strength of several pieces makes a powerful attacking force. Another plan could be taking control of all the squares in a particular area of the board. The chess men are your "team"; to be a good "coach," you have to use all of their strengths together. Example C White to move Look at this position carefully. What would be a good plan for white?

What moves would be involved in carrying out this plan? Answer 4. Know what the pieces are worth. When you are considering giving up some of your pieces for some of your opponent's, you should think about the values of the men, and not just how many each player possesses. The player whose men add up to a greater value will usually have the advantage. So a crucial step in making decisions is to add up the material, or value, of each player's men. The pawn is the least valuable piece, so it is a convenient unit of measure. It moves slowly, and can never go backward. Knights and bishops are approximately equal, worth about three pawns each. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other men. The bishops are speedier, but each one can reach only half the squares. A rook moves quickly and can reach every square; its value is five pawns. A combination of two minor pieces (knights and bishops) can often subdue a rook. A queen is worth nine pawns, almost as much as two rooks. It can move to the greatest number of squares in most positions.

The king can be a valuable fighter, too, but we do not evaluate its strength because it cannot be traded. Example D Black to move Here's a harder problem that requires you to use several of the tips you've read about so far. Pretend you're playing black in this position. First of all, what is white's threat? Second, what move should you make to meet this threat? Finally, if white went ahead with his "threat" even after you move, what would be the result? Answer Example E We know that a knight and a bishop are usually worth about the same. Which would you say is stronger in this position? Example F White to move White is about to make a move here. Is the black knight strong or weak? Would it be better or worse to have a bishop on that square? Answer 5. Develop quickly and well. Time is a very important element of chess. The player whose men are ready for action sooner will be able to control the course of the game. If you want to be that player, you have to develop your men efficiently to powerful posts. Many inexperienced players like to move a lot of pawns at the beginning of the game to control space on the chessboard.

But you can't win with pawns alone! Since knights, bishops, rooks, and queens can move farther than pawns and threaten more distant targets, it's a good idea to bring them out soon, after you've moved enough pawns to guarantee that your stronger pieces won't be chased back by your opponent's pawns. After all the other pieces are developed, it's easier to see what pawns you should move to fit in with your plans. It's tempting to bring the queen out very early, because it's the most powerful piece. But your opponent can chase your queen back by threatening it with less valuable pieces. Look at Example A: after 1. . . . Nf6, black threatens to drive the white queen away with either 2. . . . Nd4 or 2. . . . d6 and 3. . . . Bg4. Instead of just moving pieces out, try to determine the best square for each piece and bring it there in as few moves as possible. This may save you from wasting moves later in the game. 6. Control the center. In many cases, the person who controls the four squares at the center of the board will have the better game.

There are simple reasons for this. First, a piece in the center controls more of the board than one that is somewhere else. As an example, place one knight on a center square and another in one of the corners of the board. The knight in the center can move to eight different squares, while the "cornered" one only has two possible moves! Second, control of the center provides an avenue for your pieces to travel from one side of the board to the other. To move a piece across the board, you will often have to take it through the center. If your pieces can get to the other side faster than your opponent's pieces, you will often be able to mount a successful attack there before he can bring over enough pieces to defend. Example G Each player has moved two knights and two pawns. Which side has better control of the center? Answer 7. Keep your king safe. Everyone knows that the object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king. But sometimes a player thinks about his own plans so much that he forgets that his opponent is also king hunting! It's generally a good idea to place your king in a safe place by castling early in the game.

Once you've castled, you should be very careful about advancing the pawns near your king. They are like bodyguards; the farther away they go, the easier it is for your opponent's pieces to get close to your king. (For this reason, it's often good to try to force your opponent to move the pawns near his king.) Example I We've learned many important objectives: advantage in material, better development, control of the center, and now king safety. Which of these is the most important? Answer 8. Know when to trade pieces. The best time to trade men is when you can capture men worth more than the ones you will be giving up, which is called "winning material"But the opportunity to do this may not arise if your opponent is very careful. Since you will probably have many chances to exchange men on an "even" basis, it's useful to know when you should or shouldn't do this. There are several important considerations. As a general rule, if you have the initiative (your pieces are better developed, and you're controlling the game), try not to exchange men unless it increases your advantage in some clear way.

The fewer men each player has, the weaker the attacking player's threats become, and the easier it is for the defending side to meet these threats. Another time not to trade pieces is when your opponent has a cramped position with little space for the pieces to maneuver. It's tough to move a lot of pieces around in a cramped position, but easier to move just a few. One sort of advantage you can often gain by trading pieces is a weakening of your opponent's pawn structure. If, for example, you can capture with a piece that your opponent can only recapture in a way that will give him doubled pawns it will often be to your advantage to make that trade. The player who is ahead in material will usually benefit from trades. It's sort of like basketball or soccer; five players will sometimes have trouble scoring against four opposing players, but take away three from each side and the stronger team will find it easier to score with two players against one. So, to summarize: It's usually good to trade pieces if your opponent has the initiative, if you have a cramped position, if you can weaken your opponent's pawn structure, or if you are ahead in material. There are exceptions, of course, but following these rules should bring you considerable success.

9. Think about the endgame. From the time the game begins, you should remember that every move you make may affect your chances in the endgame. For instance, in the earlier parts of the game, a knight and a bishop are about equally powerful. Toward the end of the game, though, when there are fewer men in the way, the bishop can exert its influence in all parts of the board at once, while the knight still takes a long time to get anywhere. So before you trade a bishop for a knight, think not just about the next few moves but also about the endgame. Pawn structure is crucial in the endgame. When you capture one of your opponent's men with a pawn, you'll often create an open file that will help your rooks and queen to reach your opponent's side of the board, but you may also get doubled pawns. Since doubled pawns cannot defend each other, they are liability in the endgame. If your opponent survives the middlegame, you may have an uphill fight later. Concentrate on your immediate plans, as well as your opponent's---but always keep the endgame in mind!

Example J From the very first moves of the game, it's important to have a good pawn formation. How would you assess white's pawn structure in this position? Answer Example K In the endgame, it's common to see a pawn run to the end of the board and promoted to a queen. So, pawns are a great thing to hang on to. Study this diagram. Who has the "healthier" pawns, white or black? Answer 10. Always be alert. There is a tendency for people to relax once they have reached a good position or to give up hope if their position is very bad. These attitudes are natural, but both lead to bad results. Many players---even world champions---have achieved winning positions, only to lose because they relaxed too soon. Even the best position won't win by itself; you have to give it some help! In almost any position, the "losing" player will still be able to make threats. The "winning" player has to be alert enough to prevent these positions. Advice: If you have a better position, watch out! One careless move could throw away your hard-won advantage.

Even as you're carrying out your winning plans, you must watch out for your opponent's threats. Conversely, if you have a worse position, don't give up! Keep making strong moves, and try to complicate the position as much as possible. If your opponent slips, you may get the chance to make a comeback. Remember: Where there's life, there's hope. So be alert all the time, no matter what the position is like. A little bit of extra care can pay off in a big way. Example L Black to move Pretend that you're the general of the black army in the position shown above. You have, as you can see, an easily won game---since you are four pawns ahead. But white has just moved his knight to e5. This looks like a silly move, since you could capture this knight with your own knight or with your queen. But look again. Don't relax because you're winning too easily! If you captured white's knight with your knight, what would be his best (and surprising) move?

Chess: Pieces - Chess.com Chess.com Apr 15, 2010, 3:19 PM 3,825 Reads 4 Comments I'm creating this for a couple of my friends and others that are new to chess. This is just to cover the basics of each piece. As well, with facts on each of the pieces there will be a video that explains it visually. 1. Pawns The pawn is the most numerous and (in most circumstances) the weakest piece in the game of chess, representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the second rank from the view of the player. Movement: Pawns are unusual in movement and use. Unlike all the other pieces, pawns may not move backwards. Normally a pawn moves by advancing a single square, but the first time each pawn is moved from its initial position, it has the option to advance two squares. Pawns may not use the initial two-square advance to jump over an occupied square, or to capture. Any piece directly in front of a pawn, friend or foe, blocks its advance.

Capturing: Unlike other pieces, the pawn does not capture in the same way as it moves. A pawn captures diagonally, one square forward and to the left or right. Promotion: A pawn that advances all the way to the opposite side of the board (the opposing player's first rank) is promoted to another piece of that player's choice of a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The pawn is immediately (before the opposing player's next move) replaced by the new piece. The choice of promotion is not limited to captured pieces. It is both legal and possible for one player to simultaneously have as many as ten knights, ten bishops, ten rooks or nine queens. Strategy: The pawn structure(or the way a player sets up his/her pawns) mostly determines the strategic flavor of a game. While other pieces can usually be regrouped more favorably if they are temporarily badly placed, a poorly placed pawn cannot retreat to a more favorable position. Because pawns capture diagonally and can be blocked from moving straight forward, opposing pawns often become locked in diagonal pawn chains of two or more pawns of each color, where each player controls squares of one color.

Isolated Pawn: Pawns on adjacent files can support each other in attack and defense. A pawn which has no friendly pawns in adjacent files is an isolated pawn. The square in front of an isolated pawn may become an enduring weakness. Passed Pawn: A pawn which cannot be blocked or captured by enemy pawns in its advance to promotion is a passed pawn. Double Pawn: After a capture with a pawn, a player may end up with two pawns on the same file, called doubled pawns. Doubled pawns are substantially weaker than pawns which are side by side, because they cannot defend each other, and the front pawn blocks the advance of the back one. 2. Knight The knight is a piece in the game of chess, representing a knight (armoured cavalry). It is normally represented by a horse's head, leading some to refer to it informally as a "horse". Each player starts with two knights, which start on the rank closest to the player. Movement/Capturing: The knight move is unusual among chess pieces. When it moves, it can move two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or two squares vertically and one square horizontally. The complete move therefore looks like the letter 'L'.

Unlike all other standard chess pieces, the knight can 'jump over' all other pawns and pieces (of either color) to its destination square. It captures an enemy piece by moving into its square. The knight's ability to 'jump over' other pieces means it is at its most powerful in closed positions. The move is one of the longest-surviving moves in chess, having remained unchanged since before the seventh century AD. Because of this it also appears in most chess-related national games. The knight moves alternately to white and black squares. Strategy: The knight is the only piece that can be in position to attack a king, queen, bishop, or rook without being reciprocally attacked by that piece. The knight is thus especially well-suited for executing a fork (a tactic that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time). 3. Bishop A bishop is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen. Movement/Capturing:The bishop has no restrictions in distance for each move, but is limited to diagonal movement.

Bishops, like all other pieces except the Knight, cannot jump over other pieces. A bishop captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits. The bishops may be differentiated according to which wing they begin on, i.e. the king's bishop and queen's bishop. As a consequence of its diagonal movement, each bishop always remains on either the white or black squares, and so it is also common to refer to them as light-squared or dark-squared bishops. Good and Bad Bishop: A player with only one bishop should generally place his pawns on squares of the color that the bishop cannot move to. This allows the player to control squares of both colors, allows the bishop to move freely among the pawns, and helps fix enemy pawns on squares on which they can be attacked by the bishop. Such a bishop is often referred to as a "good" bishop. Conversely, a bishop which is impeded by friendly pawns is often referred to as a "bad bishop" (or sometimes, disparagingly, a "tall pawn"). However, a "bad" bishop need not always be a weakness, especially if it is outside its own pawn chains.

Fianchetto: A bishop may be fianchettoed, for example after moving the g2 pawn to g3 and the bishop on f1 to g2. This can form a strong defense for the castled king on g1 and the bishop can often exert strong pressure on the long diagonal. A fianchettoed bishop should generally not be given up lightly, since the resulting holes in the pawn formation may prove to be serious weaknesses, particularly if the king has castled on that side of the board. 4. Rook A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. The piece has been called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes, and is still sometimes popularly (but not under official chess terminology) called a "castle". Using the rook in a specialized double-movement with the king is still referred to as castling. Each player starts with two rooks, one in each of the corners nearest his own side. Movement/Capturing: The rook moves horizontally or vertically, forward or back, through any number of unoccupied squares. Like other pieces, it captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece stands.

The rook also participates, along with the king, in a special move called castling. Strategy: In the opening, the rooks are undefended by other pieces, so it is usually desirable to connect one's rooks on the first rank by castling and clearing all pieces except the king and rooks from the first rank. In that position, the rooks protect each other, and can easily move to threaten the most favorable files. A common goal with a rook is to place it on the first rank of an open file, i.e. one unobstructed by pawns of either player, or a half-open file, i.e. one unobstructed by friendly pawns. From this position, the rook is relatively unexposed to risk but can control every square on the file. If one file is particularly important, a player may advance one rook on it, and move the other behind, doubling the rooks. A rook on the seventh rank (the opponent's second rank) is usually very powerful, as it threatens the opponent's unadvanced pawns and puts pressure in the enemy king. A rook on the seventh rank is sufficient compensation for a pawn.

In this position, the rook on the seventh rank enables White to draw, despite being a pawn down. Two rooks on the seventh rank are often enough to force victory, or at least a draw by perpetual check. These rooks are sometimes colloquially referred to as "pigs on the seventh", because they often threaten to "eat" the opponent's pieces or pawns. Rooks are most powerful towards the end of a game (i.e. the endgame), where they can move unobstructed by pawns and control large numbers of squares. They are somewhat clumsy at restraining enemy pawns from advancing towards promotion, unless they can occupy the file behind the advancing pawn. By the same token, a rook best supports a friendly pawn towards promotion from behind it in the same file. 5. Queen The queen is the most powerful piece in the game of chess and can move in any direction. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of their first rank next to their king. The white queen starts on a white square, and the black queen on a black square, thus the mnemonic "queen gets her color" or "queen on color".

Moving/Capturing: The reason the queen is more powerful than a combination of a rook and bishop, even though they control the same number of squares, is twofold. First, the queen is a more mobile unit than the rook and bishop, as the entire power of the queen can be transferred to another location in one move while transferring the entire firepower of a rook and bishop requires two moves. Second, the queen is not hampered by the bishop's inability to control squares of the opposite color to the square on which it stands on. A factor in favor of the rook and bishop is that they can attack (or defend) a square twice, while a queen can only do so once, but experience has shown that this factor is usually less significant than the points which favor the queen. The queen is at her most powerful when the board is open, when the enemy king is not well-defended, or when there are loose (i.e. undefended) pieces in the enemy camp. Because of her long range and ability to move in more than one direction, the queen is well-equipped to execute forks. Compared to other long range pieces (i.e.

rooks and bishops) the queen is less restricted and more powerful also in closed positions. Strategy: Beginners often develop the queen as soon as possible, in the hopes of plundering the enemy position and possibly even delivering an early checkmateScholar's mate. This strategy is disadvantageous against experienced players. With no other pieces developed, an attack by the queen alone can be easily repelled. Moreover, because the queen is too valuable to exchange for a lesser piece, the defender can often gain time and space by threatening an exposed queen and forcing her to retreat. Nonetheless, the Scandinavian Defense, which in the main line features queen moves by Black on the second and third moves, is considered sound and has been played at world championship level. Even the Parham Attack (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5!?), which is widely considered a chess opening suitable only for beginners. 6. King In chess, the King is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its capture is unavoidable (checkmate). If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must move so as to remove the threat of capture.

If it cannot escape capture on the next move, the king is said to be in checkmate, and the player which owns that king loses the game. Although it is the most important piece, it is one of the weakest pieces in the game (until the endgame). Movement/Capturing: White starts with the king on the first rank to the right of the queen. Black starts with the king directly across from the white king. With the squares labeled as in algebraic notation, the white king starts on e1 and the black king on e8. A king can move one empty or enemy-occupied square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) unless such a move would place the king in check. As a result, the opposing kings may never occupy adjacent squares, but the king can give discovered check by unmasking a bishop, rook, or queen. The king is also involved in the special move of castling. As with all pieces except the pawn, it captures by moving onto a square occupied by an enemy piece.

Castling: In conjunction with a rook, the king may make a special move called castling, in which the king moves two squares toward one of its rooks and then the rook is placed on the other side of the king. Castling consists of moving the king two squares on its first rank toward either one of the original rooks, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed. Castling is allowed only when neither the king nor the castling rook has previously moved, when no squares between them are occupied, when the king is not in check, and when the king will not move across or end its movement on a square that is under enemy control. Check/Checkmate: If a player's move places the opponent's king under attack, that king is said to be in check, and the player in check is required to immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible methods to remove the king from check: Moving the king to an adjacent non-threatened square Interposing a piece between the king in check and the attacking piece in order to break the line of threat (not possible when the attacking piece is a knight, or when in double check).

Capturing the attacking piece (not possible in double check, unless the king captures) If none of these three options are possible, the player's king has been checkmated and the player loses the game. Stalemate: A stalemate occurs when, for the player with the move: The player has no legal moves, and The player's king is not in check If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated and the game ends in a draw. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often try to entice the opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate in order to avoid a loss. Hope this has helped all that who read this wanting to know about chess. The credit to the one that made these videos is by thechesswebsite, which more of his videos going over gambits, traps, openings, etc. can be found on his YouTube channel: The Chess Rules. How to play chess the right way.. Discover how to play chess. Use the chess rules to play a game and have fun. Two Players The game of chess is played between two opponents, who move their pieces alternately on a square board (called a chessboard).

The player with the white pieces commences the game. A player is said to "have the move", when his opponents move has been made. The Goal The objective of each player is to place the opponents king "under attack" in such a way that the opponent has no legal move left. The player who achieves this goal is said to have "checkmated" the opponent's king and to have won the game. Leaving one's own king under attack, exposing one's own king to an attack and also capturing the opponent's king are not allowed. The player whose king has been checkmated has lost the game. If the position is such that neither player can checkmate, the game is drawn. The Chessboard The chessboard is composed of an 8 x 8 grid of 64 equal squares alternately light (the white squares) and dark (the black squares). The chessboard is placed between the players in such a way that the near corner square to the right of the player is white. You can also say that the near left corner square is black. The Pieces Before you can start a game, you'll have to place the pieces on the board. If you place them like below, you'll have the right starting position.

From left to right: rook, knight, bishop, queen, king, bishop, knight, rook. The pawns are placed in front of the pieces. Notice the black square in the left hand corner (a1). This square has to be black. If it's white you have the wrong starting position of the chess board. There have been numerous mistakes in movies, television shows and magazines, where the chess sets were placed with the white square in the left hand corner. I once saw a collector, who collected all the issues of wrong placed boards. The Initial Position From Black's Point Of View If you're playing the black pieces, it looks almost the same. The starting position hasn't changed, however there is a difference if you're playing black.... Do you notice the difference? When you're playing black, the king is placed left to the queen. Moving The Pieces Playing chess involves moving the pawns and pieces around the board. There are some chess rules, involving this moving of the pieces. -It's not permitted to move a piece to a square, occupied by a piece of the same color.

-If a piece moves to a square occupied by an opponent's piece the latter is captured and removed from the chessboard as part of the same move. The Bishop The bishop may move to any square along a diagonal on which it stands. The Rook The rook may move to any square along the file or the rank on which it stands. The Queen. The queen may move to any square along any diagonal, file or rank on which it stands. This makes the queen very powerful. You might consider the queen to be a rook and bishop combined in one piece. She's even better, because a bishop can operate on one color only, whereas a queen can operate on diagonals of both colors. No Jumping. When making their moves, the bishop, rook and queen are not allowed to jump over other (intervening) pieces. The Knight. The knight may move to one of the squares nearest to that on which it stands,but not on the same rank, file or diagonal. If this is unclear to you, you can also think of the knight going one step straight (along a file or rank) and one step diagonal, all in one move.

If this isn't much clearer, you can think of the knight going two steps straight and then one to the side (like the letter L), all in one move. Notice the knight always changing colors when it moves. Knights Jump! The knight is the only piece that is allowed to jump over other pieces all of the time. In the above picture, the knight is still able to reach all of the eight squares. It's allowed to jump over all the other pieces of both colors (including other knights). The King. The king has two ways of moving. First the "normal" one, that can be used during the whole game. The king may move to any adjoining square, as long as that square isn't attacked by any of the opponents pieces. This means that the king may not move to a square where it would be "in check". The second way of moving the king is called "castling". Castling This is a move of the king together with its rook (the same color). In castling the king and rook both move. This counts as one move.

The execution is as follows (starting with the king): the king is transferred from its original square two squares towards the rook on its original square, then the rook is transferred to the square the king has just crossed. In other words: the king moves two squares to the right (or left) from its original square, then the rook jumps over the king and lands right beside the king. Because there are two rooks, the castling can be done in two directions. If castling is done on the side of the board where the king starts (previous diagram), it's called "kingside castling". The next diagram shows the "queenside castling", where the king moves to the side of the board where the queen starts. The right to castle has been lost: - if the king has already moved - with a rook that has already moved. Castling is prevented temporarily: - if the square on which the king stands, or the square which it must cross, or the square which it is to occupy is attacked by one or more of the opponent's pieces. - if there is any piece between the king and the rook with which castling is to be affected. The Pawns.

-The pawn may move forward to the unoccupied square immediately in front of it on the same file, or - the pawn may move to a square occupied by an opponent's piece (or pawn), which is diagonally in front of it, on an adjacent file, capturing that piece (or pawn). On its first move the pawn has a third possibility. It may move forward two squares on the same file, provided both squares are unoccupied. The diagram shows all the squares involved. If any square with an X would contain an opponent's piece, that piece could be captured. In that case the pawn would land on another file. The pawn may move to its dotted square. Pawns never move backward. Capturing "En Passant" A pawn attacking a square crossed by an opponent's pawn which has advanced two squares in one move from its original square may capture this opponent's pawn as though the latter had been moved only one square. This capture is only legal on the move directly following this advance and is called an "en passant" capture. So, when the black pawn moves two squares (in the above diagram), the white pawn may capture it, while landing on the square marked with an X (see the following diagrams).

Pawn Promotion When a pawn reaches the other side (the rank furthest from its starting position), it must be exchanged as part of the same move on the same square for a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same color. The choice is not restricted to the pieces that have been captured previously. So it's possible to have multiple queens or more than two rooks, bishops or knights. Moving the pieces If you touch a piece, you have to make a move with that piece. You may try to make a move with another piece, but your opponent may force you to make a move with the piece you initially touched (unless that piece can't make a legal move). When you release a piece on a new square you may not move it to another square on this move (unless the move is illegal, in that case you have to make another move with the same piece). Completion of the game Winning The game is won by the player who has checkmated his opponent's king with a legal move. The game is also won if the opponent declares he resigns. Draw The game is drawn when the player to move has no legal move and his king is not in check. The game is said to end in "stalemate".

The game is drawn when neither player can checkmate the opponent's king with any series of legal moves. This is said to be a "dead position". The game is drawn upon agreement between the two players during the game. The game may be drawn if an identical position is about to appear or has appeared on the chessboard at least three times. The game may be drawn if each player has made at least the last 50 consecutive moves without the movement of any pawn and without any capture. evaluation - How many points is each chess piece worth? - Chess Stack Exchange How many points is each chess piece worth? I am a beginner at chess; please answer this for me: How many points is each chess piece worth? I have edited my answer. Now, it is a simple list of individual pieces and piece combinations. Cheers. – Rauan Sagit Feb 16 '14 at 13:51 Rook and Knight - 7.5 points Rook and Bishop - 8 points Pair of Rooks - 10 points Three light pieces - 10 points Rook and two light pieces - 11 points add a comment | Did you find this question interesting?

Try our newsletter Sign up for our newsletter and get our top new questions delivered to your inbox ( see an example ). Subscribed! up vote 19 down vote The answer by MikroDel gives the commonly-used "Reinfeld values" of pawn=1, bishop=knight=3, rook=5, and queen=9 (kings are essentially worth an infinite number of points, because the game ends if it is lost). While this is a good guide, chess is rarely that simple. Many books will give the value of bishops as 3.5 instead of 3, simply because they are often much stronger than knights in endgames and open middlegames. There are other things to take into account as well. For example, bishops are much stronger if you own both of yours, but you opponent has already lost/traded one or both of theirs. The nature of the position can also affect the worth of individual pieces, as a position that is completely blocked up might leave a bishop with no useful squares to go to while a knight may be able to jump straight over the obstruction.

Another example of how the Reinfeld values can be misleading is that 3 minor pieces (bishops and knights) are often more powerful than a single queen, provided that they are used properly. For some further reading, you might also want to take a look at which has a much more detailed explanation. 3 "While this is a good guide, chess is rarely that simple." that was in no way the idea of my answer. Thats why I wrote that the evaluation depends on position. And also have extra posted an explanation what was meant – MikroDel May 29 '13 at 8:10 4 Even more detailed than the wikipedia page is Larry Kaufman's Evaluation of Material Imbalances . – dfan May 29 '13 at 12:13 1 @MikroDel Yes, that part of my comment was intended to reinforce what you said about Reinfeld's values only being a guide. – DTR May 29 '13 at 13:29 Bishops and Knights are better in closed games, whereas rooks are typically better in open games. Something to consider when trading that knight and bishop for a rook.

– BigHomie May 30 '13 at 16:33 Not a fan of the "king is worth infinite points" bit, because it completely abandons any attempt at gauging the actual relative strength of the king. If all that system does is gauge importance, then wouldn't a lone pawn that's currently positioned to prevent a mate be worth infinite points as well? – b1nary.atr0phy Jul 6 '16 at 3:24 Queen - 9 Pawns The evaluation depends on the position. In some situation you will find it equal or good to give you Rook and Pawn (6 Pawns) for Bishop and Knight (6 Pawns). But it is also possible that two light pieces are more valuable than Rook + Pawn. The value of pieces given to you will be a good start point to evaluate your position. up vote 6 down vote Though one cannot trade one's king for other considerations -- and in this sense the king cannot be evaluated -- the king still has a practical strength as an attacking and defending piece in the many concrete positions in which no immediate mate is in view -- especially during the endgame. This strength can indeed be evaluated.

World Champion Emanuel Lasker regarded the king to be one point stronger than a minor piece. Thus, in this sense, if a knight or bishop has a strength of three, and if we accept Lasker's advice, then the king's strength is four. Computer Chess programs provide an evaluation of pieces relative to the strength of a pawn , which compliment's Dave's answer nicely. To summarize: Piece: Range of Values Queen: 880-1200 King: 10000* *Kings are given a large actual value to simplify the search behavior, but essentially have infinite value There's a great analysis/article about this by GM Larry Kaufman available here. To summarize: Rook = 5 Queen = 9.75 There's also a lot more detail in the article about what situations favor which groups of pieces. For example, when B+N is better than R+P, or when Q+P is better than R+R, etc. up vote 2 down vote The standard is usually to compare pieces to each other (i.e how many pawns is a knight worth, a bishop, a queen etc.?

Another way is to determine piece value dynamically using the idea of "absolute/potential activity" and "nominal activity". This idea is based on the number of squares any given piece controls (and I believe is partly how computer engines determine piece values). I believe it is also called mobility by some chess players. Let me explain: First a few definitions (these are my own, created for the sake of the explanation): Activity = The number of squares any piece controls Control = (referring to squares) when a square(s) cannot be occupied by an opponent piece or pawn due the danger of it being captured Center = The squares e4, d4, e5 and d5 Each piece (lets ignore pawns for the moment) has an absolute activity value and a nominal activity value. The Reinfeld system given above is essentially the former, and it describes the value of the piece in its best condition (i.e where it controls the greatest number of squares). For the sake of convenience we can say that this condition is when the piece is in the center, as all pieces control the maximal number of squares when placed there (try it out with a few pieces and see).

We can quickly formulate some absolute activity values for the pieces by counting the number of squares each piece controls when placed in the center (of an empty board): Queen: Controls 27 squares Bishop: Controls 13 squares Knight: Controls 8 squares *Note that I've omitted the pawn and the king, this is because they are special, and I will deal with them a bit later. Now looking at the above we see that the Reinfeld scores were more or less based on this derivation, with the apparent exception of the bishop which seems to be closer to a rook than a knight (the thing which is omitted here, is the fact that a bishop can only control squares of one color; hence its low Reinfeld value). Other common ideas also become clear with this formulation, e.g the idea of the "two bishops" advantage, which, according to this, would be close to a queen in strength! (13*2 = 26). However, this formulation is only half-complete, because in a real game things are rarely so perfect and ideal as an empty board with your pieces huddled in the center. Thus we introduce the idea of "nominal activity", which is simply the activity of a piece in a given position.

Remember that activity = the number of squares a piece controls. Nominal activity can be constantly in flux (since the position is inevitability bound to change) but is a useful concept when compared against the "absolute activity", for three reasons: It helps you determine whether to trade pieces (and also which pieces to trade) It helps you decide what kinds of positions to create (this is where common chess principles like "knights favor closed positions, bishops favor open ones" come from) It helps you figure out which piece's position you need to improve first ("Knights before bishops" comes from this) Many, many common ideas can be elucidated from this formulation (mostly because it is so fundamental to the game). Consider the idea of a positional sacrifice, it is simply a move which gives up material in exchange for one's piece(s) to get closer to its(their) absolute activity. This brings me to the pawns. The pawns don't really have activity in the same way pieces do, instead they are used to determine terrain, i.e the "positional factors" on the board which determine nominal activity.

In that sense, they are used to limit or increase the nominal activity of other pieces (this why you move the pieces first, then the pawns, because its usually faster to move a piece to a better square than to improve a piece by making a pawn move). Pawns serve other purposes as well, of course, but in the context of this question I think this will suffice. So to summarize: Absolute activity: the greatest number of squares a piece can potentially control Nominal activity: the number of squares a piece controls in a given position Piece Value: a dynamic measurement based upon how close a piece's nominal activity is to its absolute activity EDIT: Notice how easy (and accurate, and logical) piece combination values become when using this system. 2 Rooks (28) > 1 Queen (27) 2 Knights + 1 Bishop (29) > 1 Queen 2 Bishops + 1 Knight (34) >> 1 Queen 2 Bishops (26) >> 2 Knights (16) Bishop + Knight (21) >> Rook + pawn (~16) etc.

Also notice how nominal activity can help determine which pieces are better in the endgame (the pieces whose nominal activity is greatly affected by pawns will improve in the endgame) Bishop (eg ~13) > Knight (eg ~8) Rook (eg ~14) < Bishop + pawn(eg ~15) etc. up vote 1 down vote I'd say in general bishops get 3.5 knights 3, queen 9, rooks 5 and the king doesn't get evaluated because, as everyone said he doesn't have a definite value, but you could say he's quite important in the endgame. Now the values change. So in a closed position knights are stronger than bishops, often stronger than rooks even. In half open-open positions bishops are stronger than knights but 2 bishops basically increase each others strength. Another example, in positions with a small number of pawns and light pieces, 2 rooks are often better than a queen, whereas in positions with a lot of other pieces a queen is (most often) better. So it all really depends on the position. And my words are true only if you can actually use your pieces as good as possible, or something close to that. :)

Question: On a chess board at the start of play what piece is between the queen and its closest knight?
Answer: Bishop