There are six kinds of piece in chess, and each moves in its own way. Learn these six patterns and you know most of the rules. The dots in the diagrams below show every square the piece can reach from where it stands, on an otherwise empty board.
Two rules apply to every piece. First, a piece can never move onto a square occupied by one of its own side. Second, only the knight can jump: every other piece is stopped by whatever stands in its way.
The king moves one square in any direction — forwards, backwards, sideways or diagonally.
It is the most important piece and, for most of the game, one of the weakest. It may never move onto a square where it would be attacked, which also means the two kings can never stand next to each other. In the opening and middlegame it usually hides behind its pawns; in the endgame, once the dangerous pieces are gone, it comes out and fights.
The rook moves in straight lines — up, down, left or right — as many squares as it likes, until something blocks it.
Like every piece except the knight, the rook cannot pass through other pieces. When it meets one of its own, it stops before it. When it meets an enemy piece, it can capture it by moving onto its square — but it cannot go past.
The bishop moves diagonally, any number of squares, until it is blocked.
Because it only ever moves diagonally, a bishop never changes the colour of its square. A bishop that starts on a light square stays on light squares for the whole game. That is why each side has two: one for the light squares and one for the dark, and together they can reach the whole board. Keeping both of them — “the bishop pair” — is a small but real advantage.
The queen combines the rook and the bishop: she moves in any straight line, along ranks, files or diagonals, as far as she likes.
She is by far the strongest piece, which makes her tempting to bring out early. Resist it. A queen in the middle of the board in the opening becomes a target, and the opponent develops new pieces with every move that chases her away.
The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in one straight direction, then one square to the side. It is the only piece that jumps — it ignores anything in between and lands directly on its destination.
A useful way to see it: a knight always lands on a square of the opposite colour to the one it left. Because it can jump, the knight is the one piece that can move before a single pawn has moved.
Knights are strongest in the centre and weakest on the edge. In the corner, a knight reaches just two squares; on the edge, three or four. The old warning is “a knight on the rim is dim”.
The pawn is the simplest piece to move and the most complicated to understand. It moves straight forward, one square at a time, and it can never move backwards. On its very first move, each pawn may choose to move two squares instead of one.
Unlike every other piece, the pawn does not capture the way it moves. It captures one square diagonally forward. So a pawn with an enemy piece directly in front of it is simply stuck, while an enemy piece diagonally in front of it can be taken.
Pawns have two more special abilities. A pawn that reaches the far side of the board is promoted, usually to a queen, and a pawn can in one particular situation capture another pawn en passant. Both are explained in Special moves, together with castling.
Players use a simple points system to judge whether a trade is good. It is only a guide — a well-placed knight can be worth more than a buried rook — but it will stop you giving away material by accident.
| Piece | Value |
|---|---|
| Pawn | 1 |
| Knight | 3 |
| Bishop | 3 |
| Rook | 5 |
| Queen | 9 |
| King | priceless — losing it loses the game |
So trading a knight for a bishop is even, giving a rook for a knight costs you two points, and winning a queen for a rook gains you four. Before every capture, count what you take and what you will lose back.
Chess pieces: “cburnett” set by Colin M. L. Burnett, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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