by Steven Mars

Created on: June 24, 2008   Last Updated: October 26, 2010

Each player in the game of chess has one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights, and eight pawns at the start of a game. Chess has points that estimate the strength of a piece. The queen is nine points and is the most powerful piece. It can move both diagonally, horizontally, and vertically as many squares as are available. A sacrifice of the queen is one of the hardest things to achieve and still win.

The rooks are worth five points apiece. The rook can move horizontally and vertically, but not diagonally. Connecting the two rooks is an important procedure that plays a part in many won games. A rook is powerful against separated pawns, but a knight or a bishop (also called a minor piece) are better against connected pawns. A rook cannot prohibit one of two pawns on the sixth rank from reaching the promoting square.

The bishops are worth 3 points apiece. The bishops move only along the diagonals.

The bishop pair, however, can be a very powerful tool, especially against two knights. One strategy for the player with two knights against two bishops is an exchange of one of the bishops for one of the knights. This can easily be done because the bishops and knights are both worth 3 points.

The knights have the same value as the bishops (three points), but they are more powerful locally because they control several squares about two squares from themselves. The knight makes the strangest move of the pieces. It moves one square diagonally, then one square vertically or horizontally. A bishop can move from one end of the board to the other end in one move. A knight has the capability of jumping over other pieces, both its own and its opponent's.

Being a long distance piece, the bishops can control pieces across the board. One drawback of the bishop is it only moves along one color of the board, either the black squares or the white squares (there is one black square and one white square bishop at the start of the game for each side). The bishops are slightly more powerful than the knights because of their far reaching capability and their power as a pair. The knight has a tactical threat of a fork that can be used to win a queen or rook for a knight or bishop. Its fork can also be used as an unexpected tactical maneuver.

Each pawn is worth only one point, but can be traded for a queen or any other piece except a pawn if it reaches the eighth rank. This is one of the most important aspects of the game of chess. Another difference from the other pieces

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>