Funcion of the Chess Pieces

PAWNS

• The pawn is one of the most underestimated chess pieces of the game because it is quite small and you have plenty of them on the board.

• Some famous chess players even call them “the soul of chess”. A reason for that is, for example, that when having reached the other side of the board, they can transform into any other piece except the king.

ROOK

• In the chess world, we call them rooks. A rook is a very valuable piece being worth as much as 4 to 5 pawns and having a wide reach.

• The movement is the easiest to learn of all pieces – rooks can go forward, backward, to the left or to the right. Of course, the rook can not change directions in the same move.

KNIGHT

• The two knights, which look like little horses, are the minor pieces in the chess game. In the beginning, they stand inside the rooks and their value is equal to 3 pawns.

• This chess piece, sometimes called “horse”, has a quite mysterious way of moving on the board which can puzzle beginners just start to learning the chess rules. The knight is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

THE BISHOP

• The two bishops are the other minor pieces in the game. They sit next to the knights and, just as with the knights, they are worth 3 pawns each (some grandmasters would value them at about 3.3 pawns due to how powerful they can be in open positions).

• The bishop is the ruler over the diagonals of the chess board. One of them is light-squared, the other one is dark-squared.

QUEEN

• The Queen, with a crown on her head, is (besides the king!) the most important and powerful piece in the game of chess. Each player has just one queen and she is worth 9 pawns!

• The queen sits next to the bishop – on the central square that matches the piece’s color (a black queen starts on the black square in the middle of all the other pieces, a white queen on a white square).

KING

• The King is the most important piece in any chess game and is placed next to the Queen, wearing a cross on his head. He is worth endless pawns, the lives of all your other pieces because when you checkmate the opponent’s King, the game is over and you carry home a victory!

• Thus, it is crucial to keep your king safe and try to weaken the opponents’. The king is limited in his movement. He can move just one square in any direction, but only if he isn’t placed in check by doing so.

Addiotinal Info

• Check in the game of chess is when the enemy king is under attack by an enemy piece and in danger of being captured on the next move.

There are three ways to deal with a check. These are:

• capture the attacking piece

• block the check with one of your pieces, so the king is shielded

• or move the king to a square where he isn’t under attack.

Welcome :)