Contents
Chess Basics
Chess Pieces
Special Chess Moves
How to Read Chess Notation
The Opening Strategy of Chess
The Middle Game of Chess
Common Checkmates in Chess
The Chess Endgame
Draws in Chess
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Chess Pieces
Each type of piece on a chessboard moves across the board in a unique way. For example, queens move differently from knights, which move differently from pawns. The way in which different types of pieces move varies in two ways:
- Direction: Whether a piece can move horizontally, vertically, diagonally or in an “L” shape
- Distance: How many squares a piece can move in a single turn
The following descriptions of the different chess pieces and the way they move contain diagrams in which the legal moves that the chess piece can make are marked by red arrows. A piece can move into any square marked by a red arrow. If a series of red dots lies in a straight or diagonal line of squares, the piece can move to any of those squares.
King
The king is usually the tallest piece on the board and, in traditional chess sets, wears a rounded crown with a pointed top.
The king may move one square in any direction: vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.
Queen
The queen is usually the second-tallest piece on the board. In a
traditional chess set, the queen wears a crown with a few spiky points.
The queen may move any number of vacant squares in any single direction: vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Because the queen can move in all these directions without limit, it’s the most powerful piece on the board.
Rook
A rook is a squat piece that’s a bit taller than a pawn. In a traditional chess set, the rook has a top that resembles the ramparts on a
castle tower.
A rook may move horizontally or vertically along any number of
vacant squares.
Bishop
A bishop is a bit shorter than a queen. In a traditional chess set, the bishop wears a hat that’s round at the bottom and curves to a point.
A bishop may move any number of vacant squares diagonally. Note that a bishop always moves on squares of the same color—that is, a bishop that begins on a light square will always remain on light squares. A bishop that begins on a dark square will always remain on dark squares.
Knight
A knight is shaped to
resemble the head of a horse. It moves in a three-square “L” shape: two squares horizontally and one square vertically, or vice versa. Legal moves and captures for a knight are indicated on the diagram by yellow dots.
A knight is the only piece that can jump over intervening pieces. As long as the destination square is not occupied by a piece of the same color, a knight can jump over any intervening pieces.
Pawn
The pawn is the smallest piece on the board. In a traditional chess set, pawns have round heads.
Pawns are the only chess pieces that move differently from the way they capture.
- Move: When moving, a pawn may only travel forward, one square at a time. On its first move only, a pawn may move either one or two squares forward. If the square in front of a pawn is occupied, then the pawn is blocked and can’t move.
- Capture: A pawn can only capture an enemy piece that is located on either of the two squares adjacent to the square immediately in front of the pawn.
In the diagram above, legal moves for a pawn on its first move are indicated by red dashes, and legal captures for a pawn are indicated by yellow dots.
Chess Piece Rankings
The way chess pieces move on the board defines their relative value. To make these values clear, chess players have assigned a numerical ranking to each piece:
- King: Infinite (losing the king means losing the game)
- Queen: 9
- Rook: 5
- Bishop: 3
- Knight: 3
- Pawn: 1
Though the point values are not formally used for scoring the game, knowing each piece’s value can help you decide whether to make a particular capture or exchange. For example, capturing a rook (5 points) in exchange for giving up a knight (3 points) would generally be considered a good trade, but capturing a bishop by giving up a queen would not.
Knight and Bishop Rankings
Though a knight and a bishop are each worth 3 points,
bishops are generally considered slightly stronger than knights. You should hesitate to trade a bishop for a knight.
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