The six chess pieces at a glance
Each player starts with 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. In notation every piece has a capital letter except the pawn. Values are in points, with a pawn worth 1.
| Piece and move | Symbol | Points | Per side |
|---|---|---|---|
| KingOne square in any direction. | K | none | 1 |
| QueenAny distance along ranks, files and diagonals. | Q | 9 | 1 |
| RookAny distance along ranks and files. | R | 5 | 2 |
| BishopAny distance along diagonals. | B | 3 | 2 |
| KnightAn L shape, jumping over pieces. | N | 3 | 2 |
| PawnForward one square, captures diagonally. | P | 1 | 8 |
How the king moves
The king moves one square in any direction: forward, back, sideways or diagonally. It captures the same way.
It can never move onto a square an enemy piece attacks. When your king is attacked (in check) you must get it out of check, and if you cannot, it is checkmate and the game is over.
Once a game, the king can castle with a rook (see Castling below).
How the queen moves
The queen moves any number of squares in a straight line: along a rank, a file or a diagonal. She combines the rook and the bishop.
She cannot jump. She stops at the first piece in her way, and can capture it if it belongs to the opponent.
She is the strongest piece on the board. Each side starts with its queen on its own colour: the white queen on d1, a light square, and the black queen on d8, a dark one.
How the rook moves
The rook moves any number of squares in a straight line along a rank (sideways) or a file (up and down). It cannot move diagonally.
Like the queen and the bishop it cannot jump: it stops at the first piece in its path and captures it if it is an enemy piece.
On an empty board a rook always reaches 14 squares, wherever it stands.
How the bishop moves
The bishop moves any number of squares diagonally. It cannot jump over pieces.
A bishop stays on the colour it starts on for the whole game. That is why each side has one light-squared and one dark-squared bishop.
How the knight moves
The knight moves in an L shape: two squares in one direction, then one square to the side. It is the only piece that jumps over other pieces.
It captures only on the square it lands on. Every knight move changes the colour of its square.
Its letter is N, because K is already the king.
How the pawn moves
A pawn moves straight forward one square. From its starting square it may move two squares instead, if both are empty.
It captures one square diagonally forward, never straight ahead, and it never moves backward.
Pawns have two special moves, en passant and promotion (below). In notation a pawn move is written with no letter: e4 means a pawn went to e4.
Special moves: castling, en passant and promotion
Three moves break the basic patterns above. All three come up in real games, and the drill tests the two pawn ones.
Castling
The king moves two squares toward a rook, and that rook moves to the other side of the king, onto the square the king crossed. Kingside, the white king goes e1 to g1 and the rook h1 to f1. Queenside, the king goes e1 to c1 and the rook a1 to d1.
You can castle only if neither piece has moved yet, the squares between them are empty, and the king is not in check, does not pass through an attacked square and does not land on one.
En passant
If an enemy pawn moves two squares forward and lands right beside your pawn, your pawn may capture it as if it had moved only one square. You land on the square it skipped.
You must do it on the very next move, or the chance is gone.
Promotion
A pawn that reaches the last rank must become a queen, rook, bishop or knight of the same colour, right away. Almost everyone picks a queen.
Promotion does not depend on which pieces were captured, so you can have two or more queens.
Chess piece values
Pawn 1, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5, queen 9.
Points are a guide for trades, not a rule. Trading a bishop (3) for a rook (5) wins material, often called winning the exchange. A knight and a bishop are about equal, and two bishops together are usually a little stronger than two knights.
The king has no point value because it can never be captured. Losing it is losing the game.
Each side starts with 39 points of material: eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks and a queen.
Frequently asked questions
What are the 16 chess pieces called?
Each player has 16 pieces: one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. Both sides together have 32.
Is it a rook or a castle?
Its name is the rook. Some people call it a castle because of its shape, but rook is the correct term. Castling is the special move the rook makes with the king.
Which chess piece is the most powerful?
The queen, worth 9 points, because she moves any distance along ranks, files and diagonals. The king is the most important piece, since losing it loses the game, but it is not the strongest.
How much is each chess piece worth?
Pawn 1 point, knight 3, bishop 3, rook 5 and queen 9. The king has no value because it can never be captured.
What are the old names for chess pieces?
In shatranj, the Persian and Arabic game modern chess grew out of, the queen was the ferz (advisor) and moved one square diagonally, the bishop was the alfil (elephant), the rook was the rukh (chariot) and the knight was the faras (horse). The queen and bishop got their long moves in Europe in the late 15th century.