![]() ![]() the king will not land on a 'danger' square.the king will not pass through any squares under attack.there are no other pieces between rook and king.neither the king nor the rook has moved from their starting position.The move is called castling, in which the king and rook (almost) change places. Additionally, it provides a secret 'out' for a king in trouble. It moves horizontally or vertically for as many squares as you wish, as long as its path is not blocked by a piece of its own color. With the rook, we're getting into some serious power! The answer to both of those questions is: not well. How would a medieval city with no walls defend itself? How would a chess king fare without fortification from its outermost piece? Photo credit: Adabo! on Visualhunt The Rook Neighbours knight and rook are not considered particularly valuable but they are powerful. That might explain why the Spanish Opening is the most common it frees up white's bishop and queen without given black the same advantage.įor its relatively minor power in the game, each bishop is accorded three points. Like most other pieces, the bishop cannot jump over pieces of its own colour. Or when it reaches the position the player intends. Despite those limitations, bishops may travel as far as they wish, stopping only when capturing a piece. They may only move diagonally, and they must stay on their colour, meaning the black bishop next to the king can only travel on dark squares while the white bishop next to the queen may traverse the board only on light squares. The same might be said for chess bishops. Think again about a medieval king's advisers: they were long on knowledge and possibly quite adept at laying out strategy but, as far as action is concerned, they were happy to let others do the dirty work. Of course, before discounting pawns as completely disposable, you should find out more about common chess strategies, implemented early in the game, that rely on pawn position.įind more chess lessons here on Superprof. unless they can traverse the entire board, after which they can be promoted. Pawns, for all of their utility, are only accorded one point. Such attacks are not limited to opponents' pawns, though. Keep in mind that pawns may only attack on the diagonal if they confront an opponent's piece head-on, their progress will be blocked until that piece moves. Still, it can move in any direction and onto any colour square. Then, they may move diagonally, but still only one square at a time.Įven the king has greater latitude in movement, for all that it too can move only one square at a time. After that, they may progress only forward, one square at a time, unless attacking. They are allowed a double-square move only once, when they leave their opening position. One may, for example, prefer openings that see the king's pawns move forward two squares for a face-off (the Spanish opening, Italian opening and others) or invoke the Sicilian Defence.įor all of their potential power, pawns are the least mobile chess pieces. Usually first into battle and largely considered expendable, the pawn nevertheless plays a huge role in a player's chess strategy. The pawns line up in defence of the more valuable, powerful chess pieces. That entire regal row stands behind a line of pawns. The bishops, presumably doubling as advisers, should stand next to their masters while the queens, who would face each other in reality, also must face off on the board. The knights, with their ability to hop over obstructions and travel long distances, needn't be as close to the sovereigns as possible. The rooks represent the stronghold's walls, thus must stand on the outside of the line-up. Thinking of chess in historical terms also helps explain why the pieces occupy the places they do. However, there can only ever be one king per player, so a pawn should never be promoted to king. Note that, often, promoted pawns become queens but they could also be promoted to knights, rooks or bishops, as the promoted pawn's player decides. That might help to explain why, although the queen has regenerative powers - once a pawn moves to the eighth rank, it gets promoted to the 'rank' the promoted pawn's player desires, the game is decided only on the king's options - stalemate or checkmate. When you think about chess through the lens of history, it makes perfect sense that pawns would be first into battle, the queen could move about virtually unrestricted and that the king must be protected at all costs. China adopted the game sometime in the 7th Century CE, drawing on an even older game played in India and Persia.įundamentally, chess is a game of military strategy designed according to the armies of the day. Chess, as we know it, is only about 6 centuries old it derives from a Chinese game called xiangqi, which could mean either Elephant Game or Figure Game because the ideogram representing those two words are the same. ![]()
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