History and Facts about Chess Pieces

Chess is a board game played between two players. The chess game is mostly dominated by strategy and precise movements of trading pieces in the better position to win the opponent by capturing their king (A most important piece in chess). Chess has been played by many peoples from all over the world for hundreds of years. The chess game is believed to have originated from India which is popularly known as the “Chaturanga” game. 

Pieces of Chess and Their Meanings

A standard chess game has 32 pieces, with each player having 16 pieces – eight pawns, two knights, two bishops, two rooks, one queen, and one king. The chess pieces are often referred to as materials or chessmen. And each of these pieces has separate chess pieces points.

• The King

The KIng is the most important piece in the chessboard. If the king is checkmated, then the game is over. The chess game’s main motto revolves around the king by finding ways to protect the king from the opponent. The king can move in any direction, but only one move at a time.  

• The Queen

The queen is the most powerful and valuable piece on the chessboard. The queen can move any unoccupied space in any direction- horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. When queen moves are combined with rook and bishop, then it becomes an extremely powerful piece.

• The Rook

The rook is considered to be another powerful piece in the player’s arsenal, and there are 2 rooks. The rooks can move either horizontally or vertically on any number of occupied spaces per move by capturing the opposing piece by occupying its place. 

• The Bishop

Like the knight, the bishop is also considered a minor piece. There are 2 bishops, and they can move in any direction diagonally, which means the bishop will always move in the same color from which it started.  

• The Knight

The knights are considered to be the minor pieces in the chessboard and there are 2 knights. Only knights have unusual movement rules in the game (L- shape). They have a special ability to jump from one over the other pieces at their normal move. 

• The Pawn

The pawn is considered to be the lowest value piece on the chessboard. There are sixteen pawns ( eight pawns per player) and are arranged in a pawn structure. The pawns can make one or two spaces forward and diagonally in either direction. 

The Point Value of Chess Pieces

Pieces	Pawn	Knight	Bishop	Rook	Queen
Value	1	3	3	5	9