Guide to Different Chess Pieces

Understanding the real purpose of the various chess pieces takes considerable amount of time. Though the way in which they move might take no longer than a few minutes to grasp, the real functions of the pieces can only be understood with practice. Like, for instance, consider the Queen. We all know that it’s the most powerful piece in the game. But how does one use it? Whether use it for defense or take it out to hunt as many opponent pieces as you can? Well this guide to different chess pieces can clear some of your doubts.

Before we begin, it is worth to take a quick review of how the chess pieces move – in case you’re rusty. The queen, as mentioned earlier, it the most powerful piece in the game, so use it wisely. It can move forward, backward, sideways, and also diagonally. The rook is probably the most strategically important piece of the game. It can move in every direction and as far as it can, except in the diagonal direction. The Bishop moves exclusively in the diagonal direction, and can move only in its assigned colored square.

The knight moves differently than all other pieces in the game, it moves four places in an L direction and it can leap over pieces. This makes it quite useful, when you need to quickly move your piece. So now let us have a look at the different strategic uses for the pieces in our guide to different chess pieces. The rook is a powerful chess piece that is often neglected by inexperienced chess players. Most only bring the rook into the game halfway through. But a good strategy would be to bring in the pieces quite early. Because when two rooks act together, they can be highly effective at capturing all the chess pieces. So instead of using it defensively, take them forefront and get aggressive.

Surprisingly, people use bishops more often than any other chess pieces. But any good guide to different chess pieces will suggest you that, using the bishops alone can be a waste of a chess piece. Since the bishop cannot move in the same colored square as the other bishop, they cannot work in tandem as the rooks. But when accompanied by the queen or preferably the knight, they can lure other pieces into an ambush. Probably the only strategically good way to use the bishop is to use it to force other pieces into an ambush.

And finally as far as the queen is concerned, the ultimate purpose depends on your mindset. If you’re really confident that you can protect your king well enough, and if you want to force your opponent into a check mate, then take her out for a spin. But if you’re not quite sure how your opponent will play, it is advisable to keep her in defense. Take your pawns out to the center position and patrol the queen behind the lines. This can save your king’s head and also give an advantage to your gameplay as well. Though no guide to the different chess pieces is complete, this should be enough to get you going. So go on and have fun playing.