Movement of Chess Pieces

To be a successful chess player, you need to know where you can and cannot move your pieces. After all, the movement of the pieces is pretty much the most important rule of this game. If you do not know how to do this, you are never going to become a good chess player.

When it comes down to it, each chess piece has its own way of moving around the board. Many feel that memorizing these movements is the most difficult part of learning the game. Luckily, once you are comfortable with this, you will never go back.

The king has the ability to move one square at a time. This can be done vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. You should also know that your king can take advantage of “castling” one timer per game. Castling is when you move your piece two places towards a rook. In turn, the rook is then moved to the far side of your king.

The queen can move to any unoccupied square. This can be done by moving vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

The rook can move both vertically and horizontally to any square that is unoccupied. As mentioned above, it is also used in a castling move.

The bishop moves diagonally, and much like the rook, can only move to unoccupied squares. Since a bishop can only move diagonally, it will always be on the same color square.

The knight must move to the nearest square, but there are some rules that govern this. Although this piece will move to the nearest square, it cannot do so to one of the same rank or file, or a diagonal.

Perhaps the most difficult movement to learn is that of the pawns. A pawn has the ability to move forward one space as long as it is vacant. If two squares in front of a pawn are vacant, and it has yet to make a move, it can jump ahead both spaces.

You should also keep in mind that the knight is the only piece that can jump others. Additionally, when moving your pieces, you should keep in mind that you can never pass your own. On top of this, you cannot pass the opposing player’s pieces, but you do have the ability to capture them.

Any captured piece is removed from the board. The only piece that cannot be captured during a game of chess is the king. But with that being said, the king can be put in check; which is how you will win.

This outline should give you a better idea of how you can move your pieces during a game of chess.