The Pieces

There are six types of chess pieces.

The pawn

Hay ocho peones en cada bando, y siempre se colocan en la segunda y séptima fila al inicio de la partida. Cada peón vale un punto.

There are eight pawns in each side, which are always placed on the second and seventh ranks at the start of the game. Each pawn is worth one point.

One characteristic of pawns is that they can never move backward and must always stay in the same file. On their first move, pawns can move either one or two squares forward, but after that, they can only move one square at a time. Pawns are also the only pieces that do not capture in the same direction they move. Instead, they capture diagonally, landing on the square of the captured piece.

Another special move is promotion. When a pawn reaches the last rank on the opponent’s side of the board, it can be promoted. This means it can be replaced with a knight, a bishop, a rook, or a queen. The chosen piece replaces the pawn, and the game continues.

A special move that pawns have is “en passant”, or capture in passing. If a pawn has crossed the halfway point of the board and an opponent’s pawn moves forward to land beside it, the first pawn can capture it, but only on the next move. The capturing pawn moves diagonally as if it had made a normal capture, and the captured pawn is removed from the board.

The king

The king is the most important piece, without it, the game ends.

It can move in any direction but only one square at a time.

Castling is a special move which allows a player to move both a rook and the king at the same time. This move helps protect the king and activates the rook. During castling, the king moves two squares toward a rook, and the rook is placed on the other side of the king. There are two types of castling, long and short castling. Short castling is done with the rook closest to the King, and long castling is done with the rook closest to the queen. To castle, there can’t be any pieces between the king and the rook. Neither the king nor the rook can have moved before castling. If the king has moved at any point, castling is no longer allowed. If one rook has moved, the player must castle with the other rook. If the king is in check ori f any of the squares through which the king must pass is attacked by the opponent, he can’t castle.

The queen

The queen is the most powerful piece on the board, which is why each player has only one. It is worth nine points. The queen can move both diagonally and in straight lines, traveling as many squares as it wants in any direction.

The rook

The rook is a piece worth five points and i sable to move as many squares as it wants to. Each player has two rooks, and the can only move in a straight line, horizontally or vertically.

The bishop

The bishop is worth three points, and each player has two. They are called the light-square bishop and the dark-square bishop, depending on the color of the squares they start on. Bishops can move diagonally as many squares as they want.

The knight

The knight is also worth three points, like the bishop, and each player has two. It moves in an L-shape, two squares vertically or horizontally, followed by one square in a perpendicular direction. Unlike the rest of the pieces, the knight can jump over other pieces along its path and only captures on the final square.