Which way do rooks move

Your opponent's pawn directly across the board from your own pawn is called the "Counterpawn". Each pawn on your board begins the game with its own counterpawn. At the start of the game, all pawns are considered "unfree", or not able to reach the opposite side of the board because of its counterpawn.

Once its counterpawn has been captured, the pawn is then considered "half-free". Each pawn on the board also has opposing pawns called "sentries". Sentries are the opponent's pawn chess pieces that sit directly across from it, but are to the left and right by one square.

These pawns are the pieces your opponent could use to capture your pawn. While sentries can make it difficult for your pawn to cross the board, their obstruction of your piece is not absolute. Each of your own pawn chess pieces has "helpers".

These are its neighboring pawn pieces that can be used to help the pawn chess piece cross the board. When trying to reach the other side of a board, a pawn piece is known as a "candidate". In most cases, your candidate piece would advance first, followed by its helper pieces, trying to ensure its safety. Once the sentries of a pawn piece have been captured, the pawn is now considered "free".

This means it no longer has any opposing pawns in its path to reaching the other side of the board. When two pawns meet at squares directly in front of each other, they are considered part of a "ram". In basic terms, a ram occurs when two pawn pieces are blocking each other's movements across the board. When helper pawns get involved, a ram can be broken, allowing the pawn chess piece to move forward. Avoiding rams is important when attacking an opponent as it eliminates your ability to use the pawn in the attack.

Pawns can be very useful tools as you play the game of chess. Gaining a more in-depth understanding of how to use pawns in chess is crucial to becoming a better chess player. Here are some great books we recommend for studying pawn play in chess:. The straight piece. That's the easiest way to describe the rook chess piece. In traditional sets, the piece looks kind of like a castle tower and begins each chess game as the outside corner pieces.

Each player has two rook pieces to begin. The rooks are the most simple-moving chess pieces on the board. Their movements are only straight, moving forward, backward or side to side. At any point in the game, the piece can move in any direction that is straight ahead, behind or to the side. Here are a few things to know about how the Rook chess piece moves:. The rook piece is the only piece on the board that can participate in a "castling" move with the King piece.

This is a move where the King piece and the rook piece work together, allowing the player to move two pieces at the same time. We'll discuss castling later. When it comes to your chess set, the Knight chess piece is often the defining piece in the set. This piece offers the most chance for variety and uniqueness in a chess set and it is often the piece with the most detail.

When it comes to the game of chess, the Knight chess piece is often the favorite piece and most unpredictable piece in the game. Many a game has been ended because of the make-or-break tactics with the Knight. Black has no good way to counter this plan. Kc6 Kf8 4. Kxc7 The pawn endgame is losing for black because the white king is better placed.

Kb7 Kd6 7. The ultimate fun for rooks is when they both get on the seventh rank! Besides winning games for your, the doubled rooks can also save you from defeat. The standard drawing method is by perpetual check. In the example below, black is the one ready to give checkmate. But white can escape with a draw by checking for dear life.

Note that checking at any time with the rook on e7 loses. After the black king reached d8, the checks are over, and not 3. Rook lifts are a great way to develop your rooks. We usually develop rooks by moving them to files that are not blocked by pawns.

Those are called open files. A another way to get your rook into action is with a rook lift. As you might already know, lift is the British term for elevator. From there, the rook moves along the rank to find a good spot for attacking. In this diagram, the black king is in trouble.

If white can get a rook to the kingside, it will be game over. Too bad the Bishop on a6 stops 1. The natural move for white is 1. Re1, switching the rook to the open e-file. In chess, a queen is considered the most powerful chess piece. And queen is worth 9 points. After queen, in terms of power, the rook is the second most powerful piece in chess. Both queen and rook are major pieces. There are many incidents in which you may lose the game despite having your valuable chess pieces such as the queen and the rook on the board.

I have talked more about this in my in-depth article on piece development. So you can read that for further knowledge. It is because then they might get easily attacked by the less powerful pieces of the opponent such as pawns or knights.

Only after the center pawns, the minor pieces such as knight and bishops are developed, and castling is done, you can think of bringing the rook near the center. And as I said you not only need to bring your rook out of the corner square but you should also attach it with your rook on the other side.

Doing that both rooks protect each other. All these concepts I have covered in more detail in my article on fundamental chess opening principles every chess player should know.

So I highly recommend you to check that out! So I hope you learned everything about how the rook moves and captures in chess. If you found this article helpful then you can thank me by sharing it with others. And if you want a complete guide that teaches you how to play chess, then I highly recommend you to check out my free step-by-step chess basics series.

I know the actual problems that chess players face. A back-rank mate occurs when checkmate is delivered, you guessed it, on the back rank! Please note that the pawns in front of the king block any movement forward, while the rook takes away all squares on the eighth rank.

Let's test you to see if you can recognize how a rook moves. In the following position, can White's rook on the e1-square capture Black's knight on the e4-square? Yes, the rook can capture the knight on the e4-square! Let's try another one—can White's rook on the c1-square move to the c8-square? You now know where to place the rooks when a game is started, how much the rook is valued, how the rook moves, and how the rook contributes to several common checkmates!

Enjoy your new knowledge of the rook, and may your rooks find many open files. Reading an article is a fantastic way to learn new material.

For some people, watching a video lesson can be even more helpful! Check out the short video lesson below about the rook! The rooks at their starting positions. How The Rook Moves As mentioned, the rook is the second most powerful piece behind the queen. The rook can move up or down on any file! The rook can move left or right on any rank!