Chess 101: The Rook Chess Piece
May 23, 2011
Tags: Chess 101
The rook piece from the Reykjavik Chess Set.
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.
How A Rook Chess Piece Moves
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 can move forward, backward, left or right at any time.
- The rook piece can move anywhere from 1 to 7 squares in any direction, so long as it is not obstructed by any other piece.
Castling
The rook piece is the only piece on the board that can participating 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.
Favorite Sets
While many chess sets have very traditional rook chess pieces, some chess sets have some very interesting and beautiful rook chess pieces. Here are a few of our recommendations for chess sets with beautiful rook chess pieces.
Reykjavik 3 3/4″ Sheesham Chess Pieces
St. Petersburg 3 3/4″ Ebonized Chess Pieces
Fianchetto 4″ Ebony Chess Pieces
Soigne 4″ Rosewood Chess Pieces
