The king is the most important piece in a game of chess. It is so important that it is the only piece without a value because the game revolves around this piece. The general goal is to capture the opponents king. We will go into depth on this later. Because of this you often want to protect it since its movement is fairly limited. The king can move in any direction however he can only move one space at a time. This is shown by the picture on the right with the red squares displaying the locations the king can move to.
The queen is the most powerful piece. The queen can move horizontally and diagonaly as far as possible in any direction and because of this is also worth the most points at 9. The queen is powerful for controlling the board late by locking down locking down large amounts of squares. However the queen is also very powerful early since she can easily get into the battle within the first couple of moves. Her multiple options of movement allow for easy escape and many attacking options are included as well.
The rook (also called the castle) is one of the most powerful pieces. It is worth 5 points which is the second highest value only behind the Queen. It can move along any horizontal or vertical line for as long as it has room to move. This piece can be crucial for winning in the late game becuase of its versatility on a cleared board. This movement is displayed in the picture on the right with the red squares being where the rook can move to.
The knight is one of the most versatile pieces. It has less value than the rook at only 3; however, that does not make it any less useful since it has some of the best mobility of all pieces. The knight moves in the shape of an L. It can go up two over one, down two over one, over two up one, or over two down one. The knight is also not restricted by having pieces in the way since it can jump over them. This is shown in the picture on the right with the red squares being the places the knight can move to.
The bishop is a piece of the same value as the knight at 3. While the bishop has less maneuverability than the knight it makes up for it in range. The bishop moves along diagonals for as long of a distance as possible as long as no piece blocks its path. This is comparably useful to the rook in the endgame however not wuite as good since pieces can slip past it easier.
