Those who are interested in this oldest and most useful intellectual game for the mind should first of all get acquainted with the main characters of any party. So, let me introduce you chess pieces! There are six different types in total. Each of the two rivals has one king, one queen, two rooks, two bishops, two knights and eight pawns. A player can play either white or black pieces, and white initially has some advantage. In principle, the names of chess pieces speak for themselves, and you can navigate through them in their comparative value, but it still makes sense to consider each piece individually.
His Majesty August is the king!
Finding it on the board is very simple: for white it is in the middle of the first, and for black it is in the last row and resembles a man with a crown in the form of a cross or a pique. This is the tallest and most visible figure. At the beginning of the game, when chess pieces are just beginning to develop, he is a miserable sight: he is attacked, strived to mate, and because of his weakness, he is forced to draw a rook for defense (to castle) and observe the progress of the battles from afar. But if the strength of both armies has noticeably decreased, the King (King) turns into a formidable figure, which often decides the course of the battle.
Gray Cardinal - Queen
It is located next to the king and wears a round hat on his head, and on the demo board is a beautiful five-toothed crown. In Europe, this chess piece is usually called the Queen (Queen), but we have more stuck in the Indian name. A queen, or a vizier, was the name of the king’s first adviser and chief military commander in this distant land. In the game, this is the strongest character, and other chess pieces are noticeably inferior to him in maneuverability and attack power. He can replace a whole detachment of nine pawns with himself.
Unapproachable Fortress - Rook
Sometimes it is called Tura, which means tower. So in France and some other countries called fortresses that can move on land. Chess pieces sailed on ships from India to Russia for so long that this piece turned from an impregnable tower into a boat. That is how our ancestors called large boats in the old days. In value, the rook replaces five pawns and feels great if it stands at the beginning of open lines. Each army has two such chess pieces, and they are located at the corners of the board.
Elephant or officer
Do not look for a figure with a trunk on the field, it is not there! True, in the old days the chess elephant (Bishop) really looked like a real elephant, but now such pieces can only be seen at the exhibition in the Hermitage. Each player has two, and they are located on the sides of the king and queen. Moreover, one elephant moves only along white, and the second - only along black cells. Such is the separation of functions. This piece is equal in strength to three pawns.
Horse or rider
In the West, this figure is called Knight, which can be translated as a "knight." Maybe the rider was too heavy, or maybe too clumsy. One way or another, the proud horse decided to get rid of him and now copes well on his own. And sometimes it jumps so gracefully that the enemy only grabs his head and does not know what to do with it! By its strength, a knight, like an elephant, is also equal to three pawns, and players have two such chess pieces. It is located near the boat and looks like a horse's head.
Pawn or footman
The smallest warrior in a round helmet. Unlike other figures, they only advance or hold the defense, they are not allowed to retreat. Opponents each have 8 pieces, and this formidable detachment, lined up in a chain, can deliver a fair amount of trouble to the enemy army. The pawns are weak and often die, faithfully following the orders of their king. But if, despite all the obstacles, this figure still manages to get to the last horizontal, she will immediately be promoted, and she may turn into a queen. Therefore, the farther the infantry advanced, the stronger it was considered.
Fischer Chess, or 960 Chess
Let it not surprise you that the arrangement of chess pieces may differ from the standard. The reason for this is the invention of Robert Fisher, the eleventh world champion in this game. Since 1996, this kind of chess has slowly gained popularity and a considerable number of fans. In it, the figures before the start of the game are arranged randomly, taking into account some small restrictions. Fisher’s chess rules coincide with the traditional ones, and in total there may be 960 initial starting positions. The elephants of the opponents here are necessarily diverse, and each army is lined up symmetrically. That, perhaps, is all that we wanted to tell about the figures in this wonderful board game.