Chess Pieces: King, Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop & Pawn - PART 2

Welcome to Part 2 of Chess Pieces: King, Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop & Pawn.

If you have not read Part 1, then refer to this.

Let us continue with the check, capture, and basic checkmate patterns of each piece.

Check by each piece:

We have already learnt about the piece movement in article Part 1. Let us now learn how each piece gives a check with a demonstration: We all know that the check is given only to the King.

By King: King doesn't have the ability to give checks to each other. 

By Queen: Just like how it moves, the Queen gives checks through files, ranks or diagonals. 

Position: W-Kb3,Qg5  B-Kg8

Example of a check by the White Queen to the Black King through the direction: Files (Vertical).

By Rook: Just like how it moves, the Rook gives checks through files or ranks.

Position: W-Kb3, Rb7  B-Kh7

Example of a check by the White Rook to the Black King through the direction: Rank (Horizontal).

By Bishop: Just like how it moves, the Bishop gives checks through its colored diagonals.

Position: W-Kf2  B-Kh7,Bd4

Example of a check by the Black Bishop to the White King through the direction: Diagonal (The crossed squares). Here the Black Bishop is in dark-colored squares.

By Knight: Just like how it moves, the Knight gives checks through L-Shape.

Position: W-Kd4  B-Kh7,Nc6

Example of a check by the Black Knight to the White King through the direction: L-Shape.

By Pawn: Although the pawn moves in files, it gives checks in diagonals. We can give only immediate diagonal checks through pawns.

Position: W-Ke4,e5  B-Kf6

Example of a check by the White Pawn to the Black King through immediate diagonal.

Capturing Technique of each piece:

With demonstrations, let us see how each piece captures in chess.

By King: The king can capture the opponent's piece or a pawn only if it is unsupported.

Position: W-Kc3  B-Kg7,c4.

In this position, The White King can capture the Black Pawn as the pawn is unsupported.

Position: W-Kc3  B-Kc5,c4.

The same does not apply to this position, as the Black pawn in c4 is now supported by its Black King. So the White King cannot capture the pawn.

By Queen: The Queen can capture the opponent's piece in file, rank or diagonal.

Position: W- Kc3,Qc4  B-Kh7,c7,Nf7,Bg4.

The White Queen can potentially capture either the Pawn (in File), Knight (in Diagonal) or Bishop (in Rank).

By Rook: The Rook can capture the opponent's piece in file or rank.

Position: W-Ka2,Rc4  B-Kg7,Bc6,Bh4

The White Rook can potentially capture either the Bishop on c6 (in File) or the Bishop on h4 (in Rank).

By Bishop: The Bishop can capture the opponent's piece in diagonal only.

Position: W-Kc2,Nf3,a2  B- Kb7,Bd5

The Black Bishop on a white-colored square can potentially capture the White Knight or the white pawn, which is also in white-colored squares only.

By Knight: The Knight can capture the opponent's piece in L-Shape only.

Position: W-Ka1,d4,h4  B-Kb7,Nf5

The Black Knight can potentially capture the white pawns that fall in its L-Shape. 

By Pawn: The Pawn can capture the opponent's piece in immediate diagonal only.

Position: W-Ka3,d5  B-Kh8,Ne6

The White pawn can potentially capture the Black pawn or the Black Knight, which is present in immediate diagonal to the White pawn.

En passant is a special ability of the pawns in the way they can capture the opponent's pieces.

Note: While we are capturing a piece or a pawn through Queen, Rook, Knight, Bishop or Pawn, we must note if it's supported or unsupported. If it is unsupported, it is a free piece, but if it is supported, we must check how many supports it has and through how many pieces we are attacking the same piece. If we have more attacks on the piece, then we don't lose anything, else if we capture it, we may lose our certain pieces on the board. 

Let us see one example of this:

Position: W-Ka1,Re1,Bb1,a2  B-Kh8,Re8,e4,h7.

In this position, the White has two attacks on the e4 pawn through the Rook and the Bishop, while black has only one support through its Rook. Then it is safe to capture the pawn in e4.

Value of each piece:

King has either 0 point / No value or infinity. It is because once the king is checkmated; the game is over. There is no concept of capturing the king in chess.

Queen has 9 points in chess. The highest points among any piece is the Queen. It is estimated so high because its ability & mobility in chess is that great.

The next highest value piece in chess is the Rook, having 5 points. Its abilities are slightly less than the Queen. But two Rooks are almost equivalent to one Queen.

Knight and Bishop both have 3 points to their name. The Knight is limited in its movements and the Bishop is only moved in diagonal, so the value is lesser than the Rook & Queen.

Pawns are given 1 point each. For White, totally there are 8 pawns, hence 8 points. Similarly, for Black also 8 points. Pawns are also very limited in their movement and cannot move backwards, hence they are the least valued piece in terms of points in chess.

Does this mean that the pawn can be neglected? Any piece, for that matter, can't be neglected just because of allotted points. 

Note: We cannot win any games with points. It is important for the game to end legally. Legal end can be either due to checkmate, draw/stalemate, walkover, time loss, illegal moves only.

Basic Checkmate Pattern by each piece:

Now that we have learnt how each piece moves, gives checks, captures & value of them. It is time to see some pattern of how each piece can checkmate. These patterns are just examples of how a checkmate is possible through each of the pieces.

By King: We know that through Kings we cannot give checks. Similarly, through the King we cannot directly checkmate the opponent king. But with the help of kings, we can provide support to our pieces to achieve checkmate. This we will see in checkmate patterns through other pieces.

By Queen: 

From the above position, we can tell that the White Queen is supported by our King. Anything supported cannot be captured by the kings, so the Black King cannot capture the White Queen. Moreover, we know that Queen can give checks in all directions. Here, Queen is giving check through File as the Black King is present in the File. This is a checkmate by the Queen as the Black king has no legal squares to move to nor it can take any legal actions.

By Rook:

From the above position, we can tell that the White Rook on h7 is supported by another rook. The Rook on h7 is giving a check to the Black King, and black has no legal squares to move to nor any legal actions to take. Therefore, this is checkmate by Rook.

By Bishop:

From the above position, the Black king is blocked by its own pieces around it. The White Bishop is giving a check in diagonal and the Black King has no legal squares or actions that it can take. Hence, this is checkmate by Bishop.

By Knight:

From the above position, the Black Knight is giving a check to the White King in L-Shape. The White King has no legal squares to move to, nor it can take any legal actions to get out of check. Hence, this is checkmate by Knight. 

By Pawn: 

From the above position, the White Pawn is giving a check to the Black King. The pawn is supported by the White King. The Black King has no legal squares nor legal actions it can take. Hence, this is a checkmate by a pawn.

By various different scenarios of checkmate, we now have a fair idea of how checkmate by each piece looks like. This checkmate pattern is not fixed and varies according to positions, pieces involved & moves played by the players.

To learn about check, legal moves and checkmate, visit our basic chess course at Udemy.