Everyone should know the name of the pieces in chess

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

Many people spend their free time playing chess. This game is enjoyed by people of all ages. If you know the rules of the game and draw up a certain strategy of moves, the pleasure of winning will not be long in coming. However, first you need to familiarize yourself with the rules, find out the name of the pieces in chess.

History of chess

The game of chess was invented by the Indians in the 6th century BC. e. In the deep past, chess was called differently. Chaturanga - it meant "Four detachments of troops."

The game was very similar to modern chess, but there were certain differences. The board on which the game itself took place also consisted of 8x8 cells, but only their color was the same. The board was divided into two colors much later, already in Europe. How many pieces in chess in our time, there were so many at that time.

But the main difference between ancient chess was the number of participants in the game. Four people took part in the game at once. Moreover, each exhibited separately his "army" in a certain corner on the game board. Instead of a king, there was a Raja, the pawns were infantry, the cavalry, respectively, consisted of horses, and the army also included war elephants and a chariot from a rook. The figures had four colors: red,yellow, green and black. Players take turns rolling a die, which determines which piece will make the move. If a unit fell out - the move was a pawn, a deuce - a knight, the number three meant the move of the rook, four - the bishop, five and six meant the move of the king. The queen, she is the queen, was absent in chess. The game ended when all the opponent's pieces were eliminated.

Game evolution

From sunny India, chess eventually began to be imported to other countries. So, the Chinese called chess "xiangqi", the Japanese - "shogi", the inhabitants of Thailand - "makruk". Only in Persia did the current name of chess originate. The Arabs called their ruler Shah, which is why they called the chess king.

The rules and names changed, chess evolved. Abandoned the dice, and the number of players was reduced to two people. The color of the figures has become traditionally black and white. The name of the pieces in chess has remained unchanged. Some of the chess pieces have changed their name. So, Raja became Shah. Since there were two kings, it was customary to weaken one of them and make it a queen. The Persians also introduced the final result of the game - checkmate to the king. In the Persian language, the word chess means “the shah is dead.”

The game has come a long way until it got to Russia. Chess came to us not from Europe. It is believed that Tajiks brought chess to Russia in the 9th century BC. That is why the names of pieces in chess are translated literally from Arabic and Persian. And already in the XI century, the rules of the game of chessreached Russia.

Chess set

To play chess, you will need a chess board, which is divided into 64 squares that have two colors: black and white.

Horizontal and vertical fields have their own designations. Horizontally, these are numbers from one to eight, and vertically, letters from A to H, so each field has coordinates. How many pieces are in chess? Each player on the field should have two rooks, a pair of knights, two bishops, eight pawns, a queen and a king. In total, there are 32 pieces in chess, which the opponents divide in half. Further - in more detail about chess pieces.

King

In Arabic, the king sounds like "al-shah" and translated from Persian means king, but in other languages the meaning of the figure is the most dominant.

This is a very weighty and significant piece in chess. The chess king, despite its importance, can only move one square, but in any direction. This piece is vulnerable without the protection of other pieces. Actually, the whole essence of the game is to protect the king from the direct moves of other chess pieces. A threat to an undisguised king in chess is called "check". In Russia, the figure is designated "Kr", and in the international system - "K".

The queen in chess is the second strongest piece after the king

In Arabic, the word "al-firzan" means "scientist". But there are other assumptions, among which the word means "wise man", "commander", etc. In the 15th century, the queen appeared in Europe already withnew features, now a piece could walk a different distance along all the diagonals and lines on the chessboard. The queen is denoted by the letter "F". "Q" is the queen in the international system. In many countries, the queen is called the queen.

Rook and Bishop, they are the same tour and officer

Rook in the distant past performed the functions of a chariot, it was depicted in the form of harnessed horses. They called such a chariot "ruh". In Arabic, "al-roh" means "tower". Hence the appearance of the figure. It moves across the field only horizontally or vertically, and is located along the extreme fields of the chessboard. This figure is designated in Russia with the capital letter “L”, and in Europe with the letter “R”.

The names of pieces in chess do not always correspond to their appearance. So, for example, the elephant chess piece used to really look like a war elephant, but over time it began to be depicted in the guise of a man. Designations: we have it "C", abroad "B". The elephant moves only along the diagonal of its color, the player will have one elephant on the white diagonal, and the second on the black one.

Chess Knight

This figure really looks like a horse. "Al-faras" in Arabic means horseman. Once this figure had a rider, but over time it was removed. The knight's move can only be made in the form of the Russian letter "G", that is, two squares straight and one to the side. They write down the horse of the Russian "K" and the English "N". This is the only piece that can move in a non-straight trajectory and jump over the pieces, its own and the opponent.

Hikingtoy soldiers

The pawn is the only piece that is not recorded in any way and has such a significant number on the playing field. "Al-beyzak" in translation from Arabic means an infantryman. A pawn can only move forward one square.

Chess pieces, photos of which are present in this article, will help you get to know the exciting chess world more widely.