Rook (chess)

Template:Short description Template:Use Oxford spelling Template:Use dmy dates Template:Multiple image The rook (Template:IPAc-en; ♖, ♜) is a piece in the game of chess. It may move any number of squares horizontally or vertically without jumping, and it may Template:Chessgloss an enemy piece on its path; it may participate in castling. Each player starts the game with two rooks, one in each corner on their side of the board.

Formerly, the rook (from Template:Langx)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> was alternatively called the tower, marquess, rector, and comes (count or earl).<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> The term "castle" is considered to be informal or old-fashioned.<ref>Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (online version, accessed Jan. 27, 2009), entry for "Castle", def. 9. "Chess. One of the pieces, made to represent a castle; also called a ROOK.". New Oxford American Dictionary, 2nd ed. (2005) says that "castle" is informal and an "old-fashioned term for rook". The Oxford Companion to Chess, by David Hooper & Kenneth Whyld, 2nd ed. (1992), p. 344 says "In English-speaking countries non-players sometimes call it a castle...". Let's Play Chess by Bruce Pandolfini (1986) p. 30, says "The rook is the piece mistakenly called the castle."; The Everything Chess Basics Book by Peter Kurzdorfer and the United States Chess Federation, Adams Media 2003, page 30, says "... often incorrectly referred to as a castle by the uninitiated".</ref><ref>The Official Rules of Chess by Eric Schiller, The US Chess Federation Official Rules of Chess (five editions by various authors), Official Chess Handbook, by Kenneth Harkness, Official Chess Rulebook by Harkness, and The Official Laws of Chess by FIDE (two editions) all use only the term "rook". Books for beginners such as Bobby Fischer Teaches Chess, A World Champion's Guide to Chess by Susan Polgar, The Complete Book of Chess by I. A. Horowitz & P. L. Rothenberg, and Chess Fundamentals by José Capablanca (2006 revision by Nick de Firmian) also only mention "rook".</ref>Template:AN chess

Placement and movementEdit

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The white rooks start on the squares a1 and h1, while the black rooks start on a8 and h8. The rook moves horizontally or vertically, through any number of unoccupied squares. The rook cannot jump over pieces. The rook may capture an enemy piece by moving to the square on which the enemy piece stands, removing it from play. The rook also participates with the king in a special move called castling, wherein it is transferred to the square crossed by the king after the king is shifted two squares toward the rook.

StrategyEdit

Relative valueEdit

The rook is worth about five pawns. In general, rooks are stronger than bishops or knights and are considered greater in value than either of those pieces by nearly two pawns, but less valuable than two minor pieces by approximately a pawn. Two rooks are generally considered to be worth slightly more than a queen (see chess piece relative value).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Winning a rook for a bishop or knight is referred to as winning the exchange. Rooks and queens are called major pieces or heavy pieces, as opposed to bishops and knights, the minor pieces.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

DevelopmentEdit

In the opening, the rooks are blocked in by other pieces and cannot immediately participate in the game, so it is usually desirable to connect one's rooks on the Template:Chessgloss by castling and then clearing all pieces except the king and rooks from the first rank. In that position, the rooks support each other and can more easily move to occupy and control the most favorable Template:Chessgloss.

A common strategic goal is to Template:Chessgloss a rook on the first rank of an open file (i.e., one unobstructed by pawns of either player) or a half-open file (i.e., one unobstructed by friendly pawns). From this position, the rook is relatively unexposed to risk but can exert control on every square on the file. If one file is particularly important, a player might advance one rook on it, then position the other rook behind—doubling the rooks. Having both rooks on the same file is known as a battery and can be very deadly, especially if the queen joins in as well (see Alekhine's Gun).

A rook on the seventh rank (the opponent's second rank) is typically very powerful, as it threatens the opponent's unadvanced pawns and hems in the enemy king. A rook on the seventh rank is often considered sufficient compensation for a pawn.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In the diagrammed position from a game between Lev Polugaevsky and Larry Evans,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> the rook on the seventh rank enables White to draw, despite being a pawn down.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Template:Em rooks on the seventh rank are often enough to force victory by the blind swine mate, or at least a draw by perpetual check.<ref>The two rooks are sometimes colloquially referred to as "pigs on the seventh", because they often threaten to "eat" the opponent's pieces or pawns.</ref> Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Template:Chess diagram Template:Col-break Template:Chess diagram Template:Col-end Template:Clear left

EndgameEdit

Rooks are most powerful towards the end of a game (i.e., the endgame), when they can move unobstructed by pawns and control large numbers of squares. They have trouble restraining enemy pawns from advancing towards promotion unless they occupy the file behind them. As well, a rook best supports a friendly pawn towards promotion from behind it on the same file (see Tarrasch rule).

In a position with a rook and one or two Template:Chessgloss versus two rooks, generally in addition to pawns, and possibly other pieces, Lev Alburt advises that the player with the single rook should avoid exchanging the rook for one of his opponent's rooks.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

The rook is adept at delivering checkmate. Below are a few examples of rook checkmates that are easy to Template:Cgloss. A single rook can force checkmate while a single minor piece cannot. Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break Template:Chess diagram Template:Col-break Template:Chess diagram Template:Col-break Template:Chess diagram Template:Col-end

HistoryEdit

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In the medieval shatranj, the rook symbolized a chariot. The Persian word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} means "chariot",<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> as does the name of the corresponding piece in the original Indian version, chaturanga, {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}.Template:Citation needed In modern times, it is mostly known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (elephant) to Hindi-speaking players, while East Asian chess games such as xiangqi and shogi have names also meaning chariot ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}) for the same piece.<ref>{{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Modern Chinese Dictionary). Template:ISBN</ref>

File:Antique Indian Mughal Chess Rook Elephant.jpg

Antique Indian Mughal chess elephant made from sandalwood representing the rook

File:Grose-Francis-Pavisors-and-Moveable-Tower-Assaulting-Castle-1812.jpg

19th-century illustration of a siege tower, which the rook may be intended to represent

File:NMSLewisChessmen6.jpg

The berserker used as a rook in the Lewis chessmen

Persian war chariots were heavily armored, carrying a driver and at least one ranged-weapon bearer, such as an archer. The sides of the chariot were built to resemble fortified stone work, giving the impression of small, mobile buildings, causing terror on the battlefield.Template:Citation needed

In Europe, the castle or tower appears for the first time in the 16th century in Vida's 1550 {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, and then as a tower on the back of an elephant. In time, the elephant disappeared and only the tower was used as the piece.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the West, the rook is almost universally represented as a crenellated turret. The piece is called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("tower") in Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and Spanish; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in French; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Dutch; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in German; {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Swedish; and {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} in Finnish. In Hungarian, it is {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("bastion") and in Hebrew, it is called {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration, meaning "turret").<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In the British Museum's collection of the medieval Lewis chess pieces, the rooks appear as stern warders, or wild-eyed berserker warriors.

Rooks are usually similar in appearance to small castles; thus, a rook is sometimes called a "castle",<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> though modern chess literature rarely, if ever, uses this term.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

In some languages, the rook is called a ship: Thai {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), Armenian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), Russian {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration), Javanese {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} (Template:Transliteration). This may be because of the use of an Arabic style V-shaped rook piece, which some may have mistaken for a ship.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Harvnb</ref> It is possible that the rendition comes from Sanskrit Template:Transliteration (ship); however, no chaturanga pieces were ever called a Template:Transliteration. Murray argued that the Javanese could not visualize a chariot moving through the jungles in sweeping fashion as the rook. The only vehicle that moved in straight fashion was a ship, thus they replaced it with {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}. Murray, however, did not give an explanation why the Russians call the piece a "ship".<ref name=":0" />

Peter Tyson suggests that there is a correlation between the name of the piece and the word {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, a mythical giant bird of prey from Persian mythology.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

In South Slavic languages, it is called the "cannon" (Template:Langx).

In Kannada, it is known as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}}), meaning "elephant".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> This is unusual, as the term for elephant is in many other languages applied to the bishop.<ref> Template:Cite journal </ref>

Name translationsEdit

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HeraldryEdit

File:Arms of the Rookwood family of Stanningfield.png

Arms of the English family of Rookwood, featuring chess rooks as a cant on the name

Chess rooks frequently occur as heraldic charges. Heraldic rooks are usually shown as they looked in medieval chess sets, with the usual battlements replaced by two outward-curving horns. They occur in arms from around the 13th century onwards.

In Canadian heraldry, the chess rook is the cadency mark of a fifth daughter.