{"id":832,"date":"2021-04-09T07:51:36","date_gmt":"2021-04-09T07:51:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/?p=832"},"modified":"2021-04-09T07:51:36","modified_gmt":"2021-04-09T07:51:36","slug":"chess-piece-names","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chessquestions.com\/chess-piece-names\/","title":{"rendered":"Learn the Correct Names for Each Chess Piece – A Beginner’s Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Chess. The game of kings! When you think of chess, it’s likely that the first thing that comes to mind is a classic board with two players sitting opposite each other. The pieces on the board are also something that most people associate with chess – there are just so many different ones! It can be confusing for beginners to know what they’re all called and which one does what. In this post, we’ll try our best to clear up any confusion by giving you an easy-to-follow guide on how to name each piece and what its roles are in the game<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There are six different pieces in a game of Chess, Pawns, Rooks, Knights, Bishops, Queens, and Kings. There are 32 pieces in total in a chess set, 16 pawns, 4 each of rooks, knights and bishops, 2 Kings and 2 Queens. Equally divided in light and dark colors for each player<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s go through each, and help you identify each, most are obvious. This is a light guide, with links to find out more about how each chess piece can move<\/a>, and the symbolism of chess pieces<\/a>. Please hit one of those links for a shortcut to find out more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The names we know today for each chess piece were not standardized until around 1850, some 1200 years or so after chess took some recognizable form as the game we know today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The icon we would see in online chess apps, with todays’ name, common names in histroy as well as the ancient names from the origins of chess<\/a> in the east, as well as some common names that are generally accepted, if incorrect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I’ll not go into the moving abilities of each piece here, as we concentrate solely on getting the names correct, or why they are shaped the way they are and what the represent. Choose a tile above. You’ll find out the names there too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the brief and simple guide to the chess pieces names, please read on<\/p>\n\n\n\n So far as we can tell, the King has always been the King<\/a> in modern chess. From the earliest records in chess history<\/a> he is the Shah, which is of course the title of a former monarch in Iran pointing to the origins of chess. <\/p>\n\n\n\nTable of Chess Piece Names<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Piece<\/th> Name<\/th> Previous Name\/s<\/th> Ancient Name<\/th> Common Name<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> ♔ ♚<\/td> King<\/td> <\/td> Shah<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> ♕ ♛<\/td> Queen<\/td> Counselor<\/td> Wazir<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> ♗ ♝<\/td> Bishop<\/td> Elephant<\/td> Al-Fil<\/td> <\/td><\/tr> ♘ ♞<\/td> Knight<\/td> Cavalry<\/td> Asp<\/td> Horse<\/td><\/tr> ♖ ♜<\/td> Rook<\/td> Chariots<\/td> Rukh<\/td> Castle<\/td><\/tr> ♙♟<\/td> Pawns<\/td> Infantry<\/td> Piyade<\/td> <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n 1. King<\/h2>\n\n\n\n