In this context, the pieces can be broken down into three groups: major pieces (queen and rooks), minor pieces (bishops and knights), and the king. In play, the term is usually used to exclude pawns, referring only to a queen, rook, bishop, knight, or king.Chess sets have been made in a variety of styles, sometimes for decorative or artistic purposes rather than practical play, but the Staunton pattern is standard for competition. When used this way, 'piece' is synonymous with 'chessman' or simply 'man'. It may mean any of the physical pieces of the set, including the pawns.The word 'piece' has three meanings, depending on the context. In a standard game, each of the two players begins with the following sixteen pieces:

The pieces that belong to each player are distinguished by color: the lighter colored pieces are referred to as 'white' and the player that controls them as 'White', whereas the darker colored pieces are referred to as 'black' and the player that controls them as 'Black'. Additional pieces, usually an extra queen per color, may be provided for use in promotion.Įach player begins with sixteen pieces (but see the subsection below for other usage of the term piece). It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn.Ĭhess sets generally come with sixteen pieces of each color. Left to right: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, kingĪ chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess.

All chess pieces name