The rook: how the rook moves in chess

How the rook moves

The rook moves straight: forward, backward or sideways, along a file or a rank, any number of squares as long as the way is clear. It never moves diagonally and can't jump over other pieces. It captures the same way it moves.

What is the rook worth?

About five pawns. So a rook is worth more than a bishop or a knight, which are usually counted as three. The difference between a rook and a minor piece has a name of its own: the exchange. If you give a bishop for your opponent's rook, you have won the exchange.

The rook needs open roads

In the starting position the rooks stand in the corners, shut in behind the pawns. They are often the last pieces to join the game. One way to get them going is castling, which moves one of the rooks toward the center. Once you have castled and the knights, the bishops and the queen have left the back rank, the rooks stand free and protect each other.

The rook's best places:

• Open files, files with no pawns. There the rook can go all the way into the opponent's camp. Read more about open and half-open files.
• The seventh rank, where the opponent's pawns still stand from the start and the king often hides.
• Behind a passed pawn, your own or your opponent's. An old rule of thumb says the rook belongs behind the passed pawn.

The rook in the endgame

Once the minor pieces are traded, the rooks are often the strongest pieces on the board. Rook endgames, with a rook and a few pawns each, are among the most common endgames, and players who master them collect a lot of half points. With king and rook against a lone king you can always checkmate.

Common mistakes

• Leaving the rooks in the corners all game. Castle, and bring out the minor pieces so the rooks can reach each other.
• Putting the rook in front of your own pawns on a closed file, where it has nothing to do.
• Trading a rook for a bishop or a knight without getting anything more. That is losing the exchange.
• Forgetting the back rank. A rook or a queen that gets in there can give mate if the king has no air. Read about the back-rank mate.

Try it yourself

Did you know?

• The name rook comes from the Persian rukh, which is usually translated as chariot. Many languages name the piece after its shape instead: in Swedish it is torn, tower.
• A rook always reaches exactly 14 squares on an empty board, wherever it stands. No other piece is so consistent.
• When castling, the rook jumps over the king. It is the only time a rook jumps over another piece.

Updated October 28, 2026