The rook, shaped like a castle, is one of the more powerful pieces on the board. Rooks are worth a bishop or a knight plus two pawns.

The rook can move any number of squares in a straight line along any column or row. They cannot move diagonally. The simplicity of the rook's movement is indeed what makes it powerful. It can cover a significant area of the board and there are no areas which an opponent's piece moving one square at a time can slip through.

The rook may also make a move in conjunction with the king. This maneuver is called castling which is described in a later section.