Mastering Rooks: A Guide to Using Rooks Effectively in Chess

Rooks are powerful pieces in the game of chess, capable of controlling open files and supporting pawn advancement.

We explore the basic movements of rooks, including how many squares they can move and their limitations.

From the opening to the endgame, we discuss strategies for using rooks effectively, such as controlling the center, coordinating with other pieces, and creating checkmate opportunities.

We highlight common mistakes to avoid when using rooks, so you can elevate your chess game to the next level.

Basic Movement of Rooks

The rook is the tallest and most powerful piece aside from the queen in chess. In most beginner’s initial moves in a chess game, the rooks are typically moved last, after the pawns, knights, and bishops. The rook can move vertically or horizontally and has unlimited movement as long as it does not move off the board or move through other pieces, allied or enemy, on its way.

The vertical and horizontal movements in chess are shown here. Note that a rook on square d8 can go only to the square marked A8 or B8 horizontally. If the rook moved from d8 to, say, D6, it could theoretically continue on to d1 before making a ‘turn’. But assuming a board large enough, if you were to measure, say, 8 inches to the east, central (south-west to north-east) Median Strip of the White House, Washington, D.C., would the end of a participant that had begun in the west? That is besides the point for the game of chess where such a scenario is not feasible anyhow.

How Many Squares Can a Rook Move?

A rook can move to any square in the same row or column as itself. The number of squares it can move depends on the specific square it is on and how many of the squares in its row and column away from it are filled by other pieces (both the player’s and the opponent’s). In a completely empty space, a rook can move a maximum of 14 squares and a minimum of 1 square. This is because there are 7 total squares in each row and column, and it can only move to a maximum of 7 of those according to the rules of chess.

Can a Rook Move Diagonally?

A rook cannot move diagonally in any direction. Unlike the Bishop piece, which can only travel diagonally along tiles, the rook is a linear-minded piece. It can slide back and forth from side to side or up and down, however you want to think about it.

The chess board does not afford the rook the ability to move diagonally. This makes the rook slightly different from the bishop piece and is an important distinction to keep in mind when planning out moves. The rook’s inability to move diagonally puts it off the checkmate path of a protected king by an opponent’s piece, because it isn’t able to hit that diagonal line where pieces might intersect earlier in that attack. So from start to end in one course, unlike a bishop, a rook cannot move diagonally.

Below is a visualization by Chess.com of where a rook can move going from its initial position shown to where it can move after a single move from its initial spot. It can go everywhere up and down or back and forth even crossing its initial and subsequent paths within a move.

What Are the Limitations of Rooks?

The primary limitation of rooks is that they are slow compared to the length and flexibility of their moves. Like bishops, a rook’s horizontal and vertical motion represents a limitation in that they are unable to threaten anything diagonally between them (see the above diagram for optimal positioning for rooks). Just four units, six pawns, and eight endgame pieces represent this dead zone, making them less powerful than bishops.

Rook’s Lack of Flexibility: Rooks also lack the flexibility of bishops and queens in the number of chains of squares of the same color they can control. Rooks can only control the chain of the same color on which they are assigned. Modern grandmaster pioneers such as Paul Morphy, Steinitz, and Capablanca used this fact to develop perpendicular attacks for rooks where they controlled a single file on one side of the board and a single file on the opposite side with their two rooks. This allowed for a large range of control zones and cut the enemy king off from escape ranks and led to decisive attacks and victories.

But other grandmasters improved defensive and fleeing artistry and it is very hard to apply in modern games. It is the positional nature of rooks and their limitations that makes exchanges with bishops and knights much harder to do on the semiflanks and open files where rooks are most effective.

How to Use Rooks in the Opening?

You use Rooks in the opening by centralizing your pawns, building a safe position around them with your minor pieces, getting your major pieces, especially the Rooks, into an active position behind them, waiting until they are fully developed and safe, and consolidating pieces with a plan for one of your Rooks to the open or half-open file.

You should not move your Rooks out in the opening because moving your Rooks too early leaves them poorly connected as they will control different files and diagonals that don’t support each other. This can confuse the rest of the pieces that will follow them out as you try to decide which Rook to centralize.

Keys to Using Rooks in Openings:

• Control open files
• Support a piece, either on the file itself or adjacent diagonals
• Connect with the other Rook

Advantages of placing Rooks on open or half-open files in the opening include control over the files to prevent enemy occupation, removal of enemy and supportive/uniting your own pawns, attack on the enemy`s formation by mounting pressure against backward pawns and other weaknesses, and prevention of enemy counter-attack on your own pawns.

Control the Center

Center control is a key tactical component of chess that dictates mobility, range, enduring strength, and potential control of the entire board (Reuben Fine, Basic Chess Endings 1941). Since Rooks can parallel or control the whole board, they benefit and assist a Queen push toward domination when not themselves controlling significant squares in the center. Rooks work together, in tandem with the Queen, for a combined total of 27 points to dominate the center and other boards.

Center control is this important – the side that controls the central 4×4 square area from e4 to e5 adjoining c4 and c5 after 6-12 movements by one side will have an average pawn exchange rate advantage of 13% according to a study entitled A Second Update to Edwin Meyer’s Pawn Advantage Study by Chess.com’s NM Sam Copeland on October 21st 2019.

Connect the Rooks

Connecting the rooks or activating the rook by consolidating them during the middle game will make them more effective in the endgame phase. The problem with typing in the phrase ‘connect the rooks’ into Google Search is that it yields some 5,780,000 results, many referring to chaining or fighting rooks in the popular video game Fortnite. Rarely do the results explain what chess connecting or fighting rooks actually means.

So, chesswise, why is connecting the rooks important? In their basic chess strategy article, Rooks, Masterminds.com contends that with connected rooks, a player is able to meet an attempted burrowing King with a Rook lift which keeps it from breaking through.

Connecting the rooks means moving a rook to a place where both rooks can work together. The following games show two instances of purposes connected rooks can be used in.

Here is the endgame of the 1956 Candidates Tournament game between Samuel Reshevsky and Vasily Smyslov. Smyslov’s purpose in moving his connected rooks to the second rank was to control his opponent’s advance on that side because such a strong piece would have forced him to make some strategic move which would’ve disrupted his advantage, as FIDE Master Dan Heisman of Chess.com explains.

And in the 1934 New York game between Allen Pinkerton and George Koltanowski, they are connected socially rather than on purpose, as the following exchange of moves shows. Pinkerton pinned down Koltanowski’s minor pieces by horizontally refocusing instead of vertically refocusing. His rooks worked together effectively and sealed the game within 2 moves after that.

Support Pawn Advancement

Rooks can be used in support of pawn advancement for other pawns including outside passed pawns, pawn chains, and protected rook pawns. A strong side passed pawn in rook and pawn endgames can determine the outcome of the game. When there is no immediate tactical reason not to, it is advisable to support the passed pawns with the rook to help them advance without needing the king to be overprotective.

If behind in material, allowing the opponent’s pawns to advance to the middle of the board where they can be permanently blockaded can help set up fortress positions. Pawn chains are lines of pawns on the same side of the board in various formations that are linked by one securing the base of another. Rooks on the same rank as a pawn chain directly support the mobility of their forward progression.

The r-pawn is the natural target of one’s own rooks in the opening phase of chess. Moving them quickly does not usually offer tactical opportunities for one’s opponent and serves to open the center where a rook is less effective than the minor pieces. Once in the middlegame, there are 3 main ways a rook can support a pawn:

1. When a pawn is pinned.
2. When a pawn is part of a force.
3. When a pawn is a passed connected pawn.

How to Use Rooks in the Middle Game?

In the middle game rooks should ideally sit on open or half-open files in strategic positions in the opponent’s half of the board or be used in rover moves. One can think of the middle game as a prolonged infiltration and activation process in assisting other pieces to easily converge on the opponent’s weaknesses. Arguably the best example of how to use rooks in a chess game can be seen in the play of former World Chess Champion Fine Blumenfield.

Take Control of Open Files

There are two things to speak of when referring to File control:

1. Rooks are renowned for taking control of Open Files where no pawns hinder a rook’s access to the enemy’s position on that file. Deschamp’s painting features white rooks taking control of an open file while the opposing pawns never change your position.
2. Rooks help to defend their own pawns on a Closed File as well. Especially at points where it is pertinent to establish a Pawn Chain, players should make use of a rook to protect this.

Utilize the Rook’s Power on the 7th Rank

When Isolated Pawns are present, players should use the Rook to control the 7th rank. The half-open file is directly in front of the pawn that opposes the one with a friendly pawn. The adjacent 7th ranks are blocked by Kings and Pawns, so opposing Rooks on that row must be dealt with before one’s own Rook can have high influence. The Law of the Half-Open File states a player should own the half-open file or restrain the opposing pieces that can use it. That is the law applicable to the Rooks regarding the 7th rank.

Coordinate with Other Pieces

Rooks have a coordination strategy with all pieces. Here is how they work with some key pieces:

1. Other rooks: Rooks should coordinate and work together in middlegame strategies where support and mutual attacks on the enemy are beneficial. (see Rooks vs 2 Bishops Example)
2. Queen: The rook works well in coordination with the queen. The queen can then add additional threat when attacking pinned pieces. The following photo illustrates how a rook works with a queen.
3. Knights: Rooks coordinate well with knights as they can control the center of the board. Knights are agile and can provide excellent support towards the center of the board.
4. Bishops: Bishops typically control the diagonal. Bishops that place the rook -B1 in a commanding position will protect the rook better. However, otherwise rooks are not good with bishops. They tend to block each other’s movements.
5. Pawns: Rooks work well with pawns as they can protect them. Even waste moves by moving the rooks completely backwards can be worth it if it means saving valuable pawns.
6. Opponent’s King: The rook’s ability to control ranks works well with the king’s forward motion. Together, a rook can control the middle of the board with the king leading the attack.

How to Use Rooks in the Endgame?

During most endgame positions, rooks should typically be placed behind passed pawns or used for attacking on open ranks. In an ending position where rooks influence active pawns on the a/d file, rooks and passed pawns work together nicely, as demonstrated in this endgame.

1. Rooks for 2~3 doubled pawns on the same file. Pay attention to pawns on the h and a files.
2. Centralized rooks on open files to control their opponent’s pieces. If the opponent’s pawns are passed, press against these pieces controlling their advancement.
3. Switch to the first rank cautiously. Controlling the center and open ranks are an important part of rooks’ function in the endgame—avoiding the first rank unless the king can work in tandem is important.

Create a Rook and Pawn Endgame

You can use rooks in chess by creating a rook and pawn endgame. Rook and pawn endgames have losing and drawn theoretical values and from past moves that are recorded to be optimal from both sides that had limited evaluation, such as in this 1913 game by Captain WH Tuzelall of the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich, England, and another consul at the same military academy.

Rook endgames are some of the most common types of endgames and are often referenced as being drawn due to their occurrence in over half of all chess games. How many moves into the game do you start using your rooks?

Use Rooks to Support Passed Pawns

Passed pawns are pawns that cannot be blocked by an enemy pawn from advancing to the eighth rank. They are critical to winning and drawing endgames. In this example, the White Rook threatens to advance after support from the White King. Any reckless move of the Black King will result in a White Pawn promotion, and the White Rook gives the King cover. Merchand notes that the control of the seventh and eighth ranks and the necessity for enemy Rook defense orders the enemy pieces to passive positions.

Rooks create a wall on either the pawn side or the pawn frontside which discourages enemy pieces from attempting to blockade the pawn, implying that any such piece will simply be captured by the pawn.

Create a Rook and Knight Checkmate

Rook and knight versus king is among the easiest checkmates to achieve once you’ve understood the values of chess pieces and memorized the basics of endgames with rooks and knights. Rook and knight checkmate requires the opposing king to be at a corner of the board and the non-rook pieces to control most of the central 16 squares of the board. See a detailed post on how to win with rook and knight vs king in our blog or watch IM Levy Rozman’s video.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Rooks

The most common mistakes to avoid when using rooks are not connecting the rooks on the back rank, placing them on the now closed central files, trading them off without cause, and not moving them from the back rank when developed fully.

Little Rook Syndrome: A key concept of maximizing rooks’ available mobility is to have them connected. Good coordination between the two rooks can exercise an arbitrary level of power over the board. This is referred to as Rook Coordination. This connection is particularly potent when the two rooks are yet to have castled whether it is yet to be possible or present. This is not only the best as a tactical precaution but also as an acceptable demonstration of rook coordination. Not moving them from the back rank once fully developed: This is a common mistake in chess games. Very often, amateur rook usage revolves around moving off the back rank influenced by instinct alone and personal opinion. Beware, this can bring about a lot of downsides! This is a standard position in which players quickly bring forth their knights, or bishops, while refraining from moving other pieces. As a general rule, rooks should definitely be developed early in the game. They should also be kept available to be castled whenever possible rather than being developed in anticipation of an opponent castling, and not moved frequently or for small benefits.

Leaving Rooks Unprotected

Although there are some advanced situations in which this might be advantageous, such as en passant or to keep one’s other rook from being pinned, it is best to protect rooks. Why not give away one of your rooks for a knight, for example, which is strategically worse in the long run when you could simply have avoided the entire conundrum in the first place by protecting the rook against attacks?

Not Activating Rooks

Not activating the rooks refers to the action of not bringing the rooks into the game out of their starting squares or other suboptimal positions. This means rooks would remain on a1, a8, h1, or h8 squares if, for example, a player moves their pawns to allow their rooks to move and then never employs that ability. Rook blindness refers to not moving the rooks or not considering a rook move when making plans.

There are occasions where it is accurate to describe a player’s actions as keeping their rooks at home. Good chess play requires using every piece at one’s disposal, and leaving a rook inactive severely limits a player’s resource. A rook that never leaves its starting square is just like a pawn that has never moved. An unused pawn has half the value of a pawn. An unused rook also has only half the value of a rook. Whenever we think about where to move our pieces, we should always remember the passive rooks and activating them into the game.

Exchanging Rooks Prematurely

Exchanging rooks prematurely can be strategic when you anticipate utilizing the open g or d file against your opponents and when you want to reduce the power of the rooks to create entry points. However, rooks can be crucial to their corresponding queen’s efficiency, and their power to generate entry points can still be useful, making exchanging them a difficult call.

For instance, in the game between Shoev and Lengyel in 1978, Lengyel exchanged rooks to get to an equal material position against his opponent, instead of choosing to, based on instinct, keep that piece to hold some advantage against Shoev. Instead of pushing this potential advantage, he created an exchange position to decrease the advantage in a way his Queen could not recover, eventually losing the game.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to Use Rooks in Chess?

1. What is the role of a rook in a game of chess?

The rook is a powerful piece in chess, often referred to as a “castle”. It can move horizontally and vertically, making it a valuable piece for controlling the board and attacking the opponent’s pieces.

2. How do I move a rook in chess?

Rooks can only move in a straight line, either horizontally or vertically. They can move any number of squares in a single direction, but cannot change direction during a single move.

3. Can a rook capture an opponent’s piece?

Yes, a rook can capture an opponent’s piece by moving to a square occupied by their piece. This is called a “capture” and the rook will replace the captured piece on that square.

4. What is castling and how can I use it with my rooks?

Castling is a special move in chess that allows a player to move their king and rook in one move. This can be useful for getting your rook into a more active position and protecting your king at the same time.

5. Can a rook be moved through other pieces?

No, a rook cannot move through other pieces on the board. It can only move to an empty square or one occupied by an opponent’s piece.

6. How does the rook’s movement differ from other pieces?

Unlike other pieces, the rook can only move in a straight line and can move any number of squares in one direction. This makes it a powerful piece for controlling the board and attacking the opponent’s pieces from a distance.