Ask Coach Jessica: Majors vs. Minors

Hola ChessKids! It's spring - about time for baseball games and popsicles and chess! Today I will answer a question by SpotlessStar who wants to know what is better: a rook, or a bishop and knight together? By, Mrs Jessica E Prescott (aka BoundingOwl).

You're not going to like my answer, because I'm going to say, "It depends on the position." And you were probably hoping for me to just pick one and show you why. Well, remember, chess is not always so simply broken into its parts. The pieces all have things they're good at, but they are best when they work together!

So first of all, if you just have a king, and have to decide whether to use a rook to mate or a bishop and knight to force mate, you would choose the rook any day and twice on Sunday! Even though the knight and bishop are worth six and a rook "only" five, the pattern for the rook and king mate is simpler.

 

So today we'll look at rooks. These are called "heavy" or "major" pieces. Rooks are really good at going long-distances all across the board. They are happiest:

1. On open files;

2. On the seventh rank;

3. Doubled or connected; and

4. Behind passed pawns.

 

Let's look at some puzzles! Rooks love open files because they have so much more space to attack. What is the best move here? 1. b3, 1. e4, or 1. f3?

Of the three choices given, 1.e4 is best because it gives the rook an open file after the pawns are traded. If you said, "none," because you like 1.a4, well, sure! This move is OK too!

 

How about now? Rooks love the 7th rank because they cut off the king and attack a lot of pawns. White to move.

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