Chess piece middle game, endings). A for example, is worth half a pawn. In specific circumstances, the values may be quite different: A knight can be more valuable than a queen in a particular decisive attack. Courier Chess, a predecessor of modern chess, used all six chess pieces plus a courier, man (or rath or sage), and jester. Although the symbols for pieces have international standards, the characters implied by pieces' names vary between languages. For example, in many languages, the piece known in English as the "knight" is named a term that translates to "horse". Chess piece A chess piece, or
Fairy chess piece "pao" and "vao" (derived from the Chinese cannon) and the "mao" (derived from the horse). Those derived from the cannon are distinguished by moving as a hopper when capturing, but otherwise moving as a rider. Pieces from xiangqi are usually circular disks, labeled or engraved with a Chinese character identifying the piece. Pieces from shogi (Japanese chess) are usually wedge-shaped chips, with kanji characters identifying the piece. Fairy pieces vary in the way they move, but some may also have other special characteristics or powers. The joker (in one of its definitions) mimics the last move made by the opponent.