Desperado (chess) Desperado (chess) In chess, a desperado piece is a piece that is or trapped, but captures an enemy piece before it is itself captured. This can be in either a situation where both sides have pieces, "...in which you use your doomed piece to eat as much material as possible before it dies"; or alternatively a sacrifice that will result in stalemate if it is captured. A simple example illustrating the first definition comes from a 1958 game between future World Champions Tigran Petrosian and Bobby Fischer (see diagram). White had just captured the e5-pawn with his knight on f3.
Chess piece relative value minor pieces are usually better than a queen because of their greater mobility, and the extra pawn is not important enough to change the situation . Three minor pieces are almost as strong as two rooks . Two minor pieces plus two pawns are almost always as good as a queen. Two rooks are better than a queen and pawn . Many of the systems have a 2-point difference between the rook and a minor piece, but most theorists put that difference at about points, see The exchange (chess)#Value of the exchange. In open positions, a rook plus a pair