Chess piece Chess piece A chess piece, or chessman, is any of the six different movable objects used on a chessboard to play the game of chess. Each player begins with a total of sixteen pieces. The pieces that belong to each player are distinguished by color. The lighter colored pieces are referred to as "white," and the player that owns them, "White". The darker colored pieces are referred to as "black", and the player that owns them, "Black". The word "piece" has three meanings, depending on the context. The context should make the intended meaning clear . In the first context,
Chess with different armies rook replacement to c1. This is so colorbound pieces don't change square color. Many pieces in the following armies are combination of standard chess pieces and 4 fairy pieces: "ferz", "alfil", "wazir" and "dabbaba" (see their movement diagrams above). The game can be played with standard chess pieces and the following move diagrams use standard pieces as well (except queens). In this army, rooks, knights, bishops, and queen are replaced by the following pieces: As mentioned, when using this army and castling queenside, the king moves "three" squares (from e1 to b1) and the bede moves from a1 to c1.