The King's Field

King’s Field

In order to deliver check mate, you must attack all squares in the King’s field.

If the King is in open space, the King’s field consists of 9 squares: The square occupied by the king plus the 8 squares surrounding the King.

How many squares can each piece attack?

We will now the attacking power of each piece. For each piece we will consider 2 situations:

a) When the attacking piece is protected and occupying one of the squares in the King’s field.

b) When the attacking piece is not occupying the King’s Field.

I have placed the most commonly assigned points value of each piece in brackets. Several systems give the Bishop a slightly higher value than the Knight.

Queen (9)

a) 7

b) 5

Rook (5)

a) 5

b) 3

Bishop (3 - 3.5)

a) 3

b) 3

Knight (3)

a) 3

b) 2

Pawn (1)

a) 3

b) 2

King (Infinity (& beyond))

a) 3