As I’ve ranted on about before, it’s not called a castle. It’s not called a tower. It’s not the satan spawn of the Ivory Tower and the Rockbiter from the Neverending Story. It’s called a rook.
Rooks can move up, down, left, or right as many spaces as they want however they cannot jump over pieces. They can capture one piece in their path by assuming it’s square. It’s similar to a queen, except without the diagonal abilities. They are most powerful towards the end of the game when wide open stretches are in abundance. During the midgame, they can be useful in supporting your pawns or other pieces as they attempt to push through the middle or put pressure on any open ranks that provide a clear path from one end of the board to the other. In the grand scheme of things they are worth five points, but point values can change with any piece depending on how useful they are in their current situation.
My advice is not to attempt to go out of your way to bring them out into the middle of the action in the beginning or middle of the game. Let them play support until the very end where they can go on the offensive and have more mobility to dominate the board.
Hope you’re taking notes on all of these blogs, there is a quiz afterwards.
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