Rook

Abbreviated R, drawn as ♜. It moves and captures along a file or a rank to any square. In the starting position each side has two rooks, standing on the corner squares a1 and h1 (for Black, a8 and h8). In strength the rook is roughly equal to a minor piece plus one and a half to two pawns; two rooks are roughly equal to three minor pieces or to a queen.

The name "rook" goes back to the Persian rukh, the chariot that occupied the corner square in the starting position; Western Europe renamed it after the tower it is drawn as today.