What is a rook in chess?
A rook is a piece which can move as many squares as are unimpeded by either an opponent’s or the player’s own pieces along a file or rank. Each player has two rooks which are placed at opposite ends of each player’s nearest horizontal line, meaning rank. The rook may also “castle” with its own king. The castle move may not be made if there are pieces between the king and the rook; if any square beteen the rook and king is presently in check; or if the king has moved. If the king has moved, it loses the right to castle with either rook. If a rook has moved, the king may not castle with the moved rook. It may still castle with the unmoved rook as long as that is not prohibeted. In castling the king moves 2 squares to either the left or the right, depending on which rook it is castling with and the rook is placed on the square adjacent to the king on its other side. I like to think of it as a “hop, skip and a jump”. The king hops one square then skips to the next square, then the rook hop
