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Which is the best piece in chess apart from the queen?

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anshnayan_15

I guess it should be bishop?

MiketheSRANK
The pawn since it can ultimately promote to a queen and rules the game when they all work together
MickinMD

Of course, it depends on the position.  Generally the Rook is next in power to a Queen, and the Bishop and Knight are equal on average.  But, if the game is closed (tough to move around) the Knight is often better than a Bishop and if it's open or you're in an endgame with several pawns that are spread across the board, the Bishop's better.  Also 2 B's are usually better than B + N.  Jeremy Silman in his several editions of the very excellent How to Reassess Your Chess mentions a rule of thumb I've found very useful: N on 1st or 2nd rank, much weaker than a B, N on 3rd rank good defensively though weaker than B but poised for action. N on 4th rank as good as a B, N on 5th rank better than a B, N on 6th rank can be absolutely devastating, N on 7th or 8th rank less devastating.  Of course, those things are generally true on the 4th or higher ranks only if the Knight is on a "Knight Outpost" where it's relatively safe from attack.  I love to look for and create good 5th and 6th rank Knight Outposts!

Based on the old standard created by Fred Reinfeld in the 1950's, based roughly on 1920's World Champion Jose Capablanca's book Chess Fundamentals (still a great 121 page read for newer players and legally free online: https://www.sources.com/SSR/Docs/Capablanca-ChessFundamentals.pdf), Q =9, R = 5, B = N = 3, P = 1.  The King's fighting strength is often said to be similar to a Bishop.  Some said the R = 4.5 but when the Rooks are connected on the same rank or file then each R = 5.

Then, in the 1990's, IM Larry Kaufman did a computer analysis of thousands of games and he published the results in an article in Chess Life magazine and an update in 2019 (links at bottom).

The 2019 update says the relative values are as follows:  Q = 10, R = 5.25, B = N = 3.5, Bishop Pair = extra 0.5, P = 1.

Finally, remember that in some positions a Knight can be the most valuable piece.  The Queen is always stronger or as strong, depending on the position, as a R or B because it can move as they move.  When I coached a three-straight-years county champion high school chess team which finished 3rd-4th-5th in the State Tournament in consecutive years, players often played Bughouse chess (a great way to learn what values pieces have in various positions) players would scream out, "Get me a knight!" to their partners when in jammed-up positions more than any other piece.

Links to Kaufman articles:

https://www.chess.com/article/view/the-evaluation-of-material-imbalances-by-im-larry-kaufman

Updated 2019: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hYy0C-QXio

 

Andyhsu897
It comes rook pawn bishop king knight
Im-ok-667

Knight