Chess Piece Point Values

What are the point Values of chess pieces

Every piece except the king receives a point value representing its relative strength. The king has no value because losing it means losing the game — it's priceless by definition.

Here's what the chess pieces value system tells you at a glance:

Piece

Standard Value

Pawn

1 point

Knight

3 points

Bishop

3 points

Rook

5 points

Queen

9 points

King

∞ (priceless)

These values help answer practical questions. Should you trade a bishop for three pawns? The math says it's even, so other factors decide. Should you give up your queen to capture a rook and a knight? That's 9 points for 8 — probably not worth it unless you gain something else.

The piece values in chess don't determine who wins. You win by checkmate, not by accumulating points. A player down a queen can still win if they deliver checkmate first. But in roughly equal positions, the side with more material usually converts that advantage into victory.

Standart system of Chess Piece Value

The 1-3-3-5-9 system is often called the "Reinfeld values" after author Fred Reinfeld, who popularized them in his chess books. Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, also proposed these exact values in his famous 1949 paper on programming a computer to play chess.

The logic behind these numbers comes from piece mobility. A queen can reach more squares than a rook, a rook more than a bishop, and so on. But the standard values are rough averages — they don't account for position, pawn structure, or which other pieces remain on the board.

Some key adjustments the standard system ignores:

The bishop pair bonus. Two bishops working together are worth more than a bishop and a knight, or two knights. Most experts add about half a pawn (0.5 points) to your total when you have both bishops while your opponent doesn't.

Knights need pawns. Knights become weaker as pawns disappear. Their ability to jump over pieces matters less on an empty board, and they're slower than bishops or rooks at covering long distances. In an endgame with few pawns, a bishop often outperforms a knight.

Rooks need open files. Rooks trapped behind pawns are underperforming their 5-point value. They come alive in the endgame when files open and they can penetrate to the seventh rank.

The queen isn't always worth 9. With queens still on the board, tactical threats multiply. Once queens trade off, the game becomes calmer and piece values shift. Two rooks (10 points) generally outperform a queen (9 points) in the endgame.

Alternative Chess pieces Values

Several experts have developed more refined systems based on database analysis and computer experiments.

Larry Kaufman's System

Grandmaster and chess engine programmer Larry Kaufman conducted research using databases of over a million master games. His 1999 study, updated in 2021, remains the most comprehensive analysis of piece values in chess.

Kaufman's middlegame values (when queens are on the board):

Piece

Kaufman Value

Pawn

1 point

Knight

3.5 points

Bishop

3.5 points

Rook

5.25 points

Queen

~10 points

Kaufman found that two minor pieces (knight + bishop) are usually worth more than a rook and pawn — contradicting the standard 6 = 6 calculation. He also documented that piece values change depending on whether queens are present, with different ratios applying in the endgame.

Hans Berliner's System

World Correspondence Chess Champion Hans Berliner published his own values in 1999, based on decades of experience and computer experiments:

Berliner Value

Pawn — 1 point
Knight — 3.2 points
Bishop — 3.33 points
Rook — 5.1 points
Queen — 8.8 points

Berliner's system includes adjustments based on position. Bishops, rooks, and queens gain up to 10% in open positions and lose up to 20% in closed ones. Knights gain up to 50% in closed positions but lose up to 30% when placed on the edges of the board.

Historical Systems

The chess value of pieces has been debated for centuries. Howard Staunton in the 1840s used slightly different values. The influential Handbuch des Schachspiels (1843) proposed pawn = 1.5, knight = 5.3, bishop = 5.3, rook = 8.6, queen = 15.5 — a completely different scale that maintains similar ratios.

Using chess point values in Engine Evaluations

Modern chess engines like Stockfish don't rely on simple point values. They use sophisticated algorithms that evaluate millions of factors: piece activity, king safety, pawn structure, space control, and much more. But material balance — essentially a refined version of point counting — remains one of the most important components.

When you see an engine evaluation like "+1.5," that roughly means White is ahead by the equivalent of one and a half pawns. An evaluation of "+3.0" suggests a piece advantage. Evaluations above "+6.0" usually indicate a winning position.

Engines adjust piece values dynamically based on position. A knight on a strong central outpost might be valued higher than a bishop trapped behind its own pawns. A passed pawn on the seventh rank might be worth nearly as much as a minor piece.

Engine evaluations also reflect what the standard values miss: the bishop pair bonus, the changing value of pieces as material comes off, and the importance of pawn structure. This is why engine recommendations sometimes suggest trades that look "even" by standard counting but actually favor one side.

When analyzing your games, don't just count material — look at how active each piece is and whether it's performing up to its theoretical value.

Final Thoughts on Chess Piece Values

The standard 1-3-3-5-9 system gives you a starting point for evaluating trades and assessing positions. But chess pieces value depends on context: open versus closed positions, endgame versus middlegame, piece activity versus passivity. Learn the basic values first, then develop your judgment about when pieces over- or under-perform their point totals. That's when the numbers truly start to help your game.