From Mark Weeks,
Your Guide to Chess.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

Wilhelm Steinitz first published The Modern Chess Instructor in 1889. The book's seven chapters were:

• Description of the Game. The Board and Men. Movement of Pieces and Mode of Capture.
• The Notation.
• The Laws of the Game.
• Technical Terms.
• Chess as a Training of Mind and How to Improve.
• The Modern School and its Tendency.
• Relative Value of Pieces and Principles of Play.

On this page, we reproduce Steinitz's Chapter 7, 'Relative Value of Pieces and Principles of Play'. See also the About Chess introduction to the Relative Value of Chess Pieces.

***

Relative Value of Pieces and Principles of Play
Chapter VII, The Modern Chess Instructor
by Wilhelm Steinitz

One of the most important exigencies in the conduct of the game is the exercise of the most critical judgment in estimating the relative value of the pawns and pieces which must be strongly taken into consideration if effecting exchanges, as well as in the formulation of general principles for the guidance of play in all parts of the game. But owing to the endless number and variety of combinations that are possible over the board, it has been found impossible to give more than an approximate theoretical and practical comparison of the relative powers of the men.

In Staunton's Handbook, page 34, it is stated that some scientists have calculated the approximate mathematical value, to be as follows: Taking the pawn as the unit, the Knight is worth 3.05; the Bishop 3.50; the Rook 5.48; and the Queen 9.94. On this basis, which in the main is in accordance with our own experience and observations, we shall proceed to indicate, in connection with the above approximate valuation, some of the most important general principles of regulating the actions of the men which we believe are now mostly accepted by the strongest masters of the day, and the knowledge of which very often enables the player to dispense with analysis, or at any rate greatly assists his calculations.

As, however, already explained in our preface, the scope of this work will not enable us to illustrate the application of our guiding maxims any further than is done in our notes to our analysis and selected games. We shall now endeavor to describe seriatim and briefly the power of each man and its most favorable mode of development, as well as to offer some hints as far as practicable about its value and action in the middle game and in the ending.

• The King
  
• The Queen
  
• The Rook
  
• The Bishop
  
• The Knight
  
• The Pawn
  

***

[Text from The Collected Works of Wilhelm Steinitz courtesy of ChessCentral.com (see also the link box in the upper right corner of this article), used with permission, reformatted for the Web.]