Chess piece relative value

In chess, a relative value (or point value) is a standard value conventionally assigned to each piece. Piece valuations have no role in the rules of chess but are useful as an aid to evaluating an exchange of pieces.

The best-known system assigns 1 point to a pawn, 3 points to a knight or bishop, 5 points to a rook and 9 points to a queen. Valuation systems, however, provide only a rough guide; the true value of a piece can vary significantly, depending on a piece's board position relative to a player's other pieces and the opponent's pieces.