Is there a name for non-pawn pieces?

Question

I'm trying to describe chess to a person, and one of my sentences was:

"Two rows, one with pawns and another with [non-pawns]"

What would the collection of King, Queen, Bishops, Knights and Towers be called?

See also this question: https://chess.stackexchange.com/questions/14145 — Dag Oskar Madsen, May 08 '17 at 18:14
@Bad_Bishop Related, but not a dupe. But either way, I got my answer from my question — Oak, May 09 '17 at 11:25

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 08 '17 at 17:56

2

As you probably know, sometimes the word "pieces" itself is used for that (you can say for example: white has two pieces and three pawns left). But that isn't very practical to use.

The only solution I can think of is using light pieces, heavy pieces and a king.

Not a one word, but at least it can be used in your sentence.

answered May 08 '17 at 17:56

kmartin

1,638
9
19

3

More commonly, major and minor pieces, rather than heavy and light. – Herb May 08 '17 at 18:50
Yes you're right. Heavy and light came to my mind first... – kmartin May 08 '17 at 18:52
The chessmen which are not pawns are called pieces. Why is that impractical? – bof May 08 '17 at 21:28
1

What I would like to know is, is there a gender-neutral term that covers both pieces and pawns? – bof May 08 '17 at 21:29
@bof It is impractical simply because the word "pieces" has more meanings and someone may be confused by it. To your second comment - probably there isn't such a term... :-( – kmartin May 08 '17 at 21:39
@bof The term "units" is sometimes used. – Rosie F May 28 '19 at 05:46

Is there a name for non-pawn pieces?

1 Answers1