This horned "rook" may be the world's oldest-known chess piece. (Credit: John Peter Oleson) In the game of chess, a rook can move as many spaces as it can in one direction.

The rook in question certainly wasn't the first chess piece ever created, but it may be the oldest found to date. John Peter Oleson Almost 30 years after its discovery, a small sandstone figurine ...

In chess, the rook has a special move called "castling," in which both it and the king can move on the same turn, essentially switching places.

(The word "rook" comes from "rukh," the Persian word for chariot.) If the tiny sandstone figure Oleson excavated is indeed a rook, it may be the single oldest chess piece ever discovered, dating ...