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Queen (chess)
 
 
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The queen () is the most powerful piece
Chess piece

Chess pieces vary in both value and abilities. A Rules_of_chess#Initial_setup consists of each player having the following equipment:* 1 King ...
 in the game of chess
Chess

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two Player . Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from History of chess and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older...
. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of their first rank next to their king
King (chess)

In chess, the King is the most important chess piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that he would not be able to avoid capture ....
. The white queen starts on a white square, and the black queen on a black square, thus the mnemonic
Mnemonic

A mnemonic device is a memory aid. Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal, something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something, particularly lists, but may be visual, kinesthetic or auditory....
 "queen gets her color" or "queen on color". In algebraic notation
Algebraic chess notation

Algebraic chess notation is used to record and describe the moves in a game of chess. It is now standard among all chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers....
, the white queen starts on the d1 square and the black queen starts on the d8 square.

In the game shatranj
Shatranj

Shatranj ????????? is an old form of chess, which came from India to Persia and has been popular in Persia and the Middle East for almost 1000 years....
, an ancestor of chess, the queen was a fairly weak piece called a fers or vizier
Vizier

A Vizier , is a term for a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Muslim monarch such as a Caliph, or Sultan. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Persian Empire's Shahs....
, only able to move or capture one square in a diagonal
Diagonal

A diagonal can refer to a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, or in informal contexts any upward or downward sloping line....
 direction similar to a pawn.






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The queen () is the most powerful piece
Chess piece

Chess pieces vary in both value and abilities. A Rules_of_chess#Initial_setup consists of each player having the following equipment:* 1 King ...
 in the game of chess
Chess

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two Player . Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from History of chess and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older...
. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of their first rank next to their king
King (chess)

In chess, the King is the most important chess piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that he would not be able to avoid capture ....
. The white queen starts on a white square, and the black queen on a black square, thus the mnemonic
Mnemonic

A mnemonic device is a memory aid. Commonly met mnemonics are often verbal, something such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something, particularly lists, but may be visual, kinesthetic or auditory....
 "queen gets her color" or "queen on color". In algebraic notation
Algebraic chess notation

Algebraic chess notation is used to record and describe the moves in a game of chess. It is now standard among all chess organizations and most books, magazines, and newspapers....
, the white queen starts on the d1 square and the black queen starts on the d8 square.

In the game shatranj
Shatranj

Shatranj ????????? is an old form of chess, which came from India to Persia and has been popular in Persia and the Middle East for almost 1000 years....
, an ancestor of chess, the queen was a fairly weak piece called a fers or vizier
Vizier

A Vizier , is a term for a high-ranking political advisor or minister, often to a Muslim monarch such as a Caliph, or Sultan. It sometimes refers to ministers and advisors of the Persian Empire's Shahs....
, only able to move or capture one square in a diagonal
Diagonal

A diagonal can refer to a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron, or in informal contexts any upward or downward sloping line....
 direction similar to a pawn. The modern queen's move arose in 15th century Europe.

The piece is archaically known as the minister. In Polish
Polish

Polish may refer to:* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe* Polish language* Poles, people from Poland* Polish * Maxwell Street Polish, Polish sausage sandwich popular in Chicago...
 it is known as the ;Hetman
Hetman

Hetman was the title of the second highest military commander used in 15th to 18th century Poland, Ukraine and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, known from 1569 to 1795 as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth....
 - the name of a major historical military-political office.

Movement



The queen can be moved any number of unoccupied squares in a straight line vertically, horizontally, or diagonally, thus combining the moves of the rook
Rook (chess)

A rook is a chess piece in the strategy board game of chess. In the past the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes , and non-players still often call it a "castle"....
 and bishop
Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a Chess piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's Knight and the King , the other between the queen's knight and the Queen ....
. The queen captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits.

General remarks


Piece value

Ordinarily the queen is slightly more powerful than a rook and a bishop together, while slightly less powerful than two rooks. It is almost always disadvantageous to exchange the queen for a piece other than the enemy's queen. (see chess piece relative value)

The queen is at her most powerful when the board is open, when the enemy king is not well-defended, or when there are loose (i.e. undefended) pieces in the enemy camp. Because of her long range and ability to move in more than one direction, the queen is well-equipped to execute forks
Fork (chess)

In chess, a fork is a Chess tactic that uses one piece to attack two or more of the opponent's pieces at the same time, hoping to achieve material gain because the opponent can only counter one of the two threats....
. Compared to other long range pieces (i.e. rooks and bishops) the queen is less restricted and more powerful also in closed positions.

Strategy

Beginners often develop the queen as soon as possible, in the hopes of plundering the enemy position and possibly even delivering an early checkmate
Checkmate

Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured....
 such as Scholar's mate
Scholar's mate

In chess, scholar's mate is the checkmate which occurs after the moves 1.e4 e5 2.Qh5 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.Qxf7#. The moves may be played in a different order or with slight variations, but the basic idea ? the queen and bishop combining in an attack on f7 is the same....
. This strategy is disadvantageous against experienced players. With no other pieces developed, an attack by the queen alone can be easily repelled. Moreover, because the queen is too valuable to exchange for a lesser piece, the defender can often gain time and space by threatening an exposed queen and forcing her to retreat. Nonetheless, the Scandinavian Defense
Scandinavian Defense

The Scandinavian Defense or Center Counter Defense, is a chess opening characterized by the movesThe Center Counter Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings, first recorded as being played between Scachs d'amor in Valencia in 1475, and being mentioned by Luis Ramirez Lucena in 1497....
, which in the main line features queen moves by Black on the second and third moves, is considered sound and has been played at world championship level. Even the Parham Attack
Parham Attack

The Parham Attack, also known as the Wayward Queen Attack, Danvers Attack, or the Patzer Opening, is an irregular chess opening beginning withIt is named after the American chess chess master Bernard Parham, the first master-level player known to have advocated it....
 (1.e4 e5 2.Qh5!?), which is widely considered a chess opening
Chess opening

In chess the word "opening" has two common meanings, both of which are discussed in this article. Chessplayers are so familiar with these two meanings that many books and articles never state the distinction and may switch without notice from one meaning to the other....
 suitable only for beginners, has occasionally been played by the strong American
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
 grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura
Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura, is an United States International Grandmaster .He was born in Hirakata, Osaka Prefecture, Japan, to a Japanese father and an American mother, and at the age of two years old, he moved with his parents to the United States....
.

An exchange of queens often marks the beginning of the endgame, although there is such a thing as a queen endgame. Due to the multiplicity of queen moves available, and the possibility of perpetual check
Perpetual check

In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can force a Draw by an unending series of check s. Such a situation typically arises when the player who is checking cannot deliver checkmate, while any other move gives the opponent a chance to win....
, queen endgames are notoriously difficult to win. Endgames often hinge on attempts to promote
Promotion (chess)

Promotion is a chess term describing the transformation of a Pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a Queen , Knight , Rook , or Bishop of the same List of chess terms#Color ....
 a pawn to a queen.

History

The queen was originally the fers (counsellor or prime minister) and had a quite different movement. In Persia it was called the ferzin and later the firz. Initially it could move only one square diagonally. About 1300 its move was enhanced to allow it to jump two squares diagonally, which was the same move as the bishop
Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a Chess piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's Knight and the King , the other between the queen's knight and the Queen ....
 at the time. For a while it was also allowed to jump like a knight
Knight (chess)

The knight is a chess piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head, leading some to refer to it informally as a "horse"....
 once in the game, somewhat analogous to castling
Castling

Castling is a special move in the game of chess involving the king and either of the original rook of the same color. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook, then moving the rook onto the square over which the king crossed....
 for the king
King (chess)

In chess, the King is the most important chess piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that he would not be able to avoid capture ....
. This rule was used in Turkey and Russia until the 18th Century. During the 15th Century the move took its modern form as a combination of the move of the rook
Rook (chess)

A rook is a chess piece in the strategy board game of chess. In the past the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes , and non-players still often call it a "castle"....
 and the current move of the bishop .

See also

  • Chess piece
    Chess piece

    Chess pieces vary in both value and abilities. A Rules_of_chess#Initial_setup consists of each player having the following equipment:* 1 King ...
  • Eight queens puzzle
    Eight queens puzzle

    The eight queens puzzle is the problem of putting eight chess Queen s on an 8?8 chessboard such that none of them is able to capture any other using the standard chess queen's moves....
  • Staunton chess set
    Staunton chess set

    The Staunton chess set is composed of a particular type of chess pieces used to play the game of chess. According to the rules of chess, this style is to be used for competitions....
  • Chess piece relative value
  • Queen versus pawn endgame
  • promotion (chess)
    Promotion (chess)

    Promotion is a chess term describing the transformation of a Pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a Queen , Knight , Rook , or Bishop of the same List of chess terms#Color ....


External links

  • by Fergus Duniho and Hans Bodlaender.