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The most powerful piece is the queen. A piece’s power is directly related to its mobility, and the queen is the most mobile. Although the queen is the most powerful piece, she must be very careful when engaging enemy forces because she’s so valuable. If rooks or minor pieces attack her, she’s often forced to retreat or be lost. Treat the lady with kid gloves!

Figure 2-9 indicates where the queens are placed at the start of the game.

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FIGURE 2-9: The queens take their seats.

The queen’s moves are simply the combination of the rook’s up-and-down, side-to-side moves and the bishop’s diagonal moves – basically, she can move any number of squares in any direction. Her only restriction is that she can’t jump over pieces. The queen captures an opponent by taking the opponent’s place on the board.

To get an idea of the queen’s strength, just put one in the middle of an empty chessboard – which, by the way, is a situation that will never happen if you’re playing chess by the rules! When placed in the center of the board, the queen can cover 27 squares and can move in eight different directions, which you can see in Figure 2-10.

© John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

FIGURE 2-10: The queen’s reign covers much of the board when placed at the center.

The queen covers fewer squares when placed on the side of the board, so her powers are slightly reduced in that case. However, it’s far too dangerous to post the valuable queen in the center of the board too early in the game, where members of the opposing army can harass her. Far more commonly, you see chess masters post the queen in a more conservative position early and wait to centralize her later, when pieces have been exchanged and the danger to her reduced.

The queen is not only the most dangerous chess piece, but also the most powerful! Moving her into positions where she can be easily attacked is generally frowned upon. Let your other pieces and pawns fight the early fight, and bring the queen into the game after some of the dust settles. If your opponent moves the queen to your side of the board early on, take heart! The move is probably a mistake. Look for ways to move your pieces so they attack the exposed queen and force her to retreat.

THE BIRTH OF THE QUEEN

The queen evolved from the Indian vizier who was the king’s chief minister or advisor. Originally a weak piece, the queen was given its great powers toward the end of the 15th century. Whether this bestowal was an act of chivalry or just another attempt to speed up the game remains unclear. It seems certain, however, that medieval Europe was accustomed to powerful queens – and this reality can also explain the gender change.