Queen (chess) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The queen is the most powerful piece

Chess piece

Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...

in the game of chess

Chess

Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...

, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally

Diagonal

A diagonal is a line joining two nonconsecutive vertices of a polygon or polyhedron. Informally, any sloping line is called diagonal. The word "diagonal" derives from the Greek διαγώνιος , from dia- and gonia ; it was used by both Strabo and Euclid to refer to a line connecting two vertices of a...

. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king

King (chess)

In chess, the king is the most important piece. The object of the game is to trap the opponent's king so that its escape is not possible . If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be in check, and the player must remove the threat of capture on the next move. If this cannot be...

. With the chessboard

Chessboard

A chessboard is the type of checkerboard used in the board game chess, and consists of 64 squares arranged in two alternating colors...

oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen on a black square. (Thus the mnemonic

Mnemonic

A mnemonic , or mnemonic device, is any learning technique that aids memory. To improve long term memory, mnemonic systems are used to make memorization easier. Commonly encountered mnemonics are often verbal, such as a very short poem or a special word used to help a person remember something,...

s "queen gets her color", or "queen on color", or "queen on her own color".) In algebraic notation

Algebraic chess notation

Algebraic notation is a method for recording and describing 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 d1 and the black queen starts on d8. Because the queen is the most powerful piece, when a pawn

Pawn (chess)

The pawn is the most numerous and weakest piece in the game of chess, historically representing infantry, or more particularly armed peasants or pikemen. Each player begins the game with eight pawns, one on each square of the rank immediately in front of the other pieces...

is promoted

Promotion (chess)

Promotion is a chess rule 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 color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...

it is almost always promoted to a queen.

In the game shatranj

Shatranj

Shatranj is an old form of chess, which came to the Western world from India. Modern chess has gradually developed from this game.-Etymology and origins:...

, an ancestor of chess, the queen was a fairly weak piece called a fers or vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....

, only able to move or capture one step diagonally. The modern queen's move arose in 15th-century Europe.

The piece is archaically known as the minister. In Polish

Polish language

Polish is a language of the Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages, used throughout Poland and by Polish minorities in other countries...

it is known as the Hetman
Hetman
Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....

– the name of a major historical military-political office. In Russian

Russian language

Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...

it is known as "ferz'" (ферзь).

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 piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...

and bishop

Bishop (chess)

A bishop is a 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.

Although both players start with one queen each, a player can promote a pawn

Pawn (chess)

to any of several types of pieces, including a queen, when the pawn is moved to the player's furthest rank (the opponents first rank). Such a queen created by promotion can be an additional queen, or if the player's queen has been captured, a replacement queen. Pawn promotion to a queen is colloquially called queening, which is by far the most common type of piece a pawn is promoted to because of the relative power of a queen.

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

Exchange (chess)

In the tactics and strategy in the board game of chess, an exchange or trade of chess pieces is series of closely related moves, typically sequential, in which the two players capture each others pieces. Any types of pieces except the kings may possibly be exchanged, i. e. captured in an...

the queen for a piece other than the enemy's queen.

The reason the queen is more powerful than a combination of a rook and bishop, even though they control the same number of squares, is twofold. First, the queen is a more mobile unit than the rook and bishop, as the entire power of the queen can be transferred to another location in one move, while transferring the entire firepower of a rook and bishop requires two moves. Second, the queen is not hampered by the bishop's inability to control squares of the opposite color to the square on which it stands. A factor in favor of the rook and bishop is that they can attack (or defend) a square twice, while a queen can only do so only once, but experience has shown that this factor is usually less significant than the points favoring the queen.

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 multiple directions, the queen is well-equipped to execute forks

Fork (chess)

In chess, a fork is a tactic that uses a single piece to attack multiple pieces at the same time. The attacker usually hopes to gain material by capturing one of the opponent's pieces. The defender often finds himself in a difficult position in which he cannot counter all threats. The attacking...

. Compared to other long range pieces (i.e. rooks and bishops) the queen is less restricted and more powerful also in closed positions.

Strategy

As the queen is the most powerful piece, many times beginners develop it as quickly as possible, in the hope 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 achieved by the moves 1. e4 e5 2. Qh5 Nc6 3. Bc4 Nf6? 4. Qxf7#. The moves might be played in a different order or in slight variation, but the basic idea is the same—the queen and bishop combine in a simple mating attack on f7 .Sometimes Scholar's Mate is...

). However, being the most powerful piece means the queen is also the most valuable, and if developed too early the queen will often be vulnerable to attacks by the weaker pieces. In that case the queen often must retreat to avoid being lost, or being exchanged for a piece of lesser value. Since the retreat will consume one or two moves, it is time wasted, giving the opponent more time to develop his own pieces.

Experienced players prefer to delay developing the queen, and use their minor pieces in the opening instead. An early queen attack is rare in high level chess, as experienced opponents will avoid immediate mating threats such as Scholar's Mate.

Nonetheless, there are some openings with early queen development that are sometimes used by high level chess players. The Scandinavian Defense

Scandinavian Defense

The Scandinavian Defense is a chess opening characterized by the moves:The Center Counter Defense is one of the oldest recorded openings, first recorded as being played between Francesco di Castellvi and Narciso Vinyoles in Valencia in 1475 in what may be the first recorded game of modern chess,...

, 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. The Scandinavia is usually an option for Black to avoid some heavy analysed openings, such as the Ruy Lopez or the Sicilian Defence

Sicilian Defence

The Sicilian Defence is a chess opening that begins with the moves:The Sicilian is the most popular and best-scoring response to White's first move 1.e4...

. Some less common openings have been tried too, such as the Parham Attack

Parham Attack

The Parham Attack is an irregular chess opening beginning with the moves:The opening is named after American 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

A chess opening is the group of initial moves of a chess game. Recognized sequences of opening moves are referred to as openings as initiated by White or defenses, as created in reply by Black. There are many dozens of different openings, and hundreds of named variants. The Oxford Companion to...

suitable only for beginners, but has occasionally been played by the strong American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura

Hikaru Nakamura is an American chess Grandmaster . He has been ranked among the top six players in the world by FIDE....

.

Often a queen exchange marks the beginning of the endgame; but there are queen endgames and sometimes queens are exchanged in the opening, a long time before the endgame. A common goal in pawn endgames is to attempt to promote

Promotion (chess)

a pawn to a queen. As the queen has the largest range and mobility, queen and king vs. lone king is any easy win, when compared with some other basic mates

Queen sacrifice

A queen sacrifice
Sacrifice (chess)
In chess, a sacrifice is a move giving up a piece in the hopes of gaining tactical or positional compensation in other forms. A sacrifice could also be a deliberate exchange of a chess piece of higher value for an opponent's piece of lower value....

is the deliberate sacrifice of a queen in order to gain a more favorable tactical position.

History

The queen was originally the fers (counsellor or prime minister) and had a quite different movement. In Persia it was called the farzin 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 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 piece in the game of chess, representing a knight . It is normally represented by a horse's head and neck. Each player starts with two knights, which begin on the row closest to the player, one square from the corner...

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 rooks of the same color. It is the only move in chess in which a player moves two pieces at the same time. Castling consists of moving the king two squares towards a rook on the player's first rank, then...

for the king

King (chess)

. This rule was used in Turkey and Russia until the 18th Century.

The feminization of the fers into the queen arose over time. Some surviving early medieval pieces depict the piece as a queen, and the word fers became grammatically feminized in several languages, for example alferza in Spanish and fierce or fierge in French, prior to its replacement with names such as reine or dame (lady). The Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana
Carmina Burana , Latin for "Songs from Beuern" , is the name given to a manuscript of 254 poems and dramatic texts mostly from the 11th or 12th century, although some are from the 13th century. The pieces were written principally in Medieval Latin; a few in Middle High German, and some with traces...

also refers to the queen as femina (woman) and coniunx (spouse), and the name Amazon
Amazons
The Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Greek mythology and Classical antiquity. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...

has sometimes been seen. (The amazon is sometimes used as a fairy chess piece

Fairy chess piece

A fairy chess piece or unorthodox chess piece is a piece analogous to a chess piece. It is not used in conventional chess, but is used in certain chess variants and some chess problems...

that can move as a queen or a knight.)

In Russian

Russian language

it keeps its Persian

Persian language

Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...

name of ferz to this day; koroleva or queen is colloquial and is never used by professional chess players. However the names koroleva, tsaritsa (empress), and baba (old woman) are attested as early as 1694. In Arabic countries the queen remains termed, and in some cases depicted as, a vizier.

Historian Marilyn Yalom proposes that the prominence of medieval queens such as Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine

Eleanor of Aquitaine was one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in Western Europe during the High Middle Ages. As well as being Duchess of Aquitaine in her own right, she was queen consort of France and of England...

and Blanche of Castile

Blanche of Castile

Blanche of Castile , was a Queen consort of France as the wife of Louis VIII. She acted as regent twice during the reign of her son, Louis IX....

, the cult of the Virgin Mary, points to a surviving chess queen representing the Virgin, as well as medieval poetry depicting the Virgin as the chess-queen of God or Fierce Dieu, and the power ascribed to women in the troubadour

Troubadour

A troubadour was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages . Since the word "troubadour" is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a trobairitz....

tradition of courtly love

Courtly love

Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly and chivalrously expressing love and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the nobility. It was also generally not practiced between husband and wife....

, might have been partly responsible for influencing the piece towards its identity as a queen and its extraordinary power on the board, as might the medieval popularity of chess as a game particularly suitable for women to play on equal terms with men. Significantly, the earliest surviving treatise to describe the modern movement of the queen (as well as the bishop and pawn), Repetición de amores e arte de axedres con CL iuegos de partido (Discourses on Love and the Art of Chess with 150 Problems) by Luis Ramírez de Lucena, was published during the reign of Isabella I of Castile

Isabella I of Castile

Isabella I was Queen of Castile and León. She and her husband Ferdinand II of Aragon brought stability to both kingdoms that became the basis for the unification of Spain. Later the two laid the foundations for the political unification of Spain under their grandson, Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor...

.
Well before the queen's powers expanded, it was already being romantically described as essential to the king's survival, so that when the queen was lost, there was nothing more of value on the board.

During the 16th century the queen's move took its modern form as a combination of the move of the rook

Rook (chess)

A rook is a piece in the strategy board game of chess. Formerly the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes...

and the current move of the bishop. Starting from Spain, this new version - called "queen's chess" (scacchi de la donna), or pejoratively "madwoman's chess" (schacchi alla rabiosa) - spread throughout Europe rapidly, partly due to the advent of the printing press and the popularity of new books on chess. The new rules faced a misogynistic backlash in some quarters, ranging from anxiety over a powerful female warrior figure to frank abuse against women in general.

At various times, the ability of pawns to be queened was restricted while the original queen was still on the board, so as not to cause scandal by providing the king with more than one queen. An early twelfth-century Latin poem refers to a queened pawn as a ferzia, as opposed to the original queen or regina, to account for this.

Unicode

Unicode is a computing industry standard for the consistent encoding, representation and handling of text expressed in most of the world's writing systems...

defines two codepoints for queen:

♕ U+2655 White Chess Queen (HTML ♕)

♛ U+265B Black Chess Queen (HTML ♛)

External links

Piececlopedia: Queen by Fergus Duniho and Hans Bodlaender.
Queen and King vs King Endgame Practice

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.