The Queen

This document covers the basic moves of the Queen and Queen strategies.

SteveB

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8,2,4,16,32,4,2,8,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,129,129,129,129,129,129,129,129,136,130,132,144,160,132,130,136|0,3,0,0,yellowhl.png,R,7,3,0,0,yellowhl.png,R|The queen (♕,♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen on a black square, thus the mnemonics "queen gets her color", or "queen on her color".

In algebraic notation, the white queen starts on d1 and the black queen starts on d8 as shown here.

Because the queen is the most powerful piece, when a pawn is promoted it is almost always promoted to a queen.||0,0,0,0,32,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,16,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,144,160,0,0,0|0,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,0,5,3,0,targetmove.png,0,1,0,3,0,targetmove.png,0,1,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,1,4,3,0,targetmove.png,0,2,1,3,0,targetmove.png,0,2,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,2,3,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,0,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,1,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,3,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,4,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,5,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,6,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,7,3,0,targetmove.png,0,4,1,3,0,targetmove.png,0,4,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,4,3,3,0,targetmove.png,0,5,0,3,0,targetmove.png,0,5,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,5,4,3,0,targetmove.png,0,6,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,6,5,3,0,targetmove.png,0,7,2,3,0,targetmove.png,0,7,6,3,0,targetmove.png,0,3,2,0,0,yellowhl.png,R|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 and bishop. The queen captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits.

The queen is at her most powerful when the board is open, when the enemy king is not well-defended, or when there are undefended enemy pieces.||8,2,4,0,32,0,2,8,1,1,1,1,0,1,1,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,4,0,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,129,0,0,0,0,0,130,0,0,130,0,0,129,129,129,129,0,16,129,129,136,0,132,144,160,132,0,136|4,7,1,0,aimage.png,B,6,5,1,0,blank.png,B,6,5,0,0,attackcross.png,0,7,4,1,0,kingattack.png,0|Beginners often develop the queen early in the game, hoping to plunder the enemy position and deliver an early checkmate such as Scholar's Mate as shown here.

This can expose the easily harassed queen to attacks by weaker pieces causing the player to lose time. Experienced players generally prefer to delay developing the queen, and instead develop minor pieces in the opening.  Early queen attacks are rare in high level chess.||0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,32,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,16,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,160,0|7,6,0,0,yellowhl.png,R,7,6,1,0,kingattack.png,0,6,6,4,0,blue_overlay.png,0,6,1,4,0,blue_overlay.png,0|A queen exchange often marks the beginning of the endgame, but there are queen endgames, and sometimes queens are exchanged in the opening, long before the endgame.

A common goal in the endgame is to promote a pawn to a queen. As the queen has the largest range and mobility, queen and king vs. lone king is an easy win when compared to some other basic mates (see basic checkmate training page to practice).|1,6,6,6,red|

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