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Queen

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Image:chess zhor 26.png
Image:chess zver 26.png a8 b8 c8 d8 xx e8 f8 g8 h8 xx Image:chess zver 26.png
a7 xx b7 c7 d7 xx e7 f7 g7 xx h7
a6 b6 xx c6 d6 xx e6 f6 xx g6 h6
a5 b5 c5 xx d5 xx e5 xx f5 g5 h5
a4 xx b4 xx c4 xx d4 ql e4 xx f4 xx g4 xx h4 xx
a3 b3 c3 xx d3 xx e3 xx f3 g3 h3
a2 b2 xx c2 d2 xx e2 f2 xx g2 h2
a1 xx b1 c1 d1 xx e1 f1 g1 xx h1
Image:chess zhor 26.png
Queen moves

The queen is the most powerful, and one of the most useful chess pieces. It can move diagonally or orthogonally in any direction, combining the powers of the rook and bishop. With a correctly placed board, the white queen begins on d1 and the black queen on d8. An easy way for beginners to remember this, the Queen always starts on her own color. The white Queen on a white square, and black on black. It is worth 900 centipawns of material and is usually represented by a Q in English algebraic notation.

[edit] Strategy

Many novice players will want to bring out their queens early on in the game; while this strategy can be effective against other beginners, experienced players know how to make use of their queen better. Due to its long range and flexibility in movement, the queen is a great piece to execute forks with, though this is usually only useful if both threatened pieces are undefended or one is a king (in check) and the other is undefended. A queen is at her most power when the board is open, and the opponent's king and other pieces are undefended. Because a queen is so powerful, it is not a good idea to trade it for an opponent's piece, unless it is a queen, or doing so guarantees a checkmate.

[edit] History

Through the years the Queen has swapped gender! Origanly (s)he was a Farzin, a wise man who counseled the King. When Chess came to Europe he was known as a "fers". However the Farzin/fers could only move one square in a diagonal During medieval Europe it was accepted that the person next to a King should be a Queen, therefor allowing the Farzin to switch gender! Only two sets of chessmen from that time are left - the Lewis chessmen in the British Museum, and a group of figural chessmen kept at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris; both show a Queen seated on a throne. So, the switch of gender happened, even though the name "fers" stayed for the next few hundred years. Even so, Her Majesty had to wait until the Renassance until she could gain her ultimate board-wise power. Rule changes accursed when Spain tried experiments to try and speed up a game of Chess. One change increased the Queen's power so that she could travel move in any direction the length of the board. This gave her lady the true power behind the throne, annd was christioned by Italians Mad Queen Chess.

The current 'Queen'
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