Queen (chess)

White queen
Black queen
Chess pieces
King
Queen
Rook
Bishop
Knight
Pawn

The queen is a chess piece that stands next to the king at the start of a game.The queen starts on the d1 square for white and the d8 square for black. It can move any number of unoccupied squares diagonally, vertically, or horizontally. When recording games, it is shortened to Q.

The queen's movement

8
a8 up-left arrow
d8 up arrow
g8 up-right arrow
b7 up-left arrow
d7 up arrow
f7 up-right arrow
c6 up-left arrow
d6 up arrow
e6 up-right arrow
a5 left arrow
b5 left arrow
c5 left arrow
d5 white queen
e5 right arrow
f5 right arrow
g5 right arrow
h5 right arrow
c4 down-left arrow
d4 down arrow
e4 down-right arrow
b3 down-left arrow
d3 down arrow
f3 down-right arrow
a2 down-left arrow
d2 down arrow
g2 down-right arrow
d1 down arrow
h1 down-right arrow
7
6
5
4
3
2
1
abcdefgh
All moves of a queen

The queen moves like both the bishop and rook. Both players start with one queen. A player may promote a pawn to a queen when the pawn reaches the end of the board.

History of the queen in chess

The Indo-Persian game lasted for nearly a thousand years, until the end of the 15th century. In it, the piece next to the Shah was the Firzān or Visier, who was a counsellor. This piece had a movement even more limited than the king. It moved just one square at a time, on the diagonal. Not surprising, then, that when the move changed into its modern form, the Italians called the new game schacci alla rabioso (~furious chess).[1][2]

References

  1. ↑ Murray H.J.R. 1913. The history of chess. Oxford. p225 reprint ISBN 0-936317-01-9
  2. ↑ Hooper, David and Whyld, Kenneth 1992. The Oxford companion to chess 2nd ed, Oxford University Press. p328 ISBN 0-19-866164-9