Queen (chess)
The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally, combining the powers of the rook and bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases.
Quotes
[edit]- The Queen is quaint and quick conceit,
Which makes her walk which way she list,
And roots them up that lie in wait
To work her treason, ere she wist;
Her force is such against her foes
That whom she meets she overthrows.- Nicholas Breton, "The Chess Play" (1593), The Queen
- She sits at the top of the high places above the city. She is restless and determined. She girds her loins with strength. Her feet stay not in her house. She moves in every direction and into every corner. Her evolutions are wonderful, her spirit untiring. How comely are her footsteps as she moves diagonally, one step after another, from square to square!
- Spanish Hebrew text (c. 12th century), attributed to Bonsenior ibn Yehia, in Marilyn Yalom, The Birth of the Chess Queen (2004), ch. 4
