Queen in chess

The queen in chess is the most dangerous piece, whose strength is equal to nine pawns. Modern theory attributes it to “heavy pieces” (the second of which is the boat). The appearance of the queen in traditional chess is similar to that of the king, but the king is higher and is marked with a cross in the upper part of the piece (the queen has a small ball instead).

Queens on a chessboard
Each player at the beginning of the game has one queen. Together with the king, queens occupy two central cells on the first and eighth horizontals. Remembering how they are located relative to each other is quite simple. The fields (for black it is d8, and for white it is d1), on which queens are placed, before the start of the game have the same color as the pieces themselves. It is easy for beginner chess players to remember this rule using the rule “the queen loves her color”.

How the queen walks
The queen is able to make moves both vertically and horizontally, and in diagonal directions.

Consider this example. On it, the white queen can go in any of the directions, that is, moves are available to him:

(1. Фd1), (1. Фd3), (1. Фd8 +), (1. Фd7), (1. Фd6), (1. Фd5), (1. Фd4), (1 . Фg4), (1. Фf4), (1. Ф4), (1. Ф4), (1. Фс4), (1. Фа4), (1. Фb2), (1. Фb2), (1. Фc3 ), (1. Фh8 +), (1. Фg7), (1. Фg6), (1. Фe5 +), (1. Фg1), (1. Фf2), (1. Фe3), (1. Фe7), (1. Фb6), (1. Фc5).

The queen, like a pawn, king, bishop or rook, cannot “jump” over pawns and pieces of the opponent or her own.

In this example, the black queen does not have the ability to move to the d8-d6 squares, since he is blocked by the white pawn standing on the e5 square. White’s knight, standing on the field f3, also blocks the possibility of movement (on h3 and g3).

How does the queen strike? Just like it makes a move.

In this example, the white queen standing on the d4 square is able to “eat” any black piece:

One of the pawns: (1.Fxd7) or (1.Fxb4 +).
Horse (1. Фxg4).
Rook (1.Fxg7).
Elephant (1. Фxd2).
How a pawn can turn into a queen
After the pawn reaches the most distant horizontal from the starting position, the player must replace it with a horse, rook, elephant or queen. Such a replacement is called the term “transformation” and is an integral part of this move. Most often, a pawn is turned into a queen, since it has the greatest power. To transform, it does not matter how many similar pieces are on the board, so if the player already has one queen, after the transformation they will become two.

In this example, a pawn reaches the eighth horizontal and turns into a queen. Since the transformation is part of this move, White puts a checkmate: (1.pd8 (Q) #).

You will be interested: weak transformations
At some points in the game, it is more advantageous to turn a pawn into a piece other than the queen (this is called a “weak transformation”). These situations are:

Since the knight can attack in the directions inaccessible to the queen, then by turning into a knight it becomes possible to create a “fork” (substitute several enemy pieces under attack), to check or checkmate.
Turning into a queen creates a stalemate (draw), and then the pawn becomes a rook or bishop.
Queen Queen
Queen Mat Layout Plan:

A. Choose the side of the chessboard to which the opponent’s king is closer. For the mat we will use it.
In our example, this is the left side.

B. Cutting off the king. The queen must make such a move to cut off the king’s ability to move most of the chessboard. Lock it on the selected side of the board.

1. Qe1 – e5.

V. Queen, like a horse. We force the king to retreat.

For the mat, we need to push the opponent’s king to the extreme horizontal. The queen does not need help for this, she does not even need to check. Even more, the check will be inappropriate here, as it will give the opponent the opportunity to choose the escape route.

If the king can go diagonally to the rook and “drive away” it, then he is powerless against the queen. It is enough to become at each attack position the same as the knight’s move. The opponent has no choice but to retreat (he cannot go to the cells threatened by the queen).

From the queen now it is only required to repeat the moves after the king, again and again becoming in the attacking position of the horse. The king to the left is the queen to the left, the king diagonally is the queen diagonally in the same direction.

1. . . . Kc6 – b6
The king is forced to retreat.
2. Фе5 – d5 Кb6 – a6
The queen again becomes in the attacking position of the horse, the king moves to the edge of the board.
3. Qd5 – c5 Kra6 – b7
The king goes to the penultimate horizontal.
4. FS5 – d6 Kb7 – a7
The queen systematically follows her strategy.
5. Qd6 – c6 Kra7 – b8
The king is almost cornered!
6. Фc6 – d7 Кb6 – a8

But on this moment we dwell in more detail. If the queen in this situation goes to c7, the black king will not have a single field where he could go. This situation is called the term “stalemate.” The player who put the stalemate instead of winning receives a draw, since the main conditions for victory are not fulfilled (declare a mat to the opponent’s king).