queen

The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess. It can move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or , combining the powers of the rook and bishop. Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first next to the king. Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases. The predecessor to the queen is the ferz, a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally, originating from the Persian game of shatranj. The modern queen gained its power and its modern move in Spain in the 15th century during Isabella I's reign, perhaps inspired by her great political power. Placement and movement The white queen starts on d1, while the black queen starts on d8. With the chessboard oriented correctly, the white queen starts on a white square and the black queen starts on a black square—thus the mnemonics "queen gets her color", "queen on [her] [own] color", or "the dress [queen piece] matches the shoes [square]" (Latin: servat rēgīna colōrem). 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 moving to the square on which an enemy piece stands.