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.
White queen
Black queen
Vizier piece from a Southern Italian chess set, 12th century
Queen from Spain, 12th century (walrus tusk)
A chess piece, or chessman, is a game piece that is placed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. It can be either white or black, and it can be one of six types: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, or pawn.
Polish Węgiel pieces
Original Staunton chess pieces Left to right: pawn, rook, knight, bishop, queen, king
A pawn of quartz from 10th–11th century (Fatimid Egypt?). Islamic chess sets favored abstract designs.
A knight made around 1250 in London, England. The knight is battling an evil dragon.