How does the Queen move in chess?

The most powerful piece in all the land.
Image via Chess Ultra

The Queen is the highest-valued piece in chess other than the King, and it all revolves around the piece’s flexibility and power.

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Each player in a game of chess starts with just one Queen, but more can be created by getting a Pawn to the opponent’s end of the board which triggers a promotion of that pawn to a Rook, Bishop, Knight, or Queen.

Typically, players revolve their chess strategy around keeping their Queen protected while also opening her up to make powerful and suppressive plays.

Similar to a Rook, the Queen can move vertically or horizontally across the board in any direction for any number of squares that are open. Unlike Knight’s however, the Queen cannot go through any other pieces.

Image via Chess.com

In addition, the Queen can move diagonally across the board in the same ways that a Bishop can. This follows the exact same rules as a Bishop and is only limited by the number of squares on the board or pieces in the way.

On a board that is completely open, a Queen can move forward, backward, right, left, and diagonally in any combination of forward or backward with left or right. This makes the queen the most powerful and maneuverable piece in the game.


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Author
Max Miceli
Senior Staff Writer. Max graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a journalism and political science degree in 2015. He previously worked for The Esports Observer covering the streaming industry before joining Dot where he now helps with Overwatch 2 coverage.