We all know that the Queen is the most powerful piece on the chessboard. What some beginners (and even some intermediate players) don’t appreciate is the great trouble the Queen can create for the other player. I want to try to give you an idea of how the Queen can be used by showing you how many ways a Queen can make trouble for the enemy King.
To show you the Queen’s great power, I will first show you a feature of the other pieces that they have in common. The Bishop, Knight, and Rook can all give check to the enemy King in at most two ways in any given position.
Let’s start with the following diagram.
In this position, the Knight at h2 can check the Black King in two ways: the Knight can move to f3 and give check, or it can move to g4 and give check.
Similarly, the Bishop can check the Black King in two ways: it can move either to c3 or g3, giving check from either square.
And the Rook can give check from two squares: e2 or b5.
For the Rooks, Bishops, and Knights, the best they can do is give check in two ways. (Sometimes, of course, they can’t give check at all because friendly or enemy pieces get in the way or because they’re on the wrong color square or too far away.)
The Pawn is even weaker, usually giving check in only one way.
The Queen, on the other hand, can often give check in more than two ways — a LOT more. Take a look at the following diagram.
In this position, the Queen can give check to the enemy King in eleven different ways.
See if you can find the twelve ways the Queen can give check.