"How the Queen became the most powerful piece on the chessboard?" And a Legend about Chess History I ALWAYS learn COOL THINGS when researching Q POSTS. "Worth remembering. Think Chess. Do you attack the KING in the beginning or middle-to-end? QUEEN protects KING? Q" "Traditionally, KINGS were powerful. Then, how did the QUEEN become the MOST DOMINANT piece on the chess board? In the game of chess, the queen has more freedom (mobility) on the chess board. In that sense, the queen is the most powerful piece. On the other hand, the king, that has more value because if you lose the king you lose the game, has relatively much less power. Chess is an old game and traditionally, kings were powerful and women were nowhere in the picture. This raises a very interesting question. Why is the queen the most powerful piece on the chessboard? How did the queen dominate in chess? Let's investigate... Chess historians believe that the piece we call as the queen today was not originally known as the queen. It was originally called the "fers" or "ADVISOR". Shockingly, it was one of the weakest pieces on the board as it could only move one square diagonally. That means the game of chess existed without the queen for so many years. In the 15th century, history took some turns. The game of chess moved to European countries and several revisions were made to the existing chess rules. Most importantly, revisions were made to the piece which we now know as the queen piece. But what happened in the medieval times that prompted these amendments? What prompted the change? Many chess historians like Murray H.J.R. and Yalom believe that rise of the chess queen is deeply connected with the rise of female monarchs in Europe. In other words, the queen's rise on board is related to historical events that happened around the 15th century. The 15th century saw the rise of many female monarchs. As a matter of fact, between 1362 and 1654, eighteen women asserted official sovereignty over thirteen different European kingdoms. The rise of female rulers like Elizabeth I, Catherine of Aragon, Isabella of Castile, Mary Tudor greatly influenced the revisions made to chess. The piece earlier known as the advisor was named queen and was given the amalgamated powers of the rook and the bishop. Gradually, these changes spread throughout the globe thanks to the emergence of the printing press in Europe and colonialism and this was how the queen became the most powerful piece on the chess board." https://www.sportskeeda.com/chess/how-the-queen-became-the-most-powerful-piece-on-the-chessboard Chess History – A Famous Legend "One ancient legend that many children might even find in their maths books is about the tyrannical Indian king, Shahram, and a wise man in his kingdom. The wise man wanted to convince Shihram of the importance of each resident of his kingdom. So, he invented a game to represent the kingdom consisting of the king himself, his queen, rooks, bishops, knights, and pawns, all of which were important. The king liked the game very much and understood that the game was just like real life. So, he ordered everybody in his kingdom to play chess! Shahram offered the man all the gold and silver that he wanted, but the wise man didn’t want any treasure. Together with the king, he went to a chessboard and asked him to put one grain of wheat on the first square, two on the second and to keep doubling it until the chessboard was full. First of all, the king felt highly offended, but then he ordered his servants to fulfill the man’s wish. Desperately, the servants conveyed that such an enormous amount of wheat did not exist! The king understood that the wise man had given him a second lesson. Just like the pawns in chess, you should never underestimate the SMALL THINGS in life! This is one of the most popular legends about the history of chess. But for sure, there are many more…" https://www.ichess.net/blog/history-of-chess/