Newly “born” chessplayers are often fascinated by two pieces: the Knight and the Queen. The Knight’s odd leaping motion terrorizes them since the unchained horses seem to descend out of the heavens and eat (or fork!) their pieces in a very undignified manner. However, as interesting as this expressive (the grinning [or is that a gnashing of teeth?] face alone is enough to make a player’s hair turn white) piece might be, most beginners don’t use them much since they can’t quite seem to get a handle as to the correct way to harness its (seemingly) supernatural powers.

I will help you “break” the chessic horse in my next article. This discourse, though, is about the game’s most powerful unit: the Queen! This walking, sliding, and leaping power plant mixes the movements of a King, Rook, and Bishop all in one Amazonian package. Naturally, with so much punch available in a single unit, it seems logical to get it out as quickly as possible so as to inflict medieval damage upon the opponent. It turns out though, that this is usually a huge, but oh so common, mistake.

The truth is, the Queen should (and this is a generality, of course!) be one of the last pieces to step beyond its protective wall of pawns. Why? Because the Queen’s strength is also it’s weakness! Okay, I had to throw that in, though it most likely does more to confuse than explain. Allow me to translate: If your opponent attacks one of your protected pawns with one of his pawns, you usually don’t care since an even exchange of pawns is nothing to fear. If he attacks a protected pawn with a piece, you are even less concerned because exchanging a piece for a pawn usually depicts a certain amount of masochism on the part of the opponent. The same can be said for a Knight or Bishop: if the opponent attacks a protected Knight or Bishop with a Bishop, Knight, Rook, or Queen, you are usually happy to ignore it since, at worst, the exchange will simply be a trade of equals.

Now we come to our Queen. If we bring her out without good reason, she can be attacked by a pawn, Knight, Bishop, or Rook and, even if she’s protected, she must still run away in terror because you simply can’t afford to exchange your most powerful piece for any one of these inferior bits of wood or plastic.

In the early phase of the game, a quick journey by the Queen often allows the opponent to develop with gain of time via attacking the vulnerable lady. Let’s look at an extreme example:

1.e4 d5 2.exd5 Qxd5

Black’s Queen has come out early and, if she couldn’t be attacked in a constructive manner, the Queen would be very happy on this central square (its radius of control is enormous – the squares d8-d2, a5-h5, b7-g2, and f7-a2 are all part of its zone). So why doesn’t everyone use this opening? As explained earlier, the Queen is far too powerful to be vulnerable to lesser pieces.

The following moves will highlight this concept:

3.Nc3

Developing the Knight to a nice central post and simultaneously gaining time via an attack on the Black Queen.

3…Qg5?

Poor Black just doesn’t understand that you can’t place your Queen in harm’s way! Far better is 3…Qa5 when White’s pieces will have a harder time making threats against the Black empress.

4.d4

Another “free” move for White. This grabs central space and creates a discovered attack against the Queen via the Bishop on c1.

4…Qh4?

Black thinks he’s being aggressive by keeping his Queen hear the White army, but all he’s really doing is allowing White to kick the Queen around like a dog.

5.Nf3

Another developing move, and another attack on the vulnerable Queen.

5…Qg4?

By now you see the picture: Black is moving his Queen over and over while White is bringing out as many pieces as possible.

6.h3 Qd7

Seeing that 6…Qf5? 7.Bd3 would give White yet another free developing move, Black finally decides to retreat and get his Queen out of harm’s way. However, White isn’t done torturing him yet!

7.Ne5

The Knight takes up a threatening post with gain of time.

7…Qd6?

Black couldn’t bring himself to return home with 7…Qd8. Accepting that his previous play was an abomination is hard to do, but it was nonetheless his only chance for survival.

8.Bf4

Not the only good move, but it does bring yet another piece out while making Black’s Queen very uncomfortable (staring at that f4-Bishop is like staring down the barrel of a gun).

The position in the diagram illustrates White’s lead in development in stark fashion.

8…Qb4?

The poor guy just doesn’t learn. After this game he’ll hopefully figure out that he has a whole army that should be employed.

9.a3

Another attack, this time daring Black to eat the pawn on b2.

9…Qxb2??

He can’t resist!

10.Na4

The Black Queen has made eight moves in a row and finally finds herself trapped behind enemy lines. Since 10…Qxa1 11.Qxa1 is the best Black can do, and since the material loss is akin to Armageddon, Black gave up.

1-0.

LESSONS:

*Use your whole army. Attacking with one or two pieces is a doomed strategy.

*The Queen should not be placed in harm’s way!

*The Queen should be one of the last pieces to come out. If you bring it forward too early, the enemy pieces will hound it without mercy.