Chess Queen's Capturing Powers

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Formidable is a very descriptive word and it entirely pictures the capturing powers of the Queen chess piece. Her enormous range in distance is the reason for this term. This  movement of the Queen can be visualized in the diagram below.

What happens if the white Queen moves vertically? Which chess piece can she capture in that
direction, and would it be wise to choose to do that? She, of course, can capture either of the black Bishop pieces.

If she moves diagonally, the queen can capture either one of the black Knights. What would be her motive in capturing these chess pieces?

Lastly, the Queen can move horizontally and capture either of the black Rooks by landing on their square and removing them from the game. She places herself on the square the opponent was on.

The biggest question remains that we will discuss later, which plan would benefit her side the most? But for now we just have to know that the Queen has the ability to move in those directions and at that distance. Again, she can only go one direction at a time in the move. She does not even have to capture the chess pieces if she does not want to. But it would be foolish to land right up to where they could capture her in the next move.

Remember in the opening position, or starting position of the game, each Queen is in the center of the back row next to the King. The white Queen on the white square and the black Queen on the black square is the rule of "Queen on color." Do not forget this rule as it can never be changed.

It would be nice if the Queen could capture all these pieces in one move, but she has to choose only one piece. That could get tricky if she can not make up her mind.

Remember too, that after you have learned the chess piece names and their places and are ready to play, there is a time limit for each move you make. It is nice to start memorizing plays that you would like to make, and that are effective, right now while you are learning the basic moves of each piece.

Center - King and Queen

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