I´ve always wondered as a little kid why the Queen was a better piece (more power' ) then the King? I always thought men were superieur over women? chess is the other way around!!

The king does have more power then the queen. thats why if he is lost the game is lost.

also you will never get a good girlfriend if you think men are so much better then women. (maybe your gay?)

XD

The King would escape too easily if he'd have Queen-like powers. The Queen, which has the highest rank after the King, obviously has powers suitable for her royal statute.

I wouldn't mind having a real life super-woman to protect me.

 I can't imagine the smilely face you inserted after that comment will save you from being flamed.

 You clearly lack humor. If you had understand my post you knew that I of course ment that the King can only move one square, and the Queen can move many squares. That´s what I mean with power. If you are not giving a good comment you  might aswell shut your mouth

I think otaku hit it right on the nail!

Narz! I wouldn´t mind either!

I heard...

Initially the Queen had the same movement capabilities as the King, but somewhere (in the Middle Ages???) they (whoever they are), in order to speed up the game, granted the Queen the 'super' mobility we are familiar with as players today. Anyone know this to be true or false?

I'd say the question is more why the queen is so powerfull. A reallife king is expected to guide his troops rather than fighting himself, though of course in battle he will be given better equipment than the average soldiers. So the king being of modest fighting power, better than the lowest, but in no way the best, seems absolutely sound.

But noone would ever take a queen to the battlefield.

The queen of international chess is quite unique, no other chess family game feature such a powerfull piece. An alternate name would often be something similar minister, but I suspect that the popularity of calling the piece queen is partly due to the queen figure being fairly distinct relative to the other pieces, you tell a queen by the crown, and a minister by the, well I don't know, do ministers dress distinctly?

Definitely true, but I don't know if the piece was given the name queen before or after the speedup.

the queen used to be called a minister, it apparently was named a queen after Otto 1's queen Adelaide in the 10th century. The queen's boost in power appears to have been inspired by queen Isabella who reigned over Castile and Leon regions in spain in the last half of the 15th century, herself and her husband, king Ferdinand, both avid chess players. Hope this helps.

yea thanks very nice comments. That seems very plausible. Queen elizabeth did have a lot of power

I think it is one of those pieces whose name has changed over time. It was probably concieved as general, who, because they led from the front with the cavalry, would be the fastest person on the field. But King and Queen next to each other feels better. (Please don't flame me !!! )

Sir William Jones, laid that chess under the Sanskrit name Chaturanga was exported from India into Persia in the 6th Century AD and by the natural corruption, the old Persian changed the name into Chatrang; but when their country was afterwards taken possession of the Arabs, who had neither the initial nor the final letter of their alphabet, they altered it further into ‘SHATRANJ’.

The Queen is the curvaceous of the modern pieces and has undergone changes in name, sex and power. In Shatranj, this piece was called ‘Firz or Farz’ meaning counselor or General.

Between Queen Isabella & Elizabeth I, the queen became a very powerful piece

oh dear another one of those topics.

'king' and 'queen' ceased to have any meaning to me, except as terms for chess pieces, long ago. It's the chess pieces I'm interested in, not the various terms we use for them. I believe the French say 'jester' rather than 'bishop' and some people say 'Ruy Lopez' instead of 'Spanish', it means absolutely nothing outside the game.

chess originated in india where it was called caturanga, "four divisions"(military) when it hit europe in 1475 some of the rules and names were changed.  chivalry was still very strong in europe at that time. for those who dont know

    Chivalry: is a term relating to the medieval institution of knighthood. It is usually associated with ideals of knightly virtues, honor and courtly love. Today, the terms chivalry and chivalrous are used to describe courteous behavior, especially that of men towards women.

during these times men would rise when a woman entered the room and so on and so forth.  and even the king had to do these things for his queen.  that is why the queen, not the king has the power in this game!

I hope that was helpfull sebas

as for you "men being superior" comment that everyone hates.  I agree with you to a surtain point.  I was raised in an old fashioned home. dad brought home the bacon, mom raised the kids. what dad said stood fast in the home, unless, just like in chess, the queen disagreed.  in which case the king slept on the couch!

men are superior to women in many things but you must remember and respect the fact that they hold a power over us that we just can't fight. (and no... it's not just the sex)  if you can keep that in mind when you get married you just might be successful.