
Greatest Chess Enigmas; Queen or Two Rooks?
When it comes to this issue, there are many varying opinions. As well as the previous article, Greatest Chess Enigmas; Knight vs. Bishop, this question has been debated for centuries, until it was finally solved by theorists and players, and the answer is not one or the other, but both. You see, it depends on the situation.
This position shows how quickly two rooks can overwhelm a queen. When the king is safe, the rooks can permeate the king's defences and reduce them to rubble. But when is the queen better? I will show you in the next example.
Okay, so you probably saw through that one. But the point still remains that if your king is not protected, then it is quite dangerous to have the rooks against the queen. Overall, the queen is better when;
- The king is out in the open
- There are no bishops; without them, the queen has a monopoly on the diagonals
- There are isolated or weak pawns
The rooks are better when;
-The king is safe
- There are strong targets to attack