How Does the Queen Move in Chess?

Learn how the queen moves and captures along ranks, files and diagonals, with every legal destination shown on a beginner-friendly chess board.

The queen moves any number of empty squares in a straight line - up, down, left, right or along either diagonal. She combines the rook's movement with the bishop's, which makes her the most powerful piece on the board.

What the queen cannot do

The queen cannot jump over pieces. Her line stops at the first occupied square: if that square holds an enemy piece she may capture it, and if it holds one of your own she must stop short. She also cannot move in an L-shape - that is the knight's move, and no other piece can do it.

Using the queen well

Because she is worth roughly nine pawns, the queen is the easiest piece to lose badly. Bringing her out early usually backfires: the opponent develops with tempo by attacking her, and you spend moves retreating. The stronger habit is to develop minor pieces first and bring the queen to a square where she supports an attack without being harassed.

On the Pocket Shuffle board

On a 5x6 board the queen touches almost every square from the middle, so queen pressure arrives within a couple of moves and there is very little room to run. Trading queens early often calms a position down completely.

Open the interactive lesson to see every legal queen move highlighted on the board, then practise against the computer.