Justin John Hay

Queen Mastery in Chess: a Puzzle Book Justin John Hay

Proper queen usage is one of the most efficacious, but underutilized aspects of chess. For most players, queen development gets sidelined, while openings, piece conjunction with regard to tactics, and endgames take precedence. The queen serves as a cheat of sorts, and can be thought of, analogously speaking, as having a mechanical advantage. All things being equal, a player with superior queen usage will not only win, but will win consistently. It is no coincidence that Garry Kasparov had such precise queen usage and stayed on top for 20 years. The following work serves to advance player understanding of the queen in what may be the most enjoyable manner possible; That being puzzles! The given puzzles are presented a 4-4 format, -that being 4 puzzles, followed 4 corresponding answers. All puzzle boards are taken from GM games, and have been checked on Rybka for correctness of the 'queen currently to move', along with the move itself. Readers will enjoy learning when to trade queens, when to avoid trades, defensive usage, queening, mates, positioning, pinning, and sacrifices. The presentation of puzzles mirrors real life; No indication is given as to what to look for or the degree of difficulty per given puzzle. Real life training from real life games.