<P> The queen (♕, ♛) is the most powerful piece in the game of chess, able to move any number of squares vertically, horizontally or diagonally . Each player starts the game with one queen, placed in the middle of the first rank next to the king . Because the queen is the strongest piece, a pawn is promoted to a queen in the vast majority of cases . </P> <P> In the game shatranj, the ancestor of chess that included only male figures, the closest thing to the queen was the vizier, a weak piece only able to move or capture one step diagonally and not at all in any other direction . The modern chess queen gained power in the 15th century . </P>

How many steps can the queen move in chess