This week’s submission comes from a student in Fremont California and deals with the age old question of which is better, a queen or two rooks. Generally a queen is stronger against uncoordinated rooks and especially so with pawns on both sides of the board. However, in our feature position, black’s rooks are already working together, black has a monster bishop and white starts the position in check. I break down the best strategies for both sides and my conclusion even surprised me.
A queen can be stronger than two rooks if the rooks are not well coordinated and there are enemy pawns on both wings for the queen to target. Younger Players with less endgame experience tend to score better in these situations with the lone queen as since a simple plan playing well with the queen is making sure she is active, attacking and looking for tactics. Overpowering a queen with two rooks takes technique but there is a reason two rooks are worth ten points while a queen is only worth nine.
In today’s position, there are pawns on both sides of the board but unfortunately for white, they are evenly distributed. An asymmetrical pawn structure with pawn islands on both sides of the board would be ideal for the side with the queen. Adding to white problems are the fact that blacks rooks are already working together, black has a monster bishop and white starts the position in check.