That the queen was once a vizier is a neat fact. That the queen used to only be able to move one square diagonally is a neat fact. That the queen was mocked for weakness when her piece was frail, but then scorned for madness when it was potent, is a sad one.

Pages move quickly in Birth of the Chess Queen, driven by the singular focus of the narrative. It is an honest surprise that an entire book can be filled with the theories surrounding “Wherefore Queen?” and the facts supporting those theories. The answers it gives are satisfactory and—given the relative esoteric nature of the material—probably as close as anyone will ever get to the truth.

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