The ancient game of chess has been played with the same rules for half a millennium, but the rules most certainly differed from its invention which experts believe took place in India thousands of years ago. Hence, historians can trace the chess of today from a lengthy evolution, with many changes in the rules from its creation to its crucial final alteration 500 years back.

That last, key variation in the game was the introduction of the most powerful, mysterious and beautiful of all pieces: the queen.

But who had the idea? And where did it come to be?

Many historians have tried to answer these questions, but not until last year was the mystery solved when Spanish chess‑ historian José A. Garzón discovered the first documentation of the vaunted and mobile queen. This turning point in chess history is found in a book that Spanish jurist Francesc Vicent published May 15, 1495, in his hometown of Valencia.

The innovation spread swiftly throughout the chess‑playing world. First in the Iberian Peninsula, then onto France and Italy, and within decades the mysterious lady reigned over the entire world.