The Strongest Piece

To say any one piece is the strongest is to look at chess in a one dimension way. The queen is obviously the strongest piece in simple term - try a test game where you put eight pawns on the board vs a queen - you will see the result. In normal play the pawns have to be used cautiously - they certainly have their strengths - but once advanced they cannot be retreated - this is a crucial weakness which means any player worth his salt will not advance any pawn without careful aforethought.

 Also, before it is forgotten, the pawn is not a single piece - the pawns are a collection of pieces - what use is one pawn that is isolated an unprotected (unless he can queen!). 

As a combination - they gain strength where used well, but then this is true of any pieces used well - use two rooks together - they will dominate a queen - ever played an end game queen vs rook bishop knight? Try it and see who then is the strongest.

So the queen is the strongest piece, but strength is only as useful as the person wielding it...