The Knights of Chess
Eugene Znosko-Borowski said the following about the knight, “Inexperienced players have a fear of this piece, which seems to them enigmatic, mysterious, and astonishing in its power. We must admit that it has remarkable characteristics which compel respect
and occasionally surprise the most wary players.” In this article, we are going to make a formal introduction for the beginner to this unusual chess piece.
In the game of chess, each player has two knights. The knights are placed on the first rank, one square away from the corner of the chess board. The piece got its name from the concept of an armoured cavalry. The knight has undergone little evolution in
the history of chess. From early times, it had its characteristic jump.
However, the shape of the piece has changed over the course of time. When chess was with the Indians, the knight was represented as a mounted warrior complete with a shield and a sword. As the Arabs got chess under their influence, they reduced the carving
effort out of the piece and made the knight into a cap with a triangle shaped hole. The advent of the middle-ages again added more design to the piece. As of now, the knight is classically represented by a horse’s head and neck.
The knight is an unusual chess piece because it has a unique movement pattern. A knight’s path can best be described by an ‘L’ shape. The knight can form an ‘L’ in any of the four directions: backwards, forwards, left and right. It does this by moving two
squares in a line, then landing on either the left or the right squares which are on the same rank or file as the second square. The important thing to note in this regard is that the knight can even jump over pieces as long as the landing square is unoccupied.
This characteristic gives the knight an element of surprise which can be used effectively in attacking maneuvers.
In chess, only the pawn is less in value to the knight. However, a knight’s value can be considered equal to that of a bishop. In different situations, the value of a knight may change. For instance, if the chess game has a network of both the player’s pawns
that has not been breached by either player and there have not been many captures of other pieces, the board will be crowded. In such closed games, the knight’s unique ability to jump over pieces gives it extra value. This is so because comparatively, the
knight has more mobility in closed games and its chances of making captures increase.
The knight’s uniqueness also makes it vulnerable at times. It can most effectively be dealt with the help of pawns. A pawn can directly attack a knight without coming under threat. However, when this concept is used in reverse, it turns the tables for the
knight. One of the best positions for the knight is to be placed within an enemy’s weak pawn structure. This represents a square near the enemy ranks which cannot be attacked by an enemy pawn.
Knight work well in combinations, as long as it is not that of two knights. This is because a knight’s movement does not complement each other. However, knights can be used effectively in collaboration with the queen.
A knight is not the best piece to be left with in the endgame because it has limited range as compared with the bishop. If a situation arises in which one player is left with only a king and a knight while the other player has a king only, then the game
is a draw as no possible variation of moves will result in a checkmate.
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