The Knight

Introduction

If chess pieces were employees at a company, the knight would be the creative problem-solver who ignores the org chart. Every other piece on the board moves in straight lines, along ranks, files, or diagonals, but the knight dances to its own rhythm, leaping in an L-shape that defies the grid-based logic of the board.

This uniqueness is precisely what makes the knight both the most confusing piece for beginners and one of the most rewarding to master. The knight is the only piece in chess that can jump over other pieces, which means that while pawns, bishops, rooks, and queens can all be blocked by pieces standing in their way, the knight sails right over the traffic. In the opening, when the board is crowded and most pieces are still boxed in behind their pawns, the knight is often the first piece to enter the action.

The knight is worth approximately 3 points in the standard piece-value system, placing it on roughly equal footing with the bishop. However, the knight's strengths and weaknesses are profoundly different from the bishop's, and understanding when a knight is superior, and when it isn't, is one of the key strategic insights that separates improving players from true beginners.

What makes the knight special isn't just how it moves, but the kinds of threats it creates. Because it attacks squares that are not on the same line as its current position, a knight can threaten pieces that cannot threaten it back. This leads to the dreaded knight fork, a tactic so powerful that even grandmasters fall victim to it. A well-placed knight can simultaneously attack a king and a queen, forcing the opponent to save the king while losing the queen.

In this guide, we'll explore everything you need to know about the knight: how it moves, how it captures, where it's strongest, and the fascinating history of this piece that has remained virtually unchanged for over a thousand years.

How the Knight Moves

The knight's movement is often described as an "L-shape," and once you see it, the description makes perfect sense. From any square, the knight moves two squares in one direction (along a rank or file) and then one square perpendicular to that, or equivalently, one square in one direction and then two squares perpendicular. The result is always an L-shaped path.

Let's break this down more concretely. If a knight sits on the e4 square, it can move to any of the following eight squares: d6, f6, c5, g5, c3, g3, d2, and f2. Count it out yourself: from e4 to d6 is one square left and two squares up. From e4 to g3 is two squares right and one square down. Each destination forms that distinctive L.

Here's a helpful way to remember it: think of the knight's move as a "two-plus-one" or a "one-plus-two." Two squares along one axis, then a sharp turn of one square along the other axis. The order doesn't matter, two up and one right takes you to the same square as one right and two up.

The truly revolutionary feature of the knight is its ability to jump. Unlike every other piece on the board, the knight does not care what stands between its starting square and its destination. You could have pawns, rooks, queens, and kings all piled up in the knight's path, and it would leap over every single one of them. The only thing that matters is the destination square: it must be either empty or occupied by an enemy piece (which the knight then captures).

This jumping ability gives the knight enormous practical value in crowded positions. In the opening, when most pieces are still stuck behind a wall of pawns, knights can immediately leap into action. The standard opening moves Nf3 and Nc6 (developing knights to their natural squares) are among the most common first moves in chess precisely because the knight doesn't need an open lane to get where it's going.

One detail that trips up many beginners: the knight always lands on the opposite color square from where it started. If your knight begins on a light square, it will land on a dark square, and vice versa. This means that a knight needs a minimum of two moves to return to the same color complex, and a minimum of four moves to return to its starting square. This color-alternating property has deep implications for knight maneuvering that become important as you advance.

Another important characteristic: a knight on the edge of the board has significantly fewer moves available than a knight in the center. A knight on e4 (the center) can reach eight different squares. A knight on a1 (the corner) can reach only two. This dramatic difference is the basis of the famous chess maxim: "A knight on the rim is dim." Whenever possible, steer your knights toward the center of the board where their power is maximized.

The Knight's Reach from e4

A knight on e4 can reach up to eight squares. Notice how each destination forms an L-shape from the starting position, and the knight lands on the opposite color every time.

The white knight on e4 and all eight squares it can reach (shown as black knights).

How the Knight Captures

The knight captures in exactly the same way it moves. It leaps to its destination square in the L-shape pattern, and if an enemy piece occupies that square, the enemy piece is removed from the board and the knight takes its place. There is no special capture mechanic for the knight, unlike the pawn, which moves and captures differently.

What makes the knight's capturing ability distinctive is the geometry of the attack. Because the knight attacks squares that are not on the same rank, file, or diagonal as its current position, a knight can threaten enemy pieces in ways that feel unexpected.

The real power of the knight's capture pattern becomes clear when you consider forks. Because the knight attacks up to eight squares simultaneously, it frequently threatens two or more enemy pieces at once. When one of those pieces is the king, the opponent must deal with the check first, often losing the other attacked piece. This is the knight fork, and it's one of the most common tactical themes in all of chess.

The knight's capture range also means it is the only piece that can give check without having a direct line of sight to the king. Every other piece must have a clear path to the king's square to deliver check. The knight simply leaps to a square that attacks the king, regardless of what stands between them. This makes the knight particularly dangerous in crowded middlegame positions where other pieces' lines of attack are frequently blocked.

Strategic Value

The knight is valued at approximately 3 points in the standard piece-value system, making it roughly equal to a bishop. However, "approximately 3 points" is a starting guideline, not a fixed truth. The knight's actual value fluctuates significantly based on the position on the board, and learning to recognize when your knight is worth more, or less, than 3 points is a crucial skill.

Knights thrive in closed positions. When the center is locked up with interlocking pawn chains and pieces have limited mobility along open lines, the knight's jumping ability becomes invaluable. While bishops, rooks, and queens stare helplessly at pawn walls, the knight leaps right over them, reaching squares that no other piece can access. In many closed Sicilian or French Defense structures, a well-placed knight can be worth more than a rook.

The concept of a "knight outpost" is one of the most important strategic ideas involving this piece. An outpost is a square in enemy territory (typically the fourth or fifth rank) where your knight can sit safely because no enemy pawn can attack it. A knight on an outpost is like an embassy in a foreign country, it projects influence deep into the opponent's position while being protected from the most common form of harassment. Classic outpost squares include d5, e5, c5, d4, and e4, depending on the pawn structure.

Knights struggle in open positions with few pawns on the board. Because a knight can only reach nearby squares (it takes multiple moves to cross the board), it is inherently a short-range piece. In an open endgame with pawns on both sides of the board, a bishop can cover the entire length of a diagonal in one move while the knight plods along, two-plus-one at a time. This is one reason why, in general, bishops are considered slightly more valuable than knights, the endgame often favors the longer-range piece.

The knight fork is the knight's signature tactical weapon. Because the knight attacks in an unusual pattern and can threaten up to eight squares, it frequently catches two or more pieces in a single blow. The most devastating forks involve the enemy king: since the king must escape check, the opponent cannot save the other attacked piece. Knight forks targeting the king and queen, or the king and rook, are game-changing tactics that you should always be alert for, both to execute and to avoid.

A pair of connected strategic principles to remember: centralize your knights and avoid parking them on the edge of the board. A knight on e5 is a powerhouse; a knight on a3 is nearly decorative. Also, knights work well in pairs. Two knights can coordinate to cover each other's blind spots, and a knight pair can be formidable in complex middlegame positions with lots of tactical possibilities.

The Classic Knight Fork

The knight on d6 simultaneously attacks the black king on e8. This is the hallmark of a devastating fork, the opponent must deal with the check, often losing the other attacked piece.

A knight fork: the knight on d6 delivers check to the king on e8 while threatening other pieces.

History & Origins

The knight holds a remarkable distinction in chess history: it is one of the only pieces whose movement has remained essentially unchanged since the game's earliest known ancestor. While the queen, bishop, and even the pawn have undergone dramatic transformations over the centuries, the knight has been jumping in its distinctive L-shape for well over a thousand years.

Chess originated as Chaturanga in India, likely around the 6th century CE. Chaturanga was a four-player war game representing the four divisions of the Indian army: infantry (pawns), cavalry (knights), elephants (bishops), and chariots (rooks). The cavalry piece, called the "ashva" (horse), moved exactly as the modern knight does: an L-shaped leap that could vault over other pieces. Military historians note that this movement may have been inspired by the unpredictable, flanking maneuvers of real cavalry on the battlefield, where mounted warriors could bypass infantry formations that would block foot soldiers.

When chess traveled from India to Persia in the 6th and 7th centuries, becoming Shatranj, the horse piece retained its movement and was called the "faras" (horse). The Persians made no changes to this piece's rules. When the Arab world adopted Shatranj after the Islamic conquest of Persia, the knight again remained unchanged.

As chess spread through the Islamic world to Europe via Moorish Spain and through trade routes to Italy and the rest of the continent during the 9th through 11th centuries, the knight continued to move in its ancestral L-shape. This is particularly striking when you consider the dramatic changes other pieces underwent during this same period. The queen went from being one of the weakest pieces on the board to the most powerful. The bishop went from a short-range piece that could only leap two squares diagonally to the long-range diagonal slider we know today. But the knight? The knight just kept jumping.

The physical representation of the piece as a horse's head became standard in European chess sets by the medieval period, and this is now one of the most recognizable symbols in all of board gaming. The Staunton chess set, designed by Nathaniel Cook in 1849 and endorsed by Howard Staunton, established the horse-head design that is used in virtually every tournament set today.

The piece's name varies dramatically across languages, reflecting the cultural lens through which different societies viewed this cavalry piece. In English, "knight" emphasizes the mounted warrior. In German, it's "Springer" (jumper), highlighting the piece's leaping ability. In French, it's "cavalier" (horseman). In Russian, it's "kon'" (horse). In Spanish, it's "caballo" (horse). The algebraic notation symbol "N" is used in English (since "K" was already taken by the king), while many other languages use their own letter.

Fun Facts & Curiosities

The Knight's Tour is one of the oldest mathematical puzzles in recorded history, and it's directly inspired by the chess knight. The challenge: place a knight on any square of the chessboard and move it so that it visits every single square exactly once. This puzzle dates back to at least the 9th century, when it appeared in a manuscript by an Arab chess player. The great mathematician Leonhard Euler published an analysis of the Knight's Tour in 1759, and it has fascinated mathematicians and computer scientists ever since. On a standard 8×8 board, there are over 26 trillion possible knight's tours, yet finding even one can be devilishly tricky without systematic methods.

The knight is the only piece in chess that can deliver checkmate without any direct line of sight to the enemy king. Every other piece needs a clear path along a rank, file, or diagonal. The knight simply arrives at its L-shaped destination and announces check.

Here's a delightful geometric curiosity: if you color the squares a knight can reach from any position, you'll notice it always lands on the opposite color from where it started. This means a knight on a light square can never, in a single move, attack another piece on a light square. The knight alternates colors with every move, forever.

In some chess variant traditions, particularly in Asian chess games like Xiangqi (Chinese chess), the horse piece moves similarly to the Western knight but with one crucial difference: it can be blocked. In Xiangqi, the horse moves one step orthogonally and then one step diagonally outward, and a piece on the intermediate square prevents the move. This "hobbling" rule makes the Western knight's unrestricted jumping ability feel even more special by comparison.

Finally, beginners often wonder: can two knights alone force checkmate against a lone king? The answer is no, two knights cannot force checkmate against a lone king with perfect defense, making them the only pair of identical minor pieces with this limitation. However, two knights can deliver checkmate if the opponent makes a mistake, and in practical play, two knights plus a pawn can often force a win.

Common Mistakes

The single most common mistake beginners make with knights is leaving them on the edge of the board. A knight on the rim has dramatically fewer squares available, as few as two in the corner compared to eight in the center. New players often develop a knight to a3 or h3 in the opening without a clear plan, then leave it there for the rest of the game, essentially playing with one less piece. The fix is simple: always aim to bring your knights to central or near-central squares. In the opening, f3/c3 (or f6/c6 for Black) are natural developing squares, and from there, knights can hop to powerful central outposts.

Another frequent error is neglecting to develop knights early. Because knights are short-range pieces, they need time to maneuver into good positions. If you leave your knights on their starting squares while developing other pieces, you'll often find that by the time you need them, they're too far from the action. The classic advice to develop knights before bishops exists for good reason: knights have fewer useful squares and need the early moves to get positioned.

Beginners often miscalculate knight moves because the L-shape is disorienting. Unlike a bishop or rook, whose movement follows an obvious visual line on the board, the knight's destination requires counting out the two-plus-one pattern every time. The fix is practice, try the Knight's Tour puzzle, or simply practice moving a knight around an empty board until the L-shape becomes instinctive.

A subtler mistake is trading a well-placed knight for a passive bishop. In closed positions where your knight sits beautifully on an outpost, your opponent may offer a trade of your knight for their bishop that is stuck behind its own pawns. Declining that trade is often correct, your active knight may be worth considerably more than their restricted bishop.

Finally, beginners frequently miss knight forks. The unusual geometry of the knight means that fork opportunities appear in positions where you might not expect a tactic. Train yourself to ask, "Does my knight have a square from which it can attack two pieces at once?" This one question, asked consistently, will help you spot opportunities that less attentive opponents will miss.

Common Questions

Can a knight jump over any piece, including the opponent's pieces?

Yes, the knight can jump over any piece of either color. It doesn't matter what stands between the knight's starting square and its destination, pawns, rooks, queens, kings, friendly pieces, enemy pieces. The only thing that matters is the destination square: it must be empty or occupied by an enemy piece (which the knight captures). This jumping ability is completely unique to the knight and is what makes it so valuable in crowded positions.

Is a knight better than a bishop?

Neither piece is universally better than the other, it depends on the position. Knights tend to be stronger in closed positions where pawn chains block the diagonals that bishops need. Bishops tend to be stronger in open positions with few pawns, where they can control long diagonals and cover the entire board. In endgames, bishops are generally slightly preferred because of their long-range capabilities. As a rule of thumb, both are worth about 3 points, but the position determines which one is more valuable at any given moment.

What does "a knight on the rim is dim" mean?

This classic chess saying means that a knight placed on the edge of the board (the a-file, h-file, 1st rank, or 8th rank) is significantly weaker than a knight in the center. A centralized knight on e4 or d5 can reach up to eight squares, but a knight on the edge can reach only three or four, and a knight in the corner can reach only two. By keeping your knights in or near the center, you maximize their influence and mobility.

Can two knights checkmate a lone king?

Two knights cannot force checkmate against a lone king if the defending side plays perfectly. This is one of the theoretical draws in chess. However, two knights can deliver checkmate if the opponent makes a mistake, the checkmate position itself exists, it just can't be forced. In practical play, if you have two knights and your opponent has a lone king plus one pawn, you can sometimes force a win because the pawn gives the defender a chance to make a losing move.

Key Takeaways

• The knight moves in an L-shape: two squares in one direction and one square perpendicular (or vice versa). It is the only piece that can jump over other pieces.

• A centralized knight is far more powerful than one on the edge. Always aim for central or near-central squares, and remember: "A knight on the rim is dim."

• The knight fork, attacking two or more pieces simultaneously, is one of the most common and devastating tactics in chess. Train yourself to spot fork opportunities in every game.

• Knights excel in closed positions where pawn chains restrict other pieces. When the position is locked up, your knights become your most valuable assets.

• Develop your knights early in the game. They are short-range pieces that need time to reach good squares, and they can jump into action while other pieces are still blocked behind pawns.

• The knight is the only piece whose basic movement has remained unchanged since chess's origins in 6th-century India, a testament to the elegant design of this unique piece.

Quick Quiz

A knight is on the e4 square. Which of the following squares can it NOT move to?

• e6 (Correct) - Correct. A knight on e4 cannot move to e6 because that would be a straight two-square jump forward with no lateral component. The knight must always change both its file and its rank. Its valid destinations from e4 are: d6, f6, c5, g5, c3, g3, d2, and f2.
• d6 - The knight can reach d6 from e4 by moving two squares up and one square to the left. This is a valid L-shaped move.
• g5 - The knight can reach g5 from e4 by moving two squares to the right and one square up. This is a valid L-shaped move.
• c3 - The knight can reach c3 from e4 by moving two squares to the left and one square down. This is a valid L-shaped move.

Related Pages

• The Bishop - Understand the long-range power of the bishop and why the bishop pair is one of chess's greatest advantages
• The Rook - Learn to wield the rook's straight-line power, dominate open files, and command the seventh rank
• The Pawn - A comprehensive guide to understanding, moving, and mastering chess's most underestimated piece.
• The Queen - The most powerful piece on the board and the one that demands the most respect

About the Author

Professor Archer - A chess coach grounded in classical literature, built to teach adult beginners with patience and clarity. Developed with research and AI. Human-reviewed.

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