In the following position, can White's knight on the f7-square capture Black's queen? Can White's knight on f7 capture Black's queen? Let's test you to see if you can recognize how a knight moves. Note how Black's king is surrounded by its own pieces after Nf7#! A knight performing a smothered mate! Test A smothered mate is the name for a checkmate that occurs when a king is surrounded by their own pieces and cannot move out of check. In the position below, Nxd7 was just played by White-notice how the black queen and both rooks are all attacked simultaneously? That's a great fork! A knight fork in action!Īn advanced technique that only a knight can perform is called a smothered mate. Even though this can be achieved by other pieces, the knight is the best-suited piece for this type of attack because it can attack multiple pieces that are more valuable than itself in a single move. The knight can jump over other pieces!Īlways remember that a knight captures a piece only if it lands on the occupied square, not if it jumps over it! Another cool thing about knights? They can deliver devastating forks and smothered mates! Forks And Smothered MatesĪ fork is when two or more pieces are attacked simultaneously.

If it were any other piece, it would be unable to move at all, as it would be blocked on all sides. In the diagram below, White's knight on the b1-square can jump over the pawns on the second rank and move to the squares a3 or c3. Unlike any other piece, the knight can hop over other pieces. When a knight moves from a light-square, it always lands on a dark-square. Note that the knight is on a light-square, so every legal move results in landing on a dark-square. In the diagram below you can see all of the potential knight moves. This is the opposite of a bishop, which is confined to one square color for the entire game. If a knight starts on a dark-square, it always ends on a light-square. If a knight starts on a light-square and makes a legal move, it always ends on a dark-square. The knight moves in an L-shape!Īnother unique aspect of the knight is that it always alternates between the two colors. This movement can be remembered as an 'L-shape' because it looks like a capital 'L'. It either moves up or down one square vertically and over two squares horizontally OR up or down two squares vertically and over one square horizontally. The knight moves multiple squares each move. It is considerably more valuable than a pawn (which is worth one point), equally valuable as a bishop (also three points), but less valuable than a rook (five points) and a queen (nine points). The knight is considered a minor piece (like a bishop) and is worth three points. The knight is unique for two major reasons: 1) it is the only piece that can hop or jump over another piece, and 2) every time it moves it alternates from a light-square to a dark-square, or vice-versa. White's knights start the game on b1 and g1, while Black's knights begin on b8 and g8. When a game begins, each side starts with two knights. Here is everything you need to know about knights! The knight is the trickiest piece in chess! It moves very differently than other pieces and can deliver the dreaded fork or even a smothered mate!

Chess horse piece name