This is pretty basic I guess, but for lower-rated players they tend to place their pieces in the pathways of an opponent's knights.
Just wondering if any of the higher-rated players have a particular way of working out where the better squares reside, or is it just something you have developed over time?
I'm lower rated than you, but clearly the best squares are the central ones where the knight has full scope of movement - ie 8 possible moves.
The imaginary box c3-c6 & f6-f3.
The best defensive squares are c3 & f3 for white & c6 & f6 for black.
I doubt very much I'm telling you anything you don't already know.
Hmmm, I'm not very good at explaining myself.
I was meaning where to place your other pieces, so they won't be taken by an opponents knights.
Often you can get multiple moves out of a knight because of unprotected pieces being forced to move on each jump.
I usually check the opponents knights and all the possible paths they could take up to 2 or 3 moves. Just wondering if anyone had anything better than this....
You have an immediate square where one of your pieces are touching an opponents knight. If it's horizontally or vertically next to the knight then it will take 2 hops to attack your piece. If it's diagonally next to the knight it's one hop.
This is probably really basic to most, but the better players I guess would have the visualization/knowledge going out even further(without much thought)?
Originally posted by Orange PeelYour pieces shouldn't really be threatened by knights early on in the game, the chance of forks early on in the game are slim (that is of course if you know the basic fork threats c7, f7 etc etc) so basically just use your pawns to reduce the squares the knight can move to. Weaker players will get into trouble, it's not always easy to see backwards moves with your knight to get it to a useful square.
Hmmm, I'm not very good at explaining myself.
I was meaning where to place your other pieces, so they won't be taken by an opponents knights.
Often you can get multiple moves out of a knight because of unprotected pieces being forced to move on each jump.
I usually check the opponents knights and all the possible paths they could take up to 2 or 3 moves. Just wondering if anyone had anything better than this....
Likewise depending on the position you may be better off trading off. I've had dozens of games where someone has traded their bishops for my knights only for the guy to get gutted in the endgame.
I have a game I'm playing at the moment against an opponent who looks pretty new to chess, but I like their aggressive game(as it helps learn).
Please don't discuss the actual game as it's still in progress, but it's what made me bring up the topic.
Why do lower rated players have these problems? How would they improve their game?
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Originally posted by Orange PeelThe simple answer is they don't see it, I'm sure if you have a history of your games you could look back at some of your games and think 'why did I do that'
Why do lower rated players have these problems? How would they improve their game?
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You can put alot of study in and you'll pick up what not to do but I think your best to get actual game practise and learn from your mistakes. Of course that is if your serious about chess, if not these people just make those types of mistakes over and over again and are at a loss to why there not good at chess.
The more you play the more positions you'll recognize and it becomes natural.
Originally posted by Orange PeelDon't get obsessed with Knights. They are just another piece, no better or worse than a Bishop. Their advantage is they can "jump" over pieces but thie range is minimal. If you can and it fits in with the games strategic concepts drive your opponents Knights to the edge where they are less effective but don't do this at any cost.
This is pretty basic I guess, but for lower-rated players they tend to place their pieces in the pathways of an opponent's knights.
Just wondering if any of the higher-rated players have a particular way of working out where the better squares reside, or is it just something you have developed over time?
For beginners it is the Knights fork that is dangerous so check your pieces, don't leave them unprotected and watch out for cheapo forks. In fact it is a good idea to get into the habit of checking your opponents Knights without fail every move to see what they can do on every square available to them but don't obssess if they might move and attack a piece if the move is to an inferior square and your attacked piece has a better square to go to.
Originally posted by Orange PeelAnd if you can place your piece 2 diagonal squares away from the knight (for example, knight on e3 and your piece on c5), then it will take the knight 3 moves to attack the piece. This tip doesn't matter as much for correspondence chess, but it's nice to know when your piece is being chased around by the knight in an otb time scramble.
You have an immediate square where one of your pieces are touching an opponents knight. If it's horizontally or vertically next to the knight then it will take 2 hops to attack your piece. If it's diagonally next to the knight it's one hop.
This is probably really basic to most, but the better players I guess would have the visualization/knowledge going out even further(without much thought)?
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Originally posted by Mad RookYep, if your piece is on the same colour square as the knight then it will take at least two moves for it to capture, similarly on a diagonal it will be a minimum of two moves.
And if you can place your piece 2 diagonal squares away from the knight (for example, knight on e3 and your piece on c5), then it will take the knight 3 moves to attack the piece. This tip doesn't matter as much for correspondence chess, but it's nice to know when your piece is being chased around by the knight in an otb time scramble.
The key with knights is too supply support points higher up the board for yours and take them away from your opponents - obviously if your opponent wants to to be supported by a pawn on the side of the board, away from the action, then let it sit there. Sometimes the best move for a knight will be to go backwards in order to go forwards and seek out a support point. Also, there's no point seeking out a support point if your opponent can simply capture (depends on capturing piece) or push a pawn to ward it off.
This probably isn't helping the point of Orange peel's post but I started rambling and couldn't stop 😕
Originally posted by Orange PeelWhere to place the Knights? Much depends upon the pawn structure and the disposition of the opposing forces. I generally look for the outposts (a square that is supported by my pawn, but can not be attacked by an opposing pawn) and decide if this would be a good place for my Knight to take up residence. Most of the time, the presence of an outpost denotes that there is a weakness in the opponent's camp, so generally, if you spot an outpost and can maneuver your Knight there, it is worth doing so. If no outpost is present, you might decide how best to create one. Nimzovitsch covers much of this in his classic works "My System," and "Chess Praxis." Also, the Russian player Chigorin was adept at maneuvering his Knights in the middle game while Petrosian was very good with them in the endgame. If you study the key games of these three players you will learn quite a bit about using the Knight.
This is pretty basic I guess, but for lower-rated players they tend to place their pieces in the pathways of an opponent's knights.
Just wondering if any of the higher-rated players have a particular way of working out where the better squares reside, or is it just something you have developed over time?
There's one very quick thing you can notice that will help you avoid some knight tactics. A knight will always land on a square that is a different color than the square he started on; consequentially, a knight, after moving, will only now attack pieces on squares of the same color he originally started on.
To make that clear - your opponent has a knight that is on a white square, but isn't attacking any of your pieces yet. You are worried about him forking you after his next move. You can quickly note that any of your pieces on a black square is safe; if your opponent moves his knight, that knight will then only be attacking white squares.