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The Knight

Each player has two Knights at the beginning of the game, one on a light square and one on a dark square.

Unlike the Bishop though, the Knights can move from a light square to dark and vica versa.

Another unusual feature of the Knight is that it can jump pieces - it doesn't need a clear route to its destination.

The final feature of the Knight is its unusual movement, see below, always moving to the opposite colour of square from that it began its move from.

The Knight's Moves

The Starting Positions

White Knights: b1 and g1

Black Knights: b8 and g8

Moving

The diagram to the left illustrates the maximum possible moves for a Knight, here in open territory. It also illustrates the unusual movement of the piece.

The Knight's movement can be explained as movement from one corner of a 6-square rectangle to the opposite corner.

Alternatively, the movement can be viewed as an 'L' shaped move: either two squares in one direction followed by one square perpendicular left or right; or one square followed by two squares perpendicular left or right.

Captures

The Knight captures a piece if it is located on its destination square. Pieces 'leapfrogged' by the Knight during the move are unaffected by the Knight.