If you are studying the basic rules of chess and you don’t know or are confused about how does a horse move in chess, this article is for you.
Before starting, let me clarify the following: Actually, the correct name is not horse but knight.
What Does a Knight Symbolize in Chess?
The knight represents the medieval toughest soldier (wild and battle-hardened), who protects the empire, specially the king and the queen.
The knight is considered a minor piece like a bishop and is worth three pawns. That means the absolute value of it is less than that of a rook (which has a value of 5 pawns and is a major piece).
However, the knight is the trickiest piece in chess! Since his movement is unique: It is the only piece that can jump other pieces and, unlike the bishop (which can only go through squares of a single color), the knight changes its square color with each move.
How to Move the Knight?
The chess knight can move forward and backward and move to the sides of the board, always describing the movement in L-shape (Two squares vertically and over one square horizontally or two squares horizontally and over one square vertically).
This move is unique in that it allows you to jump other pieces in its path. As a general rule, the knight changes the color of the square with each movement. This means that if it is on a dark square, he will move to a light square on the next move and vice versa.
Due to its movement, the knight can be very dangerous in certain positions. However, unlike the bishop, its movement is shorter and slower. But also the knight can reach squares of the opposite color that a bishop will never control.
Examples
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How Does the Knight Capture Pieces?
The knight captures a piece on the same square that it lands on.
Example
Knights on the Rim Are Dim!
In order for a knight to reach its maximum potential, it must be centralized or in a position in which it attacks several opponent pieces or bothers the opponent’s development.
For example, in the diagram above, you can see that White’s centralized knights are controlling and supporting the center. They can, if needed, move to more squares than Black’s knights.
In chess, when we say that a knight in the rim is dim we mean: Don’t put your knights on the edge of the board. The logic behind this statement is that when the knight is on the edge of the board, it controls fewer squares and has fewer possibilities.
Also, let’s say the knight is on the queenside and needs to go to the kingside, it will take a lot of time.
Conclusion
Knights are the most tricky chess pieces and they deserve all our respect.
Their movement in L-shape makes them unique.
However, being short-range movements, they require several times to reach a distant square.
For this reason, knights are useful in blocked positions where there are many pieces on the board that cannot be easily moved.
