Knights on the Rim

Part of the Fundamentals section of Coddy's Chess journey. Lesson 13 of 41.

The knight's jump is short, so the knight cares about its square more than any other piece does. In the centre, life is good: every one of the eight Ls stays on the board.

Knight on d4 with its eight landing squares highlighted

A centre knight: eight landing squares.

Now slide the knight to the edge of the board, the rim. Half of its Ls now point off the board, and off the board is not a place:

Knight on h4 with only four landing squares highlighted

On the rim, only four jumps survive: f3, f5, g2 and g6. The other four Ls would leave the board.

And the corner is the saddest square a knight can own:

Knight on a1 with only two landing squares highlighted

From the corner, exactly two jumps remain: b3 and c2.

Eight in the centre, three or four on the edge, two in the corner: the same piece, four times weaker. Chess players compress all of that into a rhyme worth memorizing now: a knight on the rim is dim. When your knights get a choice, point them toward the middle.

Try it yourself

This knight has been pushed all the way into the corner. Click a square it can jump to from a1.