Maximize Your Knights

Knowing the conditions your pieces like will help you improve your overall understanding of chess.  First I will write about the knights.  We know that knights have incredible forking abilities which we will see later.  Here I will show why the knight likes to be near the center of the board.

Diagram #1:  The knight's worst location on the board is in the corner because it can only influence two squares.  From a1, the knight only influences two squares, b3 and c2. 



Diagram #2:  Still a terrible place for a knight.  From the a2 square it can only influences three squares, b4, c3, and d1. 


Diagram #3:  The location of the knight on b2 is not good but better than the previous two diagrams since it influences four squares (a4, c4, d3, and d1).  Better is the knight on c3 where it influences it's maximum possible squares of 8 (b1, a2, a4, b5, d5, e4, e2, and d1).  A knight is looking to reach its maximum influence of 8 squares so it needs to be on or between the c-file to f-file and on or between the 3rd rank to 6th rank. 



Diagram #4:  A knight on e5 is usually a well placed knight.  It influences 8 squares, 4 of which are in enemy territory (c6, d7, f7, and g6). 



Knights like to find advanced central support points as homes.  Support point means they are supported by pawns or other pieces and can not be chased away by the opponent's pawns. 

Diagram #5:  The knight is on an advanced support point e5.  The e5 square is in enemy territory so considered advanced (beyond the 4th rank), in the center, and no opponent pawn can get to d6 or f6 to chase it away. 


Diagram #6:  The knight is on a nice square but it is not an advanced support point because an opponent's pawn can chase it away by moving a pawn to d6 or f6.