In this chapter we discuss tactics involving the knight. All of the following tactical scenarios are essential and arise commonly, especially in the opening. It is important to be able to initiate such tactics when the opportunity arises and to be able to defend against them.
Threats of knight forks are common in the openings. Consider the opening moves 1. Nf3 e6??:
White to Move
White's first move was already a threat to win the game, but Black did not see the threat. White wins with 2. Ne5:
White Wins
Now White has "forked" d7 and f7. He is threatening to capture each pawn and Black cannot stop both threats. His king will get caught in an explosion. I call this type of fork a blunt fork.
If White is not careful in the opening, Black may find that he has a winning fork. Consider the opening moves 1. Nc3 Nf6! 2. Nd5? e6!:
White to Move
White's 2nd move was a mistake. He greedily forked c7 and e7, threatening the enemy king and queen, but he also relinquished control of e4. So, it turns out there is no time to take the queen: 3. Nxc7?? Ne4!:
Black Wins
Black wins because he has a blunt fork of his own. White's king will explode.
Let's look at another common type of opening fork. Consider the opening moves 1. Nf3 f6 2. e3 d5 3. Nd4 Bg4:
White to Move
Black is attacking the White queen and threatening to win. White can block with 3. f3, but he has another surprising option -- 3. Qf3:
Black to Move
White is not really sacrificing his queen here. If Black takes the bait with 3. ... Bxf3, then White achieves a winning fork -- 4. Ne6!:
White Wins
Here White wins because he is forking d8 and f8. I call this type of fork a silent fork.
Let's look at another type of fork that arises in many different situations. Consider the opening moves 1. Nf3 d6? 2. Ng5 Kd7?? 3. Ne6!:
White Wins
The White knight cannot be taken and the Black king cannot get out of the way of potential explosions. White is forking c7 and d8. I call this a close fork.
Let's look at another close fork. Consider the opening moves 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nc6? 3. e3! g6 4. Nf5!:
Black to Move
Here, White is threatening to win with Nxe7. Black cannot take the knight with gxf5 because of Qh5#. So, Black must move the e-pawn. Play continues with 4. ... e5 5. Ng7+!:
Black to Move
Now, Black must give up a lot of material if he wants to avoid immediate loss. He must play Bxg7 losing a bishop and rook. If he tries Kf7 he will lose in a couple of moves to Qg4, and if he tries 5. ... Ke7?? White responds with 6. Ne6!:
White Wins
White has a winning close fork. He is forking d8 and f8, and Black cannot get out of the way of the explosions (Kd6 is met by Nxc7##).
Let's look at one more opening knight tactic. The idea illustrated next arises in a lot of different situations. For example, consider the opening moves 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4 Nh6 3. e3 Ng4 4. f4 b5 5. Nf5 e6 6. Nxg7 h5 7. Nc3:
Black to Move
Black can now undertake a sequence of knight moves designed to win the White queen. I call the following sequence of moves the knight dance. 7. ... Nf2 8. Qf3 (if 8. Qe2 then 8. ... Nd3+! forces White to take the knight and lose his queen and his own knight) 8. ... Ne4 9. d4 Nd2!:
White to Move
Black has achieved a nice fork. Since White has to deal with the threat of explosion on f1, Black can capture the White queen next move: 10. Bd3 Nxf3.
A knight can also achieve damaging tactics in the middle game and endgame as well. For example, a knight can sometimes single-handedly destroy the enemy king in a castled position. Consider:
Black to Move
Here, Black has a winning fork with Ne3. This forks f1 and g2 and White cannot get out of the way of the potential explosions. Black's success here came from the fact that White's pieces tightly surround his king, giving the Black knight potential attacking squares.
However, even when there appears to be more breathing room, a king in the corner must always be vigilant against an enemy knight. Consider the following position which arose in a game Rekursiv vs. szura:
White to Move
I am winning the game, and in time trouble I do not perceive the danger the Black knight poses. Afterall, my king does seem to have more breathing room than in the last position. So, I moved 37. c7?? and Black wisely scored a full point in what used to be a lost position -- 37. ... Nf3+!:
Black Wins
The above is another common tactical idea with the knight. The knight forces the king towards a piece (in this case the pawn on h4) that it will explode.
In the opening, many players as White, attack with their knights relentlessly. As Black it is important to be able to defend against this in various situations. For example, suppose a game begins with 1. Nh3 h6 2. Nf4:
Black to Move
Here White is threatening both Nd5 and Nh5 (hoping for an explosion on the seventh rank). Black can defend both with one clever move -- 2. ... d5!:
White to Move
Black stopped Nd5 by occupying d5 with a pawn, and if 3. Nh5 then Black responds with 3. ... Bg4 4. f3 Bxh5.
When you can think of no other way to stop an advancing knight consider attacking back with one of your knights. Often a Black knight move neutralizes a White knight. For example, we've seen that if White plays 1. Nc3, then 1. ... Nf6! stops the White knight because of the threat of Ne4 if the White knight moves. Also, consider 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nd4:
Black to Move
Here, White is threatening both Nb5 and Nf5. Black defends both threats with 2. ... Nh6!:
White to Move
Black has guarded f5 and if White moves 3. Nb5?? he will lose to 3. ... Ng4.
There are some bad ways to stop an advancing knight too. For example, if White plays 1. Nh3, then 1. ... g5 looks good at first since it stops both Ng5 and Nf4, but it actually loses! The reason is that the h5-e8 diagonal leading to the Black king has been weakened:
White to Move
Refer to the opening analysis to see how White forces a win now starting with 2. e3 (threatening Qh5 and Qf3).
Sometimes two knights can work together, one sacrificing itself so that the other one can advance. For example, consider 1. Nf3 f6 2. Nc3 c6 3. Nd4 d5:
White to Move
Here, Black's pawns seem to be stopping the knights from advancing, but notice that both White knights are aimed at the b5 square which is only guarded once. White would gladly give up one of this knights if it meant his other knight could occupy that square. White can play 4. Ndb5 cxb5 5. Nb5 for example, and White is doing well.
We will see in other chapters how knights often happily sacrifice themselves for pawns.