1.3
Knights
• Hippogonal 2,1 movement.
• Captures by landing on the
same square as an enemy
piece.
• Can jump over other pieces
• Count one, two, turn.
There has always been a horse in chess and the
chess variants that formed on the silk road. It is one
of the reasons that we can guess which games share a
common history, though other rules can be vastly different. There are some small differences in the horse
between variations, like the Chinese horse is not able to
jump over pieces, but the 2, 1 movement is the same!
The horse became known as the knight as the popularity of chess spread to England.
It is difficult to describe the movement of a knight
to young students. An abstract description of how the
knight moves is an “L” shape. In other words, a knight
will always move two squares forwards, backwards, or
to one side, followed by one square after turning left or
right. Since this description often fails to produce the
result of student understanding, a method of counting
may help. Count, “one, two, turn,” as the knight
moves two squares forward and then one to the
side.
The knight may jump over any piece that sits in
the path between its current square and its destination
square. It does not matter if every square around a
knight is covered by pieces, so long as the place where
it lands is empty or occupied by an enemy piece that can
be captured.
Training Forward Thinking
Forward thinking is a technique used often in
chess. It can also be an introduction to math conditional
statements if the instructor chooses to use it in this way.
In order to forward think, the player must be able to say
to him or herself, “If I do this, then my opponent will do
that.” Since the opponent might choose from several
different possibilities, a tree of possibilities forms. “If I
do this, then my opponent might do one of these three
moves.” The process can then be repeated for each
branch of the tree to think ahead several moves.
Very skilled forward thinkers can keep the tree of
possibilities smaller than the novice. This is due to their
ability to eliminate branches based on strategic implications. They are saying to themselves, “If my opponent
chooses this move, I will get an advantage by doing this
move (or sequence of moves) so I no longer need to
consider it until it happens.”
Chapter 1 - Piece Movements
41
Teaching Knights
Objective
1
To learn to move and capture with the knights.
Lesson Materials
Lesson Summary
Students will learn to move and capture with the knight while being introduced to forward thinking.
2
Demonstration Chess Board
One White Knight
One Black Pawn
8 markers
Practice Materials
Practice Method
• Written Study Pages
• Visualization Drill - Knight Captures
3
•
•
•
•
Practice and Review
• Learning Game - The Peasants Revolt
• Student Journal pp. 18
• One White Knight
• One Black Pawn
Practice Materials
• 1 Chess Board per 2 Students
• A King and Eight Pawns of One
Color
• A King, Four Knights and One Pawn
of the opposite Color
Additional Information
Vocabulary • Forward Thinking
Getting Started
Refer to the demonstration
board for this exercise.
• Add one knight to the d4
square.
Introduce the knight (teacher’s manual pp. 41)
”There has always been a horse in chess. The
horse is the common link among all of the chess
variants that formed on the Silk Road. There
are small differences, like the Chinese horse is
not able to jump over pieces, but the movement is the same! It was not called a knight
until after the game became popular England.”
Homeroom Chess - Teacher’s Lesson Guide
42
1
Lesson Development
Knight Movement and Capturing
Whole Class Activity
Knight’s Movement
• On the demonstration board, place a white knight on
d4 like the “Knight’s Movement” diagram.
• Describe the “L” shaped movement of a knight using
the “one, two, and turn” counting method. pp. 41
• Demonstrate that a knight can move backwards as
well as forwards.
• Pose questions to the students: What is another square
where the knight could move? Each time a student
names a square, count “one, two, and turn,” to verify
for the rest of the class. Mark the squares with pawns
of the same color as the knight except one pawn. Use
this final marker of the opposite color to help describe
capturing.
• After all eight squares have been named, place a white
piece on d5 and discuss how knights jump over pieces.
• Remove all pieces from the board and place the knight
on a random square.
• Place a pawn so that the knight can capture it and
pose the question: Can the knight capture the pawn? •
Repeat this, moving the knight and pawn to different locations. Occasionally create positions where the knight
cannot capture the pawn.
Student Journal - Page 18
Student Work
Complete the knights page
in the student journal pp.
18.
Discuss the answers with
the students if time permits.
Chapter 1 - Piece Movements
43
2
Practice
Visualize Knight Captures Pawn
Whole Class Activity
Place a white knight on the d4 square and a black pawn
on the e5 square. Ask the students how many turns
it takes to capture the pawn if the pawn never moves
(2 moves). When a number has been chosen, ask the
student to say the moves out loud while the instructor
moves the knight.
Repeat this exercise with the pawn at random places
on the chess board. (Hint: a knight always jumps from
a white square to a black square and back to white. If
the pawn is on the opposite color as the knight, it will be
an odd number 1, 3, or 5. Otherwise it will be an even
number 2, 4 or 6.) It never takes more than 6 moves.
It will only take more than 4 if the knight starts on or
around a corner square.
Optional Allow the pawn to move after each knight
move. If the pawn promotes before it is captured, the
class loses. Make sure to start the knight and pawn on
opposite colors and let the knight move first or the exercise will be impossible!
3
The knight can reach the pawn in
3 moves. e2 or d5 must be the
first moves.
If the pawn is allowed to move,
the knight can capture it on the
second move after moving to e4.
“The Peasants Revolt”
Practice & Review
The Peasant’s Revolt
Pairs Activity
Refresher The Peasant’s Revolt introduces the King,
Pawn, and Knight together in one exercise. The students may need to be refreshed on king and pawn
movements, especially the rule of check.
Set-Up Have the students trade knights with a neighbor so that one set has 4 white knights, and the other
has 4 black knights.
Homeroom Chess - Teacher’s Lesson Guide
44
Starting Out Set the starting position for “The Peasants Revolt” on the demonstration board. Refer the students to the demonstration board to start the game.
Let the students play at least two games, one per side.
Object of the Game The knights win if all of the pawns
are captured. The peasants win if any pawn safely promotes.
Historic Reference In June of 1381, an army of peasants marched from Kent and Essex to London, unhappy
about a new tax that the 14 year old Richard II had instated. They did something there that no one had done
before, or since. They captured the tower of London.
This exercise is named after that feat.
After the players trade a pair of knights with their neighbor, one game will have
four black knights, and the other will have four white knights.
Chapter 1 - Piece Movements
45