Value of Chess Pieces – Knight Chess Piece

The knight chess piece in particular, is an interesting chess piece. Created in the shape of a horse’s head, it is an icon of chivalry, reminiscent of ‘knights in shining armour’ and maidens in need of rescue. Don’t call a knight a ‘horse’ – that’s a sure sign of a green player!

A game starts with two knights pieces of each colour. The black knights begin on the squares known as B8 and G8; the white knights start on B1 and G1.

The knight chess piece moves in a unique fashion, in an L shape. It can move to the next horizontal or vertical square and then to a diagonal of the original square. Thus, it moves one square horizontally and two squares vertically, or one square vertically and two squares horizontally. The knight has an edge over the other chess pieces; it can leap over them, whatever their colour. When it moves into a square held by an opponent’s piece, the knight captures that piece.

All chess pieces are at their most effective when they are near the middle of the chess board, and this is even more so in the case of a knight. When a knight is in a corner, it only has the option of two destination squares, and one on the board’s edge only four, but when this piece is in the centre, it can have as many as eight options. This is the basis for the saying, ‘A knight on the rim is grim.’

The value of the knight chess piece is greater than the pawns’, and, like the bishop, it is lower than the king, queen and rook. This chess piece is of only slightly lower value than the bishop – 2.7 to the bishop’s 3. These values refer to the basic value of the pieces their relative values change, based on the way in which the various pieces are placed during a particular game. For example, in a closed game, where the opponent’s pawns block a player’s line of attack, it is hard to use the other pieces to carry the attack through. The knight, however, is extremely useful in such a situation, where it can jump out of the pawns’ reach.

It is also the only chess piece which can make a move before a pawn has been moved. Knight chess pieces are usually aimed towards the centre and are generally moved before the bishops, rooks and queen. It has the huge advantage of being able to attack a piece without itself being in danger.

A popular topic for discussion is whether a knight or a bishop is more valuable to a player. Of course, it depends on the situation, but most players believe that a knight should be sacrificed for a bishop. This is because, during the endgame, the bishop is generally more valuable – with fewer pawns on the chess board; it has more room to move.

However, when the bishop is stuck among its own pawns, the knight is a better piece to have. There are other specific situations where one piece is more valuable than the other; the circumstances have to be assessed for a decision to be made.