Bishop versus Knight

So which is better a bishop or a knight?

If you look at a chessboard, you will see that a bishop on a dark square can never move to a light square, and that a bishop on a light square can never move to a dark square.

This is unlike the knight, which always moves from a dark square to a light square, or from a light square to a dark square.

What this means is that a knight can attack or move to every square on the board, while a bishop can only cover half the squares on the board, either the dark squares or the light squares, but never both.

Also, the knight can jump over other pieces but the bishop cannot, it can only move over empty squares.

So in some ways, a knight is more valuable that a bishop. However,

So which is better, a pawn or a knight?

In some ways, a knight is more valuable than a bishop as the knight can jump over other pieces and can occupy or attack any square on the board, while the bishop can only cover either the dark or the light squares, but never both.

At the start of the game one of your bishops always starts on a light square and the other always starts on a dark square

However, just like with the knight, if the finish square contains an enemy piece, you capture that piece and remove it from the board.

you can capture an enemy piece if the finish square Moving the knight is a bit tricky to learn at first, as it does not move in a nice straight line like all your other pieces, but makes a sort of crooked move!

To learn how to move a knight, you have to pretend that the knight is at one corner of a rectangle of 3 squares by 2 squares - then you simply move the knight to the opposite corner.

So, the movement of the knight is a little bit like the capital letter L, two squares along in one direction followed by one square in a different direction

Of course, you can move the knight in any direction, both forwards or backwards, and to the left or to right, as long as you make sure that the start and finish squares form a rectangle of 3 squares by 2 squares.

What's more, it does not matter if any of the other squares that lie between the start and finish squares are occupied, the knight jumps over the lot!

And, best of all, if there is an enemy piece on the finish square, then you can remove that piece as you have captured it with your knight!

Other hints and tips

You cannot move a knight to a square that is already occupied by one of your own pieces - otherwise you would have two pieces on the same square and that is not allowed! You can only move to a square that is empty or to a square that contains an enemy piece which you thencapture.

If you look carefully at the chessboard, you will see that, when you move a knight, if it is starting from a light square, then it can only finish on a dark square, and if it is starting from a dark square, then it can only finish on a light square.

If your knight is near the middle of the board, then you may have a choice of up to eight different squares to which you can move the knight, which is usually a good thing as it gives you a lot of choices. However, if your knight is near the side of the board, then there will not be as many squares that the knight can move to, and if your knight is on a corner square, then you can only move it to two different squares.