Level 1 free
Knight Paths
A knight is placed on a square. Name (or tap) all of its legal destination squares. Trains piece geometry on top of coordinates.
- L1 · Centre
- L2 · Anywhere
- L3 · Blindfold
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About this drill
The knight is the piece beginners lose track of and the piece most tactics turn on. Its move does not run along a line, so you cannot slide your eye to find it. You have to know, for each square, where the jumps land and how many stay on the board. A knight is placed and you name or tap every square it can reach.
What you will learn
- The shape: two squares one way and one square sideways, eight landing squares from the centre.
- The counts: eight from any of the sixteen squares c3 to f6, fewer near the edge, two from a corner.
- A knight always changes square colour, so a square of its own colour is never one move away.
- To build a knight route of two or three moves, where calculation starts.
How the levels build
Level 1 places the knight in the centre, on the sixteen squares from c3 to f6, where all eight jumps stay on the board. You learn the full star before its cut-off versions.
Level 2 places the knight anywhere. On a1 it has two squares, b3 and c2. On b2 it has four: a4, c4, d1 and d3. The list gets shorter near the edge, and you must stop when it is complete rather than keep guessing.
Level 3 hides the board. You hear the square and name the destinations from the picture in your head. Level 1 is free, levels 2 and 3 are in Pro.
How to practise it
Say the squares in a fixed order each time, for instance clockwise from the top left, so you never skip one. Each square is checked as you say it: a repeat is ignored, an unreachable square is wrong. Pass is 80 percent. Stay on level 1 until the eight squares come out without a pause, then move to the edges, where the real mistakes live.
Play level 1 nowQuestions people ask
- How many squares can a knight move to?
- Eight from the sixteen centre squares c3 to f6. Six from the ring one step in, except four from b2, g2, b7 and g7. Three or four from an edge square, two from a corner.
- Is Knight Paths good for beginners?
- Yes, after Name the Square. You need to name squares without thinking before you can list eight in a row. Level 1 keeps the knight in the centre so the shape is always the full eight.
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