The Four Knights Game is a chess opening that begins with the moves:
43-453: This is the most common sequence, but the knights may develop in any order to reach the same position. The opening is fairly popular with beginners who strictly adhere to the opening principle: "Develop knights before bishops ." It was one of the workhorses in the family of the Open Game , at even the highest levels, until World War I. Thereafter it fell by the wayside, along with
86-477: A 1916 match. Tarrasch was a very influential chess writer, and was called Praeceptor Germaniae , meaning "Teacher of Germany." He took some of Wilhelm Steinitz 's ideas ( e.g. control of the center , bishop pair , space advantage ) and made them more accessible to the average chess player. In other areas, he departed from Steinitz. He emphasized piece mobility much more than Steinitz did, and disliked cramped positions, saying that they "had
129-449: A better chance for White to play for equality is 5.Nxe4, even though 5...d5 regains the piece with a good game, e.g., 6.Bd3 (6.Bxd5? Qxd5 7.Nc3 Qd8 Estrin ; 6.Bb5 ?! dxe4 7.Nxe5 Qg5! Collijn 's Lärobok ; 6.d4 dxc4 7.d5 Ne7 8.Nc3 c6 Cordel–Schupli, 1905) 6...dxe4 (the recently discovered 6...Nb4 is also playable) 7.Bxe4 Bd6 8.d4 Nxd4 9.Nxd4 exd4 10.Qxd4 0-0 11.Be3 (11.0-0 ?? Bxh2+ wins) Qe7 (Tartakower–Atkins, London 1922) and now
172-424: A bishop, a knight is often not as good in an endgame. A knight can exert control over only one part of the board at a time and often takes multiple moves to reposition to a new location, which often makes it less suitable in endgames with pawns on both sides of the board. This limitation is less important, however, in endgames with pawns on only one side of the board. Knights are superior to bishops in an endgame if all
215-451: A famous book about the St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament , which was translated into English in 1993. His fourth major book Das Schachspiel (1931), was translated by G. E. Smith and T. G. Bone as The Game of Chess (1935, ISBN 048625447X ). It was his last book and his most successful. He edited the magazine Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1897, and Tarrasch's Schachzeitung , for
258-514: A king, the game is a draw since a checkmate is impossible. When a lone king faces a king and two knights, a checkmate can never be forced ; checkmate can occur only if the opponent commits a blunder by moving their king to a square where it can be checkmated on the next move. Checkmate can be forced with a bishop and knight , however, or with two bishops, even though the bishop and knight are in general about equal in value. Paradoxically, checkmate with two knights sometimes can be forced if
301-562: A narrow plus score against Harry Nelson Pillsbury of +6−5=2, while Lasker was even +5−5=4. Still, Tarrasch remained a powerful player, demolishing Frank Marshall in a match in 1905 (+8−1=8), and winning Ostend 1907 over Schlechter , Janowski , Marshall , Burn , and Chigorin. There was no love lost between Tarrasch and Lasker. The story goes that when they were introduced at the opening of their 1908 championship match, Tarrasch clicked his heels, bowed stiffly, and said, "To you, Dr. Lasker, I have only three words, check and mate"—then left
344-527: A number of other Open Games. In this period ambitious players explored the Ruy Lopez , believing it a better attempt by White to exploit the advantage of the first move . In the 1990s, this opening saw a renaissance, and is now seen in the praxis of players from beginner to grandmaster . The Four Knights usually leads to quiet positional play , though there are some sharp variations. The Encyclopaedia of Chess Openings has three codes for
387-410: A queen and a knight is usually a better combination than a queen and a bishop. However, Glenn Flear found no game of Capablanca's that supported his statement; statistics do not support the statement, either. In an endgame without other pieces or pawns, two knights generally have a better chance of forming a drawing fortress against a queen than do two bishops or a bishop and a knight. Compared to
430-610: A successful medical practice. He had five children. Tarrasch was Jewish, converted to Christianity in 1909, and was a patriotic German who lost a son in World War I , yet he faced antisemitism in the early stages of the Third Reich . A medical doctor by profession, Tarrasch may have been the best player in the world in the early 1890s. He scored heavily against the ageing World Champion Wilhelm Steinitz in tournaments (+3−0=1) but refused an opportunity to challenge Steinitz for
473-543: Is a piece in the game of chess , represented by a horse's head and neck. It moves two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically, jumping over other pieces. Each player starts the game with two knights on the b- and g- files , each located between a rook and a bishop . Compared to other chess pieces, the knight's movement is unique: it moves two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically (with both forming
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#1732798475204516-418: Is on a white square and it is White's turn to move, White cannot win. Similarly, if the knight were on a black square and it were Black's turn to move, White cannot win. In the other two cases, White would win. If instead of the knight, White had a bishop on either color of square, White would win with either side to move. In an endgame where one side has only a king and a knight while the other side has only
559-638: Is relevant in some mathematical problems . For example, the knight's tour problem is the problem of finding a series of moves by a knight on a chessboard in which every square is visited exactly once. Even among sets of the standard Staunton pattern, the style of the pieces varies. The knights vary considerably. Here are some examples. Unicode defines three codepoints for a knight: ♘ U+2658 White Chess Knight ♞ U+265E Black Chess Knight 🨄 U+1FA04 Neutral Chess Knight Siegbert Tarrasch Siegbert Tarrasch ( German pronunciation: [ˈziːɡbɐt ˈtaraʃ] ; 5 March 1862 – 17 February 1934)
602-399: Is the keima of shogi , which moves like a knight but can move only two squares forward followed by one square sideways, restricting its movement to two possible squares. The knight is colloquially sometimes referred to as a "horse", which is also the translation of the piece's name in several languages: Spanish caballo , Italian cavallo , Russian конь , etc. Some languages refer to it as
645-602: Is via the Giuoco Piano by 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Nc3 Nf6. The line is a favourite among younger players due to its simple and easy development, but was also used successfully by Nigel Short against Antoaneta Stefanova . The problem with playing for this position via the Four Knights Game is that after 4.Bc4, Black can perform the center fork trick by pseudo- sacrificing a knight with 4...Nxe4!. Then 5.Bxf7+?, though superficially attractive, relinquishes
688-401: The center of the board, where they have up to eight moves, and weakest in a corner, where they have only two. Enemy pawns are effective at harassing knights because a pawn attacking a knight is not itself attacked by the knight and, because a pawn is worth less than a knight, it does not matter if the knight is defended. For this reason, a knight is effective when placed in a weakness in
731-531: The "jumper", reflecting the knight's ability to move over pieces in its path: Polish skoczek , Danish/Norwegian springer , Swedish springare , German Springer , Luxembourgish Sprénger , Slovene skakač . In Sicilian it is called sceccu , a slang term for a donkey , derived from the Arabic sheikh , who during the Islamic period rode from village to village on donkeys collecting taxes. The knight
774-410: The 19th round, though much less famous than Lasker's win against Capablanca the round before, was essential to enable Lasker to achieve his famous come-from-behind victory over Capablanca in the tournament. This tournament was probably Tarrasch's swan song , because his chess career was not very successful after this, although he still played some highly regarded games. Tarrasch lost +0-5=1 to Lasker in
817-535: The Black side of the Advance French against Louis Paulsen ( Nuremberg 1888): A number of chess openings are named after Tarrasch, with the most notable being: In the game Tarrasch versus Allies , Black seems to be holding here (at least against an immediate catastrophe), because the black queen guards against Qb7+ (followed by Kxa5 Ra1#), while the black rook on c8 defends against Rxc5#. Tarrasch played
860-763: The Four Knights Game: White's most common move is 4.Bb5, the Spanish Variation . This variation can also be reached from the Ruy Lopez, Berlin Defence . After 4.Bb5, Black has four major alternatives. If White plays 4.d4, the Scotch Four Knights Game arises. This leads to a more open position , which can also be reached from the Scotch Game , e.g. 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Nf6 5.Nc3. This variation
903-640: The Scotch; however, the Belgrade is a distant second in popularity to 5.Nxd4. A further possibility is 4.Bc4, the Italian Four Knights Game , or Prussian Four Knights Game, popular in the 1880s, though this line is regarded as inferior according to Pinski, and an outright mistake by IM Larry D. Evans. Black can preserve the symmetry by 4...Bc5, leading to the quiet Giuoco Pianissimo . A better move order for White that leads to this position
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#1732798475204946-426: The bishop pair and central control to Black. After 5...Kxf7 6.Nxe4 d5 7.Neg5+ Kg8, Black is already threatening 8...e4, and after 8.d3 h6 9.Nh3 Bg4, Black has a very powerful position, with an unopposed light-squared bishop, a strong duo of pawns in the centre, and a safe king, while White needs to work out how to get the displaced knight on h3 into play; often it will need to be played back to g1. Rather than 5.Bxf7+?,
989-527: The chess starting position. Knights and bishops, also known as minor pieces , have a value of about three pawns . Bishops utilize a longer range, but they can move only to squares of one color. The knight's value increases in closed positions since it can jump over blockades. Knights and bishops are stronger when supported by other pieces (such as pawns) to create outposts and become more powerful when they advance, as long as they remain active . Generally, knights are strongest in
1032-583: The germ of defeat." Tarrasch formulated a very important rule in rook endgames that is often called the Tarrasch rule : In 1895, Tarrasch's book Dreihundert Schachpartien was published. It was first translated into English in 1959 by Robin Ault and John Kirwan in a limited edition and a commercial edition in 1999 when S. Schwarz put out Three Hundred Chess Games. Tarrasch released Die moderne Schachpartie in 1912, but it has not been translated yet. He wrote
1075-478: The grandmaster level as in two games between Ilya Smirin and Bartłomiej Macieja . Though rarely seen, this move is playable. For example, if Black plays 4...Bb4, White has the responses 5.Nd5, 5.0-0, and 5.d3, which retain equality with accurate play. The quiet waiting move 4.a3, the Gunsberg Variation , is a specialty of Polish grandmaster Paweł Blehm . A dubious gambit is 4.Nxe5?!,
1118-463: The ingenious interference move 31.Bc7! (known as a Plachutta interference because the pieces both move orthogonally ). This blocks off both defences, and whatever piece captures becomes overloaded. That is, if 31...Rxc7, the rook is overloaded, having to look after both the key squares, since the queen is blocked from b7. So White would play 32.Qb7+ Rxb7, deflecting the rook from defence of c5, allowing 33.Rxc5#. But if Black plays instead 31...Qxc7,
1161-460: The king); in descriptive chess notation , Kt is sometimes used instead, mainly in older literature. In chess problems and endgame studies , the letter S , standing for Springer , the German name for the piece, is often used (and in some variants of fairy chess , N is used for the nightrider , a popular fairy chess piece ). The knight has the oldest defined movement of any chess piece. It
1204-431: The last two years of his life. He was a target of the hypermodern school, led by Richard Réti , Aron Nimzowitsch , and Savielly Tartakower , all of whom criticized his ideas as dogmatic. However, many modern masters regard Tarrasch's actual play as not dogmatic. According to American grandmaster Andrew Soltis , Tarrasch's chess was "all about piece mobility". As an example of his playing style see his victory on
1247-631: The natural 12.0-0 Be5 would be awkward for White. In the above line, more ambitious is 8...exd4 9.Nxd4 0-0!?, as in a match game between Siegbert Tarrasch and Emanuel Lasker in 1916, which led to a Black win in 23 moves. Another try is 5.0-0!? transposing to a variation of the Boden–Kieseritzky Gambit . Igor Glek has favoured 4.g3, preparing development of the bishop to g2. According to Pinski, Black's main responses are 4...Bc5 and 4...d5, both of which are reckoned to equalize for Black. A Halloween Gambit style 4...Nxe4 has also been tried at
1290-445: The opponent's pawn structure , i.e. a square which cannot be attacked by enemy pawns. In the diagram, White's knight on d5 is very powerful – more powerful than Black's bishop on g7. Whereas two bishops cover each other's weaknesses, two knights tend not to cooperate with each other as efficiently. As such, a pair of bishops is usually considered better than a pair of knights. World Champion José Raúl Capablanca considered that
1333-424: The opposing king is trapped in a corner in front of its own pawn, it is possible to force mate with only a king and knight in a pattern known as Stamma 's mate, which has occasionally been seen in practice. In the position below, from Nogueiras –Gongora, Cuban championship 2001, Black played 75...Nxf6 ?? , incorrectly assuming that the ending would be drawn following the capture of the last white pawn on a2. (Correct
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1376-406: The pawns are on one side of the board. Furthermore, knights have the advantage of being able to control squares of either color, unlike a lone bishop. Nonetheless, a disadvantage of the knight (compared to the other pieces) is that by itself it cannot lose a move to put the opponent in zugzwang (see triangulation and tempo ), while a bishop can. In the position pictured on the right, if the knight
1419-454: The queen blocks off the rook's defence of c5 and becomes overloaded: 32.Rxc5+ Qxc5 deflects the queen from defence of b7, allowing 33.Qb7+ Kxa5 34.Ra1#. Black actually resigned after this move. In the game against Carl Walbrodt , Tarrasch played rather poorly, and his opponent had the better of him for a long time. But the game was redeemed by the following startling combination: 34.Rxd4 seems obvious, because 34...cxd4 allows 35.Bxd4 winning
1462-513: The room. When Lasker finally agreed to a title match in 1908 , he beat Tarrasch convincingly +8−3=5. Tarrasch continued to be one of the leading players in the world for a while. He finished fourth in the very strong St. Petersburg 1914 chess tournament , behind only World Champion Lasker and future World Champions José Raúl Capablanca and Alexander Alekhine , and ahead of Marshall, Ossip Bernstein , Rubinstein , Nimzowitsch , Blackburne , Janowski, and Gunsberg . His win against Capablanca in
1505-405: The shape of a capital L ). Consequently, a knight alternates between light and dark squares with each move. When moving, the knight can jump over pieces to reach its destination. Knights capture in the same way, replacing the enemy piece on the square and removing it from the board. A knight can have up to eight available moves at once. Knights and pawns are the only pieces that can be moved in
1548-486: The so-called Halloween Gambit . After 4...Nxe5 5.d4, White tries to seize the centre with his pawns and drive the black knights back to their home squares. Grandmaster Larry Kaufman says that this line is refuted by 5...Nc6 6.d5 Bb4! 7.dxc6 Nxe4 8.Qd4 Qe7, which he attributes to Jan Pinski. According to Max Euwe 's opening series volume 11, Black has a decisive advantage after 5...Ng6 6.e5 Ng8 7.Bc4 d5 8.Bxd5 c6. Bibliography Knight (chess) The knight (♘, ♞)
1591-402: The weaker side has a single extra pawn, but this is a curiosity of little practical value (see two knights endgame ). Pawnless endgames are a rarity, and if the stronger side has even a single pawn, an extra knight should give them an easy win. A bishop can trap (although it cannot then capture) a knight on the rim (see diagram), especially in the endgame. In a few rare endgame positions where
1634-544: The world title in 1892 because of the demands of his medical practice. Soon afterwards, in St. Petersburg in 1893, Tarrasch drew a hard-fought match against Steinitz' challenger Mikhail Chigorin (+9−9=4) after leading most of the way. He also won four major tournaments in succession: Breslau 1889, Manchester 1890, Dresden 1892, and Leipzig 1894. However, after Emanuel Lasker became world chess champion in 1894, Tarrasch could not match him. Fred Reinfeld wrote: "Tarrasch
1677-410: Was 75...Ne3 ! 76.Kg6 Ng4 77.Kg7 and now 77...Nxf6! may be safely played, the king being sufficiently distant). Play continued 76.Nxf6 Ke5 77.Nd7+ Kd4 78.Kf4 Kc3 79.Ke3 Kb2 80.Kd2 Kxa2 81.Kc2 Ka1 82.Nc5 Ka2 83.Nd3 Ka1 84.Nc1 and Black resigned, as 84...a2 85.Nb3 is mate. In algebraic notation, the usual modern way of recording chess games, the letter N stands for the knight ( K is reserved for
1720-696: Was a German chess player, considered to have been among the strongest players and most influential theoreticians of the late 19th and early 20th century. Tarrasch was born in Breslau , in what was then Prussian Silesia and now is Poland. Having finished school in 1880, he left Breslau to study medicine in Berlin and then in Halle . With his family, he settled in Nuremberg , Bavaria , and later in Munich , setting up
1763-570: Was destined to play second fiddle for the rest of his life." For example, Lasker scored much better against mutual opponents, e.g. vs. Chigorin, Tarrasch had +2 over 34 games while Lasker scored +7 in 21; vs. Akiba Rubinstein , Tarrasch was −8 without a single win, while Lasker scored +2−1=2; vs. David Janowski , Tarrasch scored +3 compared to Lasker's huge +22; vs. Géza Maróczy , Tarrasch was +1 over 16 games while Lasker scored +4−0=1, vs. Richard Teichmann Tarrasch scored +8−5=2, while Lasker beat him all four tournament games. However, Tarrasch had
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1806-466: Was first introduced in the Indian game of chaturanga around the 6th century; it has not changed since. Pieces similar to the knight are found in almost all games of the chess family. The ma of xiangqi and janggi is slightly more restricted; conceptually, the piece is considered to pass through the adjacent orthogonal point, which must be unoccupied, rather than "jumping". Another related piece
1849-526: Was played in the fifth game of the 1996 Deep Blue versus Garry Kasparov match. One reason White may choose the Four Knights (3.Nc3) move order over the Scotch (3.d4), besides fearing that after 3.d4 exd4 4.Nxd4 Black may choose 4...Bc5 or 4...Qh4, is that White may want to play the Belgrade Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Nc3 Nf6 4.d4 exd4 5.Nd5!?). It is not possible to reach the Belgrade from
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