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5/17/26
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Practice This Exercise on a Chess Board!
Many players have trouble with knights, because their movement is less intuitive, so may players will fall prey to knight forks.
The purpose of this exercise is to practice seeing more quickly where the knight can move. The black pawns never move in this exercise. The goal is to make legal knight moves to take the knight from square a1 to square b1, however with the limitation that the knight can never land on the black pawns or where the pawns can capture. For example, the pawn on c3 can capture on b2 and d2, making all three squares off-limits to the knight.
The knight can get to b1 in three moves by moving Nc2, Na3, and then Nb1. The next goal is to get the knight from square b1 to square c1 following the same rules. One of many ways to do that is to play Na3, and then Nc2, Nd4, Nb3, and then finally Nc1.
After that, the goals are to get to d1, e1, f1, g1, h1, h2, f2, c2, a2, a3, b3, d3, etc. until the entire board is reached in this fashion.
A good class A player with practice should be able to do the entire board in less than 3 minutes. However, for lower-ranked players, this might take much longer, even with practice.
Doing this exercise will actually help you win more games by making you better with your knights.
The knight can get to b1 in three moves by moving Nc2, Na3, and then Nb1. The next goal is to get the knight from square b1 to square c1 following the same rules. One of many ways to do that is to play Na3, and then Nc2, Nd4, Nb3, and then finally Nc1.
After that, the goals are to get to d1, e1, f1, g1, h1, h2, f2, c2, a2, a3, b3, d3, etc. until the entire board is reached in this fashion.
A good class A player with practice should be able to do the entire board in less than 3 minutes. However, for lower-ranked players, this might take much longer, even with practice.
Doing this exercise will actually help you win more games by making you better with your knights.
Sometimes I practice this exercise in my head without a board.
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4/25/26
King and Queen versus King
In this endgame, people often move the queen too many times. If the queen is already a knight's move away from the enemy king, it doesn't have to move. In most positions, it is faster to move the king.
The point is that the ideal spot for the white queen is a knight move away from the black King. Once the queen is on the idea square, it sometimes doesn't have to move again until mate is delivered.
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3/01/26
I wasted years losing at chess, until I learned this
The average club player does not need to memorize a ton of opening theory. Most games leave the book within a few moves, often by move 5. Deeper theory doesn't become important until a player reaches about 1900.
Your goal in the opening should be to develop your pieces to active squares, castle, and don't create weaknesses in your position. It is likely that eventually your opponent will give you something that you can take advantage of.
2/28/26
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