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From	Message
jkarp 25-Jan-13, 20:33	Knight on the Eighth or First Rank I played a couple more games, at my chess job, and Jack Stockel was there. These games were played against different people, btw. I got extremely lucky in one of those games, but lost in the first game. In my lucky game, however, the opponent could have won. Why? Because I placed my Knight on the eighth rank. I already knew that sometimes you have to make a move that you really don't like, like tempii lost. However, I just found out that your Knight should not go on the last rank. Otherwise, you often lose more powerful pieces. At the least, you lose your good bishop, and losing your good bishop=your opponents pieces getting even stronger. That, alone, is usually enough for your opponent to win.
rmannstaedt 26-Jan-13, 02:26	A Knight on the Rim is Grim ... or so they say. Notice how the knight controls far fewer squares it can move to when on the edge of the board? However, there is - in practical play - a marked difference between a knight on the first rank and one on the eight: on the first rank it is virtually out of play - sitting deep within your own lines and (usually) not doing anything much. On the eight rank however, it is deep within the enemy lines - and thus in mortal danger! Be sure to have a good, tactical reason for placing it there! Silman has a very good book on this and related topics: "How to Reassess your Chess". If your rating is anywhere from about 1200 to 2000 I should recommend it. www.amazon.com
shamash 26-Jan-13, 16:29	teaser from the book on Strong Knights "In a significant game in the history of twentieth-century chess," writes GM Jan Timman, "with the knight sortie 41 Ne5-d7!! -- one of the most impressive in the history of chess -- and then 42 Nd7-f8! thwarting Black's plans, the ingenuity of Kasparov's play is remarkable." --from "Power Chess with Pieces: The ultimate guide to strong knights . . . "
tipsyjourneyman 28-Jan-13, 07:09	I delight, when as white, my knight hits rank 8. As this usually only happens because my opponent has failed to counter my favourite fork, the king/rook fork. As for rank 1/8 (white/black) I find in the late middle game bringing your knight to the back rank to sit snug next to your castled king, protecting it from check by the enemy's rook, your rook having departed on its own mission, is a sound strategy. Particularly as, in the late middle game, as the game opens up, the value of your knights and bishops drops and your rooks go up, so leaving your rook to babysit the castled king can become a huge waste of material. Better let a knight do the job instead! I've a game going on, this one is falling towards a draw (indeed the draw was offered by me, playing white, a half-dozen moves ago but some people lack the ability to see the inevitable), which exemplifies this strategy when its complete I'll come back to this! Of course that's the late-middle game. In the opening and early middle if I can force a knight to the a or h file, or move backwards, even retreat to the back rank, I'm a happy camper. Not so much if an opponents knight has reached my back rank though, this is usually an indication of a dashing attack rather than a knight becoming stagnant so there you go. Finally, when I'm in one of those annoying drawn out games where my opponent refuses the magnanimous offer of a draw and so I have to mate them in 40+ to teach them a lesson, the knight will oft ghost along the opponent's vacant back rank as a stepping stone to get it back into the centre whilst avoiding their lone rook or perhaps a remnant pawn structure that they think can somehow hold against a >=+3 material advantage to the tipsy. So, to surmise, let your knights roam wherever they may, certainly in the opening you want them to be hitting the centre unless you're building up to a fork, but beyond that I would say knights on a or h file is more sinful than knights on 1 or 8 ranks. That's tipsy's two cents. Though with the strong aussie dollar it's more like tipsy's five cents! maw ha! Either way its more than what it's worth!   -TJ

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