Chess Patterns ❯ Knight and Bishop Techniques ❯ Knight Maneuver

Knight Maneuver

A Knight Maneuver is a strategic sequence of moves where a Knight is repositioned to a more advantageous square, often through a circuitous path. This typically happens in closed positions and involves moving the Knight to reach a specific outpost. In the diagram above, White eyes the weak squares c4, b6 and d6 and starts maneuvering the Knight to reach them via 1.Nd2.

Ideas for when you are starting a Knight Maneuver: (1) Identify where the Knight will be most effective, (2) Plan a clear and efficient route. Ideas against a Knight Maneuver: (1) Contest the key squares along the route to the potential destination.

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Master Knight Maneuvers

When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Knight Maneuvers. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this type of maneuvers.

Finding the best Squares for your Pieces with Maneuvering
In this video for the Chessfactor channel (unfortunately not that active anymore) GM Sam Shankland introduces several examples of Piece Maneuvering (including knights). Highly instructive.

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Forward Chess Moment...Dvoretsky Knight Maneuvers
This video by Forward Chess presents several excerpts from the book that the great Mark Dvoretsky wrote on maneuvering. Many examples of knight maneuvers are explained in the video. Go for it.

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The Greatest Knight Maneuver Of All Time
Have a look at this video by Chess School and enjoy the analysis of a really engaging game between Korchnoi and Fischer in which the latter surprised his opponent with an amazing Knight backward move.

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Elements of Positional Evaluation*
Get to know the nuanced power of your pieces, one by one, with this fantastic classic by Dan Heisman. A lot is covered in this book, including knight maneuvers. Follow all the moves with ease thanks to the interactive e-book reader.

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Maneuvering: the Art of Piece Play*
This excellent book by Mark Dvoretsky focuses on improving the reader's piece placement skills. It is filled with examples, exercises and clear explanations. For intermediate and advanced players.

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