The Knight's Worst Square: b7 and Its Twins
White to play and win
PlayMeet the worst square on the board for a knight: b7, the second square of the long diagonal. A knight parked there is nowhere near the edge of the board, yet it can barely move, it cannot stop your a-pawn, and it blocks its own king's path. Push and promote.
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The Knight's Worst Square
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
Waking the engine…
The theory
Some squares cripple a knight even in the open board. The worst is the second square of a long diagonal: b7 and its mirrors g7, b2 and g2. The knight is not on the rim, yet its reach is so poor it can be useless.
Too slow for the runner. From b7 the knight cannot catch a passed rook pawn: 1.a6 threatens to run, and every knight route arrives a tempo late. The pawn simply marches a6, a7, a8.
In its own king's way. The knight does not just fail to stop the pawn, it blocks the defense. Sitting on b7 it denies that square to its king, and once the pawn reaches a7 that pawn covers b8 as well, so king and knight trip over each other. Even 1...Kc7 meets 2.a7 and promotion.
In this drill you only have to push, but keep the idea: steer an enemy knight onto one of those four squares and its power collapses, and never let your own knight get stranded there.
Keep going
Knight Holds Two Connected Pawns
White to play and draw
The Knight Blockade
Black to play and draw
Knight vs Rook Pawn
White to play and draw
All 21 knight endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)