The chess knight moves exactly as it did in sixth-century India
Every other chess piece has changed its powers over the centuries, but the knight still hops the same L-shaped route it took in chaturanga around the sixth century. It is the only piece allowed to leap over others, which makes it a master of surprise forks and a nightmare for chess-set carvers.
Each side begins with two knights, tucked between rook and bishop on the b- and g-files. A knight goes two squares one way and one square at right angles, so every move lands it on the opposite colour. Along with pawns, knights are the only pieces that can move from the starting position. In notation it is written N, because K already belongs to the king; older books used Kt, and problem composers often use S, from the German Springer.
Location matters enormously. In the middle of the board a knight reaches up to eight squares, on an edge only four, and in a corner just two. That reach makes it ideal for forks, attacking two pieces at once from a square they cannot hit back. Pawns are its worst enemy: a cheap pawn can chase it off without fear of recapture, so a knight planted where no enemy pawn can reach becomes a powerful outpost. It shines in closed, cluttered positions where its jumping helps, while bishops prefer open lines.
Knights and bishops are each worth roughly three pawns, though strong players and engines slightly favour the bishop. José Raúl Capablanca claimed a queen and knight team beats a queen and bishop, yet Glenn Flear found none of Capablanca's games backing that up. In endgames a lone knight cannot checkmate, and even two knights cannot force mate against a bare king.
Most languages call it a horse or a jumper; in Sicilian the name is slang for a donkey. The Lewis chessmen show a mounted rider, but Staunton sets use a carved horse head, the hardest piece to make because it cannot simply be turned on a lathe. Mathematicians have their own puzzle, the knight's tour, which seeks a route visiting every square exactly once.
Source: Knight (chess)
