Mighty Blockading Knights

The first introduction to the game of Chess lay in the fascination of Knights for me. They are the most unique pieces on the chessboard and the ability to fork a King and Queen and/or Rook(s) were simply fascinating to understand as a child. World Champion Capablanca considers that the Knight is a very dangerous piece for an amateur but as one's strength develops he starts appreciating the value of Bishop. While, this is very true, the fascination with Knights nevertheless does continue as one grows into a stronger player with a deeper study of Chess Strategy.

When talking about passed pawns, Nimzowitsch was the first teacher who taught about blockading them. Of course this has always been known to masters intuitively and were employed in their games. Nimzowitsch discusses his thoughts about Knights being excellent blockaders of passed pawns. In addition when we come to the concept of protected passed pawns, there is no better piece to blockade than the knights. They not only block the passed pawns, but they attack its protector! This is only possible because of the Knight's unique movement pattern on a chessboard.

When looking at a recent game of Caruana against Shankland, I was very impressed with the strategic depth and control he showed in the game.

Caruana-Shankland Sinquefield Cup 2021