1.3. Knights. Training Forward Thinking

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1 1.3 Knights Hippogonal 2,1 movement. Captures by landing on the same square as an enemy piece. Can jump over other pieces Count one, two, turn. There has always been a horse in chess and the chess variants that formed on the silk road. It is one of the reasons that we can guess which games share a common history, though other rules can be vastly different. There are some small differences in the horse between variations, like the Chinese horse is not able to jump over pieces, but the 2, 1 movement is the same! The horse became known as the knight as the popularity of chess spread to England. It is diffi cult to describe the movement of a knight to young students. An abstract description of how the knight moves is an L shape. In other words, a knight will always move two squares forwards, backwards, or to one side, followed by one square after turning left or right. Since this description often fails to produce the result of student understanding, a method of counting may help. Count, one, two, turn, as the knight moves two squares forward and then one to the side. The knight may jump over any piece that sits in the path between its current square and its destination square. It does not matter if every square around a knight is covered by pieces, so long as the place where it lands is empty or occupied by an enemy piece that can be captured. Training Forward Thinking Forward thinking is a technique used often in chess. It can also be an introduction to math conditional statements if the instructor chooses to use it in this way. In order to forward think, the player must be able to say to him or herself, If I do this, then my opponent will do that. Since the opponent might choose from several different possibilities, a tree of possibilities forms. If I do this, then my opponent might do one of these three moves. The process can then be repeated for each branch of the tree to think ahead several moves. Very skilled forward thinkers can keep the tree of possibilities smaller than the novice. This is due to their ability to eliminate branches based on strategic implications. They are saying to themselves, If my opponent chooses this move, I will get an advantage by doing this move (or sequence of moves) so I no longer need to consider it until it happens. 41

2 Teaching Knights Objective To learn to move and capture with the knights. 1 Lesson Summary Students will learn to move and capture with the knight while being introduced to forward thinking. 2 Practice Method Written Study Pages Visualization Drill - Knight Captures Lesson Materials Demonstration Chess Board One White Knight One Black Pawn 8 markers Practice Materials Student Journal pp. 18 One White Knight One Black Pawn 3 Practice and Review Practice Materials Learning Game - The Peasants Revolt A King and Eight Pawns of One 1 Chess Board per 2 Students Color A King, Four Knights and One Pawn of the opposite Color Additional Information Vocabulary Forward Thinking Getting Started Refer to the demonstration board for this exercise. Add one knight to the d4 square. Introduce the knight (teacher s manual pp. 41) There has always been a horse in chess. The horse is the common link among all of the chess variants that formed on the Silk Road. There are small differences, like the Chinese horse is not able to jump over pieces, but the movement is the same! It was not called a knight until after the game became popular England. Homeroom Chess - Teacher s Lesson Guide 42

3 1 Lesson Development Knight Movement and Capturing Whole Class Activity Knight s Movement On the demonstration board, place a white knight on d4 like the Knight s Movement diagram. Describe the L shaped movement of a knight using the one, two, and turn counting method. pp. 41 Demonstrate that a knight can move backwards as well as forwards. Pose questions to the students: What is another square where the knight could move? Each time a student names a square, count one, two, and turn, to verify for the rest of the class. Mark the squares with pawns of the same color as the knight except one pawn. Use this fi nal marker of the opposite color to help describe capturing. After all eight squares have been named, place a white piece on d5 and discuss how knights jump over pieces. Remove all pieces from the board and place the knight on a random square. Place a pawn so that the knight can capture it and pose the question: Can the knight capture the pawn? Repeat this, moving the knight and pawn to different locations. Occasionally create positions where the knight cannot capture the pawn. Student Journal - Page 18 Student Work Complete the knights page in the student journal pp. 18. Discuss the answers with the students if time permits. 43

4 2 Practice Visualize Knight Captures Pawn Whole Class Activity Place a white knight on the d4 square and a black pawn on the e5 square. Ask the students how many turns it takes to capture the pawn if the pawn never moves (2 moves). When a number has been chosen, ask the student to say the moves out loud while the instructor moves the knight. Repeat this exercise with the pawn at random places on the chess board. (Hint: a knight always jumps from a white square to a black square and back to white. If the pawn is on the opposite color as the knight, it will be an odd number 1, 3, or 5. Otherwise it will be an even number 2, 4 or 6.) It never takes more than 6 moves. It will only take more than 4 if the knight starts on or around a corner square. Optional Allow the pawn to move after each knight move. If the pawn promotes before it is captured, the class loses. Make sure to start the knight and pawn on opposite colors and let the knight move fi rst or the exercise will be impossible! The knight can reach the pawn in 3 moves. e2 or d5 must be the fi rst moves. If the pawn is allowed to move, the knight can capture it on the second move after moving to e4. 3 Practice & Review The Peasants Revolt The Peasant s Revolt Pairs Activity Refresher The Peasant s Revolt introduces the King, Pawn, and Knight together in one exercise. The students may need to be refreshed on king and pawn movements, especially the rule of check. Set-Up Have the students trade knights with a neighbor so that one set has 4 white knights, and the other has 4 black knights. Homeroom Chess - Teacher s Lesson Guide 44

5 Starting Out Set the starting position for The Peasants Revolt on the demonstration board. Refer the students to the demonstration board to start the game. Let the students play at least two games, one per side. Object of the Game The knights win if all of the pawns are captured. The peasants win if any pawn safely promotes. Historic Reference In June of 1381, an army of peasants marched from Kent and Essex to London, unhappy about a new tax that the 14 year old Richard II had instated. They did something there that no one had done before, or since. They captured the tower of London. This exercise is named after that feat. After the players trade a pair of knights with their neighbor, one game will have four black knights, and the other will have four white knights. 45