Today we learn about two pieces that work differently from all others: the knight and the pawn. When you understand these two, you will have overcome one of the biggest beginner blocks.
✅ What you will achieve today
- Clearly understand how the knight moves.
- Clearly understand how the pawn moves and captures.
- Know why these two pieces are "different."
- Avoid very common mistakes from the start.
1) The Knight: the only piece that jumps
The knight is special for two reasons: it does not move in a straight line and it can jump over other pieces.
Knight's move: it makes an "L" shape. Two squares in one direction (horizontal or vertical) and then one square perpendicularly.
It doesn't matter if there are pieces in the way: the knight jumps over them. This makes it a very tactical piece.
Typical mistake: thinking that the knight moves diagonally or in a straight line. If there's no way to draw an "L," the move is not legal.
2) The Pawn: moves one way and captures another
The pawn seems simple, but it has its own rules. It's the only piece that doesn't capture the way it moves.
Pawn's movement
- It moves forward.
- It usually moves 1 square.
- On its first move, it can advance 2 squares.
Pawn's capture
- The pawn captures diagonally.
- It never captures straight forward.
Easy summary: the pawn walks straight, but fights diagonally.
The pawn can advance two squares only on its first move.
After that, it always moves one square at a time.
Typical mistake: trying to capture straight with the pawn. This is not legal in chess.
3) Today's Mini-Mission (5 minutes)
- Place a knight on d4.
- Try to find all 8 squares it can move to.
- Now place a white pawn on e2.
- Move it one square once and two squares another time (if it's its first move).
- Place an enemy piece diagonally and check how it captures.
4) Next Lesson
In Lesson 5 you will play your first guided mini-game, using all the pieces you already know.
There will be no new theory, just real gameplay and a checklist to avoid giving away pieces.
Note: in this chapter we are still not using the notebook. The notebook will appear later, when we explain complete games or sequences of moves.