Knights on e6 are good for black?

I don't know if it's just me, but in a lot of top games I see that in a lot of games that black wins (at the top level), they got their knight to e6 at some point. Does anyone else notice it?

Sounds like selective or imaginary thinking.  This is all I could come up with for Ne6 http://www.chess.com/forum/view/chess-openings/1-d4-2-ne6

None of the games I have, including the latest stockfish and komodo games even had a N on e6.

Maybe you are thinking Nf6

Now,it really depends whether your knight on e6 is great or not.The knight on e6 is generally placed there so that it can control the f4 and d4 squares(of course in the middlegame).If your opponent has a pawn on e3,then keeping the knight can be useless.But, in some specific positions,it might do an active work like preventing the opponent's f-pawn on coming to f4(the same with the d-pawn).It might also clear Black's f-file to play f5 himself followed by f4,etc.

The title says "Knights on e6 are good for black?".

How can you have both knights on e6? There could only be one knight on a square at a time.

yes and pawns on d4 are good for white.

he could mean either knight K-N or Q-N good for black?

I don't think it has to imply both knights on e6. "knights" can just mean any knight in the group of knights (black ones in this case I'm assuming). If someone said "people can use this public bathroom" it doesn't mean that more than one person must be using it at any one time.

As to the OP, haha, pretty general question :) I think a lot of times a knight is good on e6 for black; one of the drawbacks to the square is that it's often hard for black to maneuver a piece there; it can be time consuming. But it all really depends. Sometimes a knight on e6 will just get in the way of other pieces on the e file. Other times it'll be useful to eye outposts on d4 or f4. You just have to see if it fits in with your plans.

I do think that, especially with knights, it's a good idea to think of possible squares your knights will want to go -- even if you can't see immediately how to get one there within the next one or two moves. Sometimes we only look at where a knight can go in the very near future, and so we forget about good long term squares for them that better fit your plans.

Thanks! I think that they're good defensive pieces, and it's just a pattern I see in a lot of top players' games. knights on f6 are too common and therefore not interesting 

GrandMasters say if your opponent has a knight on f8 you will never get mate.

I have never heard of a knight on e6 being good. However a knight on f8/f1 is considered good defensively. The knight on f8 or f1 defends the h1 or h8 pawn. Which can prevent a checkmate on that square.

It also can act like a shield by going in front of your king to the g3 or g6 square.

I think the answer here is that top level games often feature very precise knight maneuvering - I spent a few months going through Petrosian's games, trying to figure out his moves without looking at them, and was constantly baffled by his surgical movement of knights....just circling them around for 3 consecutive moves until they land on some seemingly random square that turns out perfect once you re-evaluate the position. 

This may just be my patzer-ness sticking out - maybe a better class player would spot Petrosian's knight movements in a second - but I have to think that even A players don't have *that* precise a vision when it comes to getting their horsies to the right square.