![Chess Lessons Exposed: A Tale Of 3 Offside Knights](https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/article/16108.052bed29.668x375o.46cc6403555c@2x.jpeg)
Chess Lessons Exposed: A Tale Of 3 Offside Knights
This series is about chess lessons and how a chess teacher tries to push key points home.
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Test 1
5...a6 and 5...Nc6 and 5...Nf6 and 5...d6 are common, but I’ve never seen 5...Nh6 before. What would be your thoughts after seeing 5...Nh6? What are its plusses and minuses?
Test 2
After 5...Nh6 White didn’t play 6.d4. Instead she just developed, which I think would be the choice of many players (masters included):
Now it’s time for your homework. Assess this position, and then assess the positions after both 11.Qxd7 (greed) and 11.Ba3 (weakening d6).
![](https://images.chesscomfiles.com/uploads/v1/images_users/tiny_mce/pete/phpXHRvig.jpeg)
Answer to Test 1
Offside knight one (h6)
An odd-looking move, but “odd” doesn’t necessarily mean “bad.” The fact that a grandmaster played it forces one to give it respect. But how much respect? My thoughts would go like this:
- Black has to be careful that this knight isn’t stranded on the side. If I were White, I would do my best to keep it there since, while it’s on h6 it won’t be able to work together with the rest of its army.
- The knight has three possible futures: 1) An eventual ...f7-f5, and if the pawn is captured (exf5) then ...Nxf5 turns the offside knight into a very well-placed piece. 2) ...Ng4, but at the moment that’s ludicrous since the knight would be chased to f6, a square that could have been reached in one move instead of three. 3) ...f7-f6 followed by ...Nf7. That makes sense since the f6-pawn blocks the a1-h8 diagonal while the knight on f7 hits key squares on d6 and e5.
- It’s now clear that ...Nh6 gives Black some interesting options, so quiet developing moves probably won’t offer White much.
After churning those things in my mind, I would have played:
Moves like Bc4 or Qc4 with Nd4 following turns e6 into a bullseye target.
Also note that, thanks to the opening of the center, ...f7-f5 also weakens Black’s central pawn structure:
Answer to Test 2
Offside knight two (a6)
Offside knight three (a3)