Checkmate with two knights
Checkmate With Two Knights
Undoubtedly, the knight is one of the coolest pieces in chess (I mean, it's a tiny horse!). But can two knights checkmate a king? Well, it depends.
Here's what you need to know about checkmating with two knights:
Can You Checkmate With Two Knights?
Checkmating With Two Knights And An Enemy Pawn
Conclusion
Can You Checkmate With Two Knights?
Delivering a checkmate using nothing but two knights is impossible in chess. This might be confusing because, if you think about it, you can actually come up with a position where two knights would seemingly deliver checkmate:
This would be checkmate, but it's actually impossible to get to this position.
However, it's impossible to reach this position in a real game. Because of the stalemate rule, there's no way to position the knights and king to checkmate the opponent without drawing the game first.
1. c3+
a1
White needs to take the d3-knight to the c2-square, but it's impossible to do it without stalemating the black king.2. e1
1/2-1/2
However, there is a way to checkmate your opponent when you only have two knights. Oddly enough, this is only possible when your opponent has some material left on the board—specifically, a pawn.
Checkmating With Two Knights And An Enemy Pawn
The only way to deliver a checkmate with two knights is if the opponent also has a pawn on the board. If that pawn is not too advanced, checkmate might be possible. This happens because the attacking player can trap the enemy king, leaving it with no moves. Since the pawn can still move, there's no stalemate.
Delivering that checkmate is extremely difficult. To do it, you must block the enemy pawn with a knight and force the enemy king close to one of the board's edges. Once the enemy king is close to both one of the corners and the knight blocking the pawn, you can include that knight in the attack. With the king and both knights, you must force the opponent's king into one of the corners and leave it with no legal moves. Finally, you must maneuver one of the knights to deliver checkmate while your opponent moves their pawn.
1. g6
--
White blocks the enemy pawn. Now, White must force the opponent to move their king close to one of the edges while still keeping it close enough to the g6-knight.1.-- d7
2. e2
e6
3. ef4+
f5
4. d2
f6
5. c3
g5
6. d3
f5
7. d4
g4
8. e6
f5
9. ef8
g4
10. e3
f5
11. f3
g5
12. e4
g4
13. e6
g3
14. g5
g4
15. f3
g3
16. fe5
f2
17. d3
f1
18. e3
e1
19. f3+
d1
20. d3
c1
21. g5
b2
22. e5
b3
23. c6
b2
24. d4
a3
25. c3
a4
26. c4
a5
27. c2
a6
28. b4
b6
29. d4
a6
30. c5
a5
31. b3+
a4
32. c4
a3
33. c5
--
With the knight on c5, White is blocking Black's access to the top of the board.33.-- b2
34. d3
c1
35. a4
d1
36. f3
--
The knight blocking the pawn is finally close enough to the king, so Black won't have time to march with their pawn.36.-- c1
36... g5
37. b2+
c1
38. c3
g4
39. e1
b1
40. bd3
g3
41. g2
a1
42. b4
a2
43. a4
a1
44. a3
b1
45. b3
a1
46. ge1
g2
47. c2+
b1
48. a3+
a1
49. e1
g1=Q
50. ec2#
37. b6
d1
38. c4
c1
39. d4
d1
40. c2
c1
41. 2e3
b1
42. d2
a2
43. c2
a1
44. d1
a2
45. c3+
a1
White traps the black king. This would be a stalemate if it wasn't for Black's pawn on g7. Now, White needs to maneuver the c4-knight to deliver checkmate.46. b2
g6
47. bd1
g5
48. e3
g4
49. b3
--
Still keeping the black king under lock and key.49.--g3
50. c2#
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