Of course. The flip side is that if you are the checking player - you realize that next turn you just lose your queen to that knight...
Beginner tips and fundamentals
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HA! well said, sorry perhaps that was a bad example, but I assume you get the point. Neutral player pieces can also limit the available squares for the king you're checking.
another tip/fundamental: ganging up on an opponent is a bad idea if your attack comes first because the second player can attack and the second attack would checkmate and win points (first attack wins nothing). if your attack is second you would have to wait for another player to be first attack and win points. if you are the player who is going to be ganged up on, don't worry too much because the first attacker will face major consequences
May 13, 2020
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#25
A tip to gain a solid position: The opening choice of finachiettos are interesting (mind the spelling), because if your opponent moves his bishop away from the weak knight pawns leaving them unprotected, they can be big targets. Also finachiettoing your bishop can be beneficial when you want to deliver sneaky checkmates or attack from far. After all, bishops are best used when they are in long diagonals and the 4pc board is WIDE "open". Just look after your mighty bishop.
However, beware some uncommon situations when capturing the piece can lead both yourself and the attacked one to trouble. The player who lost a pawn can attack your bishop with his powerful bishop, forking it and your rook on the same diagonal. As a result the best move will be to capture the bishop and you lost a powerful bishop, plus you created a weakness with that finachietto square, making yourself slightly more vulnerable.
(*advanced*) What's interesting though is when two adjacent armies finachietto their bishops on the same diagonal. For example, i1-n6 (I mean the shorter ones, not the longer a11-k1 kind). If the one whose bishop is on the kingside castles kingside, the other player (queenside) can attack by pushing the m4 pawn forward. In this scenario, you can take (risky and opens a file towards the king), push forward or ignore. Ignoring (usually safer) gives the opponent two choices, ,take or push forward and controlling the knight's square. By pushing forward, the j3 pawn is not considered blocking the j4 pawn as you wouldn't want to capture with the j3 pawn and open that nasty file; by capturing on j3, the best is to recapture with the k2 pawn because you wouldn't want to open the j1-a10 diagonal for a potential nasty check from the left side.
Pushing forward? Well, it creates some weaknesses on that kingside and an odd shape. Then the green player can push the m5 pawn and attack that pawn. Not recommended!
For fun: I tried forced checkmates with fairy pieces and here are the fascinating forceable mates you can try out (excluding the obviously easy ones):
5 wazirs (use your king after decreasing the opponent king's available space!)
4 grasshoppers together in a 2*2 square (tedious)
hawk (tough, you might want to try out the bishop+knight mate ON 2 PLAYER BOARD first)
general (remember to use your "kings", "in general!")
3 knight-riders? (untested)
5 wildebeasts? (untested)
SUPER FUN: general VS elephant/hawk VS elephant (tougher)
An interesting twist in this game is that you can "use" enemy pieces to protect your pieces when delivering, for example, point blank checks. If your queen checks a king up close, and a different opponent has a knight "defending" your queen, the checked king can't take you (as he'd be taken by the knight). Doesn't come up often but I got hammered by it a few times.