Understanding before Moving 15: Knight on the Rim

"A knight on the rim is dim" is a well-known statement by Dr. Tarrasch. Of course, this is not always true, but it is a fact that a knight at the edge of the board has less room to maneuver than a knight in the center.

Sometimes a player can take advantage of an offside piece if he is able to grab the initiative on the other side of the board. We are going to look at a famous example, in which Alexander Kotov put that principle into practice in a game against Mark Taimanov from 1953.

But first a little warm-up! In the diagram position White plays with two bishops against two knights. But the knights are on the rim, and White can catch them both!

This week's show (for Premium Members only)

Links

• More videos...
• Understanding before moving 1: How to design a concept in the opening
• Understanding before moving 2: How to improve the activity of my pieces
• Understanding before moving 3: Queen in the corner
• Understanding before moving 4: King in the box
• Understanding before moving 5: Locked up pieces
• Understanding before moving 6: Paralyzed
• Understanding before moving 7: Divided in two - Part 1
• Understanding before moving 8: Divided in two - Part 2
• Understanding before moving 9: Hunting the king - Part 1
• Understanding before moving 10: Hunting the king - Part 2
• Understanding before moving 11: Pattern Recognition
• Understanding before moving 12: Advantage in Development
• Understanding before moving 13: Compensation
• Understanding before moving 14: Smoking the king out
• Herman Grooten - An interview with a chess authority