Knight Sight: a board vision drill
A blocking piece guards part of the board. Walk your knight across every square it does not attack, from a8 to h1, and never land in its line of fire.
How it works
- Choose the blocker: a queen, rook, bishop or knight, or two rooks, two bishops or two knights.
- On the first two levels you place the blocker yourself, then start the countdown.
- Visit every safe square in order, left to right and top to bottom. Sliding pieces stop at the first piece in the way.
- Level 1 shades the attacked squares. Level 3 gives you a random blocker square each run.
What it trains
Seeing which squares a piece attacks, including where another piece blocks the line, is what stops you hanging pieces in real games. This drill makes you read attack lines before every jump.
Questions
Why does a rook stop at the other piece?
Rooks, bishops and queens cannot jump over pieces, so a second piece shortens the first one's line. The drill models that exactly.
What are the levels?
Level 1 shades the attacked squares and dots the safe moves. Level 2 removes those aids. Level 3 gives you a random blocker square each run.