Never retreat your knight in a fight

I've heard this adage.
Is it a rule which should always be followed?
Is it a rule with lot's of exceptions?(I know most of them are)
I'm sure some of you "chessxperts" have an opinion.

Originally posted by venda
I've heard this adage.
Is it a rule which should always be followed?
Is it a rule with lot's of exceptions?(I know most of them are)
I'm sure some of you "chessxperts" have an opinion.

I have not heard this one and I have played chess for 25 years.

I don't trust this one. There have got to be positions where the best move is a N retreat even while "fighting".

You mean like this?


Nb1!

Originally posted by venda
I've heard this adage.
Is it a rule which should always be followed?
Is it a rule with lot's of exceptions?(I know most of them are)
I'm sure some of you "chessxperts" have an opinion.

JMHO- There are too many exceptions to this statement for it to make any sense.

Originally posted by bill718
JMHO- There are too many exceptions to this statement for it to make any sense.

I agree.
Must've read it somewhere but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either
It's also supposed to be bad to put your knight on the side of the board , but in some situations I find it's a good move.

Originally posted by venda
I agree.
Must've read it somewhere but it doesn't make a lot of sense to me either
It's also supposed to be bad to put your knight on the side of the board , but in some situations I find it's a good move.

It can be a bad idea to play the knight to g5, have one's opponent play h6 and have nothing better to do than put it back on f3. I think the expression is warning against that kind of loss of initiative.

Bad boxing advice transcribed into zen chess pearl?

Was it Tarrasch or Keres that liked moving a knight back to bring a pawn forward to use the pawn as a post for the knight? If I not wrong, I read something like that.

Originally posted by venda
I've heard this adage.
Is it a rule which should always be followed?
Is it a rule with lot's of exceptions?(I know most of them are)
I'm sure some of you "chessxperts" have an opinion.

Down material in blitz it is always a good idea to keep a
knight active and attacking - just for all the tricks.

In correspondence or OTB I would say it is not good advice.
Just play the best move (chess is such an easy game.)

If you follow GP's advice you never face your knight forward.

Face your knight backwards, it makes it look like a bishop!

Originally posted by KingOnPoint
Was it Tarrasch or Keres that liked moving a knight back to bring a pawn forward to use the pawn as a post for the knight? If I not wrong, I read something like that.

You're probably thinking of Tarrasch - see the "Steinitz Square" article by IM Larry D. Evans at http://chesscamp.net/tutorials/articles.htm