The Jump Chess Move

In chess, the knight is the only piece that may jump pieces, provided that the destination square must be either empty or occupied by one of the opposing pieces.

The knight is considered to be one of the most unique chess pieces you have to play with. This horse-like piece can move in strange L shapes and is the only chess piece that is allowed to jump over other chess pieces according to official chess rules. The knight's movement is rather different from other pieces as it moves in an L shape; either 2 squares forward, backward, left, or right and then 1 square left or right. This special jumping feature can make the knight a very useful chess piece, especially at the start of the game.

The king has a small range of movement and may move only 1 square in any direction so long as it move doesn’t leave the moving side in check and the destination square isn’t currently occupied by a friendly piece. The king is not allowed to jump.

Although the queen is a lot more mobile, she may not jump any pieces like the knight piece can. However, she may slide any number of squares in any direction. The queen’s destination square can either be empty or occupied by one of the opponent’s piece. The move mustn’t leave the moving side’s King in check.

The rook has quite a wide range and may slide any number of squares either horizontally or vertically but may not jump pieces. As usual, the destination square must be either empty or occupied by an opposing piece. None of the rook’s moves must leave the moving side in check.

The bishop piece may slide any number of squares in a diagonal direction but may not jump pieces. The destination square must be empty or occupied by an opposing piece. The move must not leave the moving side in check.

The chess pawn is often in the line of fire because it may only move 1 square forward as long as its destination square is empty. The pawn may move 2 squares on its first move if there are 2 squares open, as pawns are also not allowed to jump over other pieces. The pawn can only capture a piece that is 1 square diagonally in front of it and the move mustn’t leave the moving side in check. One exception to the pawn moving rules is the en passant rule.

If you are looking for chess variant that allows for a bit more jumping, with pieces other than knights, you can always try jumping chess. In this variant, queens, rooks and bishops can choose to jump over one intervening chess piece of either color. Jumping Chess is a Chess Variant where captures are made by jumping over a piece, as in Checkers. The standard chess array is used, but in order to avoid many un-captured pieces at the edge of the board, 2 extra ranks and 2 extra files are added.