A knight is a piece in the game of chess. Each player starts the game with two knights. It moves in an L pattern, two squares in one direction then one square in another. It is the only piece in chess to be able to jump over other pieces. It is also the only piece that can be in position to attack a king, queen, bishop, or rook without also being attacked by that piece. Because of this, the knight plays forks well in a game of chess.