even if a position similar to Diagram 13 is arrived at, in which
the King can be driven into the corner, the Knight who prevents
the King from escaping is never ready to give the checkmate, and
in order to prevent a stalemate the other Knight would have to
let the King out of the corner again. If Black had a spare move,
for instance if he had a Pawn left, then White would win. (1) Kt-
a6, K-a8; (2) Kt-e8, Pawn moves; (3) Kt-c7 mate.



RELATIVE VALUE OF THE MEN



From the foregoing examples it is possible to form a vague idea
of the strength of the different pieces. The Queen is apparently
the strongest piece. On account of her superior mobility she can
confine the hostile King with a few moves and force him into a
mating net. Of the other pieces the Rook is no doubt the
strongest for he is sufficient to force a mate in conjunction
with his own King, while Bishop or Knight cannot do so. Two
Bishops apparently are stronger than two Knights, while it is not
possible yet to say anything about the relative value of one
Bishop and one Knight.

The above valuation, however, holds good only on the
comparatively vacant board, where the pieces can make full use of
their mobility. It is the mobility alone which decides the value
of a man, and positions often occur in which a Knight is more
valuable than a Rook or in which a Pawn might be preferable to a