Knight's Tour Solver

Knight's Tour Solver — Step by Step

Choose the board and goal, then place the start, the stars (in order) and any blocked squares. Press Solve. Or play a generated puzzle and send it here with one click.

Knight's Tour Solver: rules, how to use it, tips

Move the knight in its L-shaped jump to reach the targets — or visit every square of the board exactly once.

The rules

The knight moves two squares in one direction (up, down, left or right) and then one square at a right angle — an L-shape. It jumps over anything in between.
It must stay on the board and cannot land on a blocked square.
Goals: collect every star (any order or in number order), do it within a move limit or in the fewest moves, come back to the start, or visit every open square once (a tour). A closed tour ends back on the start square.
In star goals you may land on a square more than once; in tours you may not.

Using the solver

Choose the goal and board, then click to place the start, stars and blocked squares (or press Sample).
Press Solve for the shortest route through the stars — or, for tours, a route that visits every square — and step through it.

Tips

Count the jumps. Two squares that touch diagonally are two knight moves apart; squares next to each other are three.
Warnsdorff's rule. For a tour, move to the square with the fewest onward moves. Corners and edges first — leave the middle for later.
Colours alternate. Every knight move changes square colour, so after an odd number of moves you are always on the other colour.
Plan the order. With several stars, the order you collect them in matters more than any single move.

The full guide, with a worked example and common mistakes: How to play Knight's Tour.

Questions

Do I need to know chess?

No. The board shows every square the knight can reach from where it is.

Is there a tour on every board?

No — there is none on 4×4, and a closed tour needs an even number of squares, so the board choices change with the goal.

What are Movement Patterns?

The same idea with invented pieces — a frog, a robot, a rocket — each with its own move. Try Movement Patterns.