Many of my opponents seem to be eager to change their knights against my bishops in the opening. Because they are so persistent in it, it ewokes the feeling, a bishop might be slightly more worth than a knight. Is that so?
Yes, a bishop is slightly more worth than a knight.
AlphaZero values a bishop at 3.33 pawn and a knight at 3.05.
thanks
Consistency beats power; power beats versatility. By focusing all of its efforts on one color complex, the Bishop maximizes its efficiency, so it takes power. Since the Bishop is faster, it takes consistency. Since the Knight can touch both colors, it takes versatility.
In speed chess I prefer knights over bishops. They are more complex to the lower rated players and cause more surprises. In slow chess it's the war of the minor pieces. So you want to capture a bishop in the opening and then take advantage of that colour advantage that you gained.
The key is to make the exchange because you understand the resulting position, rather than because capturing a bishop is inherently desirable.
"... Pachman, in his classic work Modern Chess Strategy, devotes about twenty-seven pages to the 'Minor Pieces,' where he discusses such topics as good and bad bishops, the importance of a well-posted knight, the two bishops, etc. He also offers clear examples of bishop versus knight endings, showing the superiority of one piece versus the other.
Euwe and Kramer in their two-volume set The Middle Game include three chapters and about twenty-five pages on the study of the bishop and knight. Similar to Pachman, they discuss the active bishop, as well as the good and bad bishop, and that bishops like open positions and knights generally do best in closed games. They also offer an interesting theory about knights: a knight on the sixth rank is usually a winning advantage; on the fifth rank, it offers good attacking chances and on the fourth rank, it offers good prospects for eventual attack but also serves a defensive role. They assess the two bishops as clearly stronger than bishop and knight or two knights in the endgame, but suggest that prior middlegame positions may not be so easily assessed. ..." - Glenn Budzinski (1998)
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708111530/http://www.chesscafe.com/text/bvkt.pdf
"... Bishop 3 points (plus a teensy bit more) ...
... The bishop can zoom across the board, so it likes positions where the pawns do not get in the way of its diagonals. The knight likes to find a secure square it can sit on that's in the middle of the action; its leaping ability means the knight is not hampered by the presence of other pieces. ... In the long run, pawns tend to get exchanged, so it's not a bad bet that the bishop will become more powerful toward the end of the game. ... whether the bishop or the knight is really the better piece in any particular position is usually more important than the long-term tendency ...
... For now, consider them of about equal worth. ..."
About 115 pages later:
"... Many positions are equally suited for the bishop or the knight, but some positions definitely favor one or the other. ..."
[Event "St. Petersburg"] [Date "1909.03.09"] [Result "1-0"] [White "Emanuel Lasker"] [Black "Erich Cohn"] 1 e4 e5 2 Nf3 Nc6 3 Bb5 Nf6 4 O-O Be7 5 Nc3 d6 6 d4 Bd7 7 Bg5 exd4 8 Nxd4 O-O 9 Bxc6 bxc6 10 Qd3 Ng4 11 Bxe7 Qxe7 12 Rae1 Qh4 13 Nf3 Qh5 14 h3 Ne5 15 Nxe5 Qxe5 16 f4 Qc5+ 17 Kh2 Be6 18 b3 f5 19 e5 d5
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1380182
"... an example of a position that clearly favors the knight. ...
... In positions where the knight is stronger than the bishop, it is common for the knight to sit securely on a square of the opposite color of the enemy bishop. ... Closed positions often favor the knight over the bishop. When the center is clear of pawns and the knight lacks any strong squares to settle on, the bishop tends to be the stronger piece. ..." - Learn to Play Chess Like a Boss (2019) by GM Patrick Wolff
"... The Amateur's Mind ... (for players 1000 to 1600) ..." - IM Jeremy Silman (2010)
https://www.silmanjamespress.com/shop/chess/amateurs-mind-the-2nd-edition/
There are about fifty pages on knights and bishops.
"... The Amateur’s Mind ... is one of the best instructive books in print. ..." - Taylor Kingston
https://web.archive.org/web/20140708094419/https://www.chesscafe.com/text/ammind.pdf
@GarbageParty said [^](/forum/redirect/post/0KQAsacf)
> Many of my opponents seem to be eager to change their knights against my bishops in the opening. Because they are so persistent in it, it ewokes the feeling, a bishop might be slightly more worth than a knight. Is that so?
it depends if the position is open (bishops are better) or closed (knights are better)
(@)CheckmateKevin: And it depends on the position if a Queen is better than a Pawn.
@shadow1414 said [^](/forum/redirect/post/5vfmqUgp)
> (@)CheckmateKevin: And it depends on the position if a Queen is better than a Pawn.
A queen is ALWAYS better than a pawn gng, wdym lol
Larsen said he often traded bishop for knight against weaker players. They'd overestimate the piece value and not take into account the knight's capabilities.