@spandan06 said in #1:
> Hello Friends and Respected Elders,
> I guess this question is stored in one corner of many of our brains. There are some people who nonchalantly say that the question does not deserve nay attention at all. Some others say that knights are better in closed positions while bishops are better in open positions. This is right in most cases but I feel that the fact is not so simple as it sounds. I feel it depends more on the players' style of playing, own strengths and weaknesses than anything else. What do you guys think?
Bishop.
knights are good for blocing passed pawns though
Basically, I feel it also depends on the pawn structure. For example when we have successfully created a light-squared pawn complex, I think we can give our light-squared bishop for opponent's knight. But we have also come across certain positions where even in the endgame a knight acts better than the opponent's bishop. Though that's quite rare, that is not impossible. So I think a detailed study should include these points:
1. A bishop is a long range piece, so we must keep it till the end as in the endgame a knight is nothing when compared to the bishops.
2. However, if you are already ahead in material, you should not mind giving away your bishop for a knight.
3. A knight is easier to trap because it is a short range piece.
4. However, a bishop is easier to block as it can access only a certain color of squares (either light squares or dark squares) that too diagonally. Unlike a knight, it can't jump over pieces.
5. It is very difficult to expel a knight from a square once it reaches the sixth rank(if it is white knight) or the third rank(if it is a black knight).
6. When both players have queens only, one may want to keep the knight on board because the knight coordinates better with the queen.
This topic is perhaps the most debated and the most complex topic in chess. Though I don't know much, I believe that everything depends upon the position and the players sitting on the two ends of the board. It is easier to analyze later but much harder to apply the knowledge while playing.
i think bishop but knights are also very powerful pieces thats why they gave both of them 3 points i guess
As a general rule of thumb, Knights are better in closed positions, and Bishops are better in open ones. Bishops are usually considered slightly better than Knights because they move faster, and you can force mate with 2 Bishops and the lone King vs opponent's lone King; something you cannot force with 2 Knights.
i feel against worse opponents and in faster games knights are better because it is harder to visulise the moves they have and the forks they do are more threatening,
@spandan06 remember bishops can dominate knights.
