1. Joined
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    18 Jan '08 18:50
    Is it worth exchanging a knight and a bishop for a rook in the opening couple of moves in a game? Im still trying various openings and am not entirely sure of the wisdom of this. Any ideas?
  2. Standard memberyouwillfall
    Worlds Worst Speler
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    18 Jan '08 18:51
    Originally posted by 29inchlegs
    Is it worth exchanging a knight and a bishop for a rook in the opening couple of moves in a game? Im still trying various openings and am not entirely sure of the wisdom of this. Any ideas?
    ive generaly been told keep the knight and the bishop cause 2 peices are better than one espesialy during the begginging of the game.. but at the end depending on the situation i would do it..
  3. 127.0.0.1
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    18 Jan '08 18:54
    There are very few cases where I would do that. Including the endgame.
  4. Joined
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    18 Jan '08 19:001 edit
    Not really good imo. You're giving up two pieces for one piece as someone stated earlier


    Besides in general a Rook is worth about 5 pawns, and a Bishop or a Knight are worth about 3. So if you give up a Knight and Bishop for a Rook then basically you are losing a pawn.

    But sometimes it's good to exchange, because sometimes your opponent's Rook maybe very active and/or dangerous.
  5. Joined
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    18 Jan '08 19:00
    Even worse in the opening than any other time I'd say as loads of pawns on the board and few open files so the rooks are at their least effective.
  6. Joined
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    18 Jan '08 19:12
    You're not just giving up two pieces for a rook which is wrong in itself in most cases, but you're giving him at least two extra moves.
  7. Joined
    13 Jan '08
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    18 Jan '08 20:06
    Exchanging a bishop and knight for a rook is usually a bad idea. Such as 0-0 Bxf2 gives White so much of an advantage.
  8. Standard memberduecer
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    18 Jan '08 20:08
    knight and bishop are valued at 3 or 3.5 points apiece (depending on who you ask), and a rook is worth 5. I wouldn't unless I was forcing mate.
  9. Standard memberivan2908
    SelfProclaimedTitler
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    18 Jan '08 20:12
    Originally posted by 29inchlegs
    Is it worth exchanging a knight and a bishop for a rook in the opening couple of moves in a game? Im still trying various openings and am not entirely sure of the wisdom of this. Any ideas?
    The better you get, the better you coordinate your pieces to work well together. So I think usual two pieces are better then rook by far. Especially in the early stages of the game, when open files cannot be created and your rook is waiting on h1 20 more moves to get into the game.
  10. Standard memberivan2908
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    18 Jan '08 20:141 edit
    Originally posted by duecer
    knight and bishop are valued at 3 or 3.5 points apiece (depending on who you ask), and a rook is worth 5. I wouldn't unless I was forcing mate.
    3 for piece. But it is not only about the material. Particular position is important. Strong knight centralized on fifth or sixth rank can be far stronger than inactive, useless rook, alone.
  11. Standard memberArrakis
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    18 Jan '08 20:16
    Originally posted by 29inchlegs
    Is it worth exchanging a knight and a bishop for a rook in the opening couple of moves in a game? Im still trying various openings and am not entirely sure of the wisdom of this. Any ideas?
    It's not recommended in the opening unless it gives you a substantial attack. When making such decisions in the middlegame and/or endgame one must take into account the pawn formation as well as the weaknesses created. Hence there is no rule that you can apply that will state 'never do it'.

    Keep in mind that a king & knight (or a king and bishop) draw against a king and rook when there are no pawns on the board.
    When you add pawns then every 'rule' goes out the window and each position has to be individually analyzed.
  12. Standard memberDragon Fire
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    18 Jan '08 20:33
    Originally posted by 29inchlegs
    Is it worth exchanging a knight and a bishop for a rook in the opening couple of moves in a game? Im still trying various openings and am not entirely sure of the wisdom of this. Any ideas?
    As always it depends on the position but all other things being equal a Knight and a Bishop are stronger than a Rook so generally it would be good to swop off a Rook for them.

    Unless I have strong positional reasons I would never make such an exchange and I would even hesitate swopping off a N & B for a R & P. 2 pieces are usually much better than 1, but unless it would put me into a worse position a swop of N & B for R & 2Ps would almost certainly be worth doing.
  13. Joined
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    19 Jan '08 06:03
    Also, winning the exchange is often highly over-rated in my opinion.
    Especially if you're trading off an active knight or good bishop for their inactive rook. I'd say that often "winning" the exchange is about equal.

    Therefore I reckon 9 times out of 10 trading both a N & B for R is bad news.
  14. Standard memberwittywonka
    Chocolate Expert
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    19 Jan '08 08:581 edit
    As everyone else has pretty much said, in the opening and middlegame especially, it is almost always not worth trading your bishop and knight for your opponent's rook (and pawn), mainly because the bishop and knight are almost always more active and better placed.

    Have a look at Game 4317570, for example. My opponent traded two of his pieces, which could have helped defend against my advance on the queenside, for my rook and pawn on the kingside, which were not participating in the attack at all.
  15. Joined
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    19 Jan '08 09:04
    Originally posted by wittywonka
    As everyone else has pretty much said, in the opening and middlegame especially, it is almost always not worth trading your bishop and knight for your opponent's rook (and pawn), mainly because the bishop and knight are almost always more active and better placed.

    Have a look at Game 4317570, for example. My opponent traded two of his pieces, wh ...[text shortened]... nside, for my rook and pawn on the kingside, which were not participating in the attack at all.
    I really think that you were winning before he did that...but it was still instructive 🙂
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