bishop or knight?

Originally posted by Bedlam
Nope, Im only pointing out that saying "I have a closed position lets trade my knights for their bishops" needs to be looked at deeper. Iv seen a lot of players swap off bishops for knights and vice versa without really considering how the game would develop only realising that in the static position that one piece is stronger.
Taimanov was a very strong pl ...[text shortened]... .

I totally agree in closed positions the bishops chances to dominate the knight are slim.

Only I would like to add that result of Fischer-Taimanov match in 1971 was 6:0. So Fischer played obviously a level higher than Taimanov then.

In my opinion I think deciding that a bishop is better then a knight or vice versa, is a weakness. Their worth should be completely based on how much they contibute to your attack/defence/plan. I think is a very common problem where low rated players go "die hard" to get the bishop pair even when it leads to a worse position. Or they break their own pins just because they don't like their opponents knights.

Originally posted by Korch
Only I would like to add that result of Fischer-Taimanov match in 1971 was 6:0. So Fischer played obviously a level higher than Taimanov then.

Yes, I think one other game from that match was Fischers bishop vs Taimanov's knight but I cant remember what the position was that it arose from, id have to check the games.

Edit: I just remembered another Fischer game, I cant remember the second player but Fischer was white and exchanged an AMAZING knight for a pretty bad bishop, everyone at the time was like wtf and claimed it was a bad move but it bore out in analysis as a good move. I'll have to look that game up and post it here too.

Originally posted by KnightStalker47
In my opinion I think deciding that a bishop is better then a knight or vice versa, is a weakness. Their worth should be completely based on how much they contibute to your attack/defence/plan. I think is a very common problem where low rated players go "die hard" to get the bishop pair even when it leads to a worse position. Or they break their own pins just because they don't like their opponents knights.

Well said. Rec`ed

I'm a mediocre chess player so my opinion probably goes for naught, but I've always thought, if you lose one knight, the surviving knight can in theory still reach every space on the board. Whereas if you lose one bishop, your chances of covering that colour's diagonals are gone forever (except with the queen, of course).

So all other things being equal, I'd sacrifice a knight for a bishop on that basis.

Originally posted by Bedlam
Yes, I think one other game from that match was Fischers bishop vs Taimanov's knight but I cant remember what the position was that it arose from, id have to check the games.

Edit: I just remembered another Fischer game, I cant remember the second player but Fischer was white and exchanged an AMAZING knight for a pretty bad bishop, everyone at the time was ...[text shortened]... t it bore out in analysis as a good move. I'll have to look that game up and post it here too.

the game was against Petrosian, Fischer, (peace be upon him), exchanged an active knight for a 'bad bishop' near the end, everyone one at the time thought it was a mistake, however Fischer realised that it was this 'bad bishop', that was holding Petrosians game together, thus after exchanging, Petrosians game fell apart, for if my memory serves me correctly Fischer was then able to invade with a rook or rooks, cannae quite remember. 😀

Originally posted by Teinosuke
I'm a mediocre chess player so my opinion probably goes for naught, but I've always thought, if you lose one knight, the surviving knight can in theory still reach every space on the board. Whereas if you lose one bishop, your chances of covering that colour's diagonals are gone forever (except with the queen, of course).

So all other things being equal, I'd sacrifice a knight for a bishop on that basis.

It's a fair way to reason and thinking for yourself is a good trait to have for chess.

However, you show grow your understanding by looking at endgame books where they highlight examples of "knight is better" or "bishop is better". You'll see that your reasoning applies to some extent but that other factors play a part too, and sometimes a more significant part. That's chess... continually refining our understanding...

if one exchanges a bishop for a knight, surely one must realise that you will have weakness on that particular colour all over the board, whether this is a disadvantage or otherwise may be determined from your strategic aims, conversely the squares that the knight was controlling. ie. the opposite colour to which it was standing on will also become weakened when exchanged, whether this is advantageous or not also depends on your strategic aims. to say one is better than the other is with out reference in the abstract almost impossible. 😀

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
the game was against Petrosian, Fischer, (peace be upon him), exchanged an active knight for a 'bad bishop' near the end, everyone one at the time thought it was a mistake, however Fischer realised that it was this 'bad bishop', that was holding Petrosians game together, thus after exchanging, Petrosians game fell apart, for if my memory serves me correctly Fischer was then able to invade with a rook or rooks, cannae quite remember. 😀

That was it. I remember analysising the game and I could see that the bishop would go to b5 and become a bit of a problem for white, but the move I played (going through the game move by move with the notation hidden) was a4. It really hadnt occured to me to exhange the knight for bishop which after you see it is clearly the best move.

Originally posted by ivan2908
And 100000000 other threads on this subject. It depends on the position, open, closed bla bla bla................. blaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa....

I prefer queen. She's hotter then fat bishop and I am not too much into animals 😛

Let's see here. How can we be sure that the queen is female and the king is male? Well, turn it over and have a peek! It's like a cat. Lift its tail and have a look.
I just checked my set, and yep, my king's a he and my queen's a she! My knights, however, are geldings! 🙄