Pawn Structure vs. Bishop for Knight

Hello by the way, my name is (look at name) and I'm no pro at chess but I'm getting more and more into it and figured I would find a nice site with other chess people, to help build my game.

Anyways, sometimes In the beggining of a game, I will see a chance to kill a knight with my bishop (often from a fianchette [SP?]). I am aware (from reading up on websites and a few good books, one of which was by Capablanka) that in general, bishops are more valuable than knights and to make such an exchange is unorthadox. However, much of the time this exchange forces my opponent to capture my bishop with a pawn, which in turn gives them some doubled pawns, which is generaly a bad thing. Is it a good idea for me to exchange like this? Why or why not?

Thanks a lot

Originally posted by DanFaggella
Hello by the way, my name is (look at name) and I'm no pro at chess but I'm getting more and more into it and figured I would find a nice site with other chess people, to help build my game.

Anyways, sometimes In the beggining of a game, I will see a chance to kill a knight with my bishop (often from a fianchette [SP?]). I am aware (from reading up ...[text shortened]... aly a bad thing. Is it a good idea for me to exchange like this? Why or why not?

Thanks a lot

It depends on the situation. If it doubles the kingside pawns, and he's likely to castle kingside, it's usually a good idea. If it doubles the queenside pawns, you have to ask yourself if he has a reasonable chance of undoubling.

Also perform the exchange if it'll win your some material of course.

If the bishop you have to use is fianchetto and defending your king then you really got to think of it. Losing that bishop would leave weak squares around your king which can be deadly.

yeah. its often bad idea. And doubled pawns (unless they are also isolated) are not always weaknesses so it really depends.

the fianchettoed bishop is usually the best piece in your position, i think its 90% of the time not a good idea to trade it off. as for doubled pawns, they are actually not bad sometimes. for example if you double your opponents pawns, then now he has an open file to place his rooks on. if he does put his rook on the b-file, for example, then his position with the powerful rook is probably better than yours. i would advise to only give up that fianchettoed bishop for a definite advantage, for even in the endgame that bishop will be better than the knight, (again usually)