Bishop v Knight:
Part of the Advanced Beginner's Chess Guide (Section 1)
Bishop v Knight
- Point Count Chess: Bishop v Knight [+];
You only count the advantage for a Bishop v. Knight when there's just one Bishop in one army and just one Knight in the opposing army (Diagram 1).
Diagram 1: White's Bishop v Black's Knight;
White gets the Plus point advantage.
However, Bishops don't always have the advantage over Knights ... As always, it depends on the situation:
On an Open Board, the Bishop usually has superiority over a Knight, due to the former being able to quickly travel from one side of the board to the other, in one move (albeit along its diagonal of coloured squares). Even when retreating, the Bishop can still maintain an attack.
On a Closed Board, it's the Knight that is usually superior to the Bishop, since its mobility isn't hampered by an object on adjacent squares - the Knight can simply jump over the obstruction, either to continue its offensive duties, or to evade capture. The other advantage of the Knight is that it's not restricted to one colour of squares, unlike the Bishop.
Point Count Chess (Horowitz & Mott-Smith, 1960)
- The Triumph of the Bishop
- The Triumph of the Knight
Point Count Chess (Horowitz & Mott-Smith, 1960)
- Minor Pieces, (p199)
- Triumph of the Bishop, (p200)
- Triumph of the Knight, (p201)
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