Upgrade to Chess.com Premium!

KNIGHTS ARE TOO UNDERVALUED


  • 14 months ago · Quote · #41

    ash369

    It's all very well to debate the value of this or that and each chess piece has long been given a mathematical value for comparison.  But once the game has commenced and you have a complex position this changes drastically. Any sacrifice is good if it works.  Sacrifice your queen if it leads to a winning position.  Sometimes manipulating the opponent's most effective piece so that it is sidelined or boxed in, making it ineffective -- is as good as winning it.  Pawns and even pieces of your opponent can sometimes be manipulated into a position that cramps his position.  A sacrifice might be worthwhile to achieve this.  Every game is different and the value of a knight, or any piece really depends on its position.  Haven't you often looked at the board and wished a piece of yours could vanish because it cramps your intended strategy?

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #42

    waffllemaster

    VULPES_VULPES wrote:
    pfren wrote:

    The actual title of the topic should rather be "when the OP is high on something evil".

    Excuse me, but your reasoning is totally ridiculous.

    Those reasons are perfectly valid.

    I just don't find knights as good as people claim it to be. I'm a bishop person, because open positions occur much more frequently than closed positions. In fact, I think knights are poor endgame pieces, as bishops dominate the open board with their long range. In addition, a bishop alone can trap a knight. 

    I find a bishop to be a positional piece, whilst a knight is a tactical piece. Considering those descriptions, I would almost always select bishops over knights in the opening and the endgame, because the bishop's long range easily contributes to kingside attacks, pawn massacres, and deadly pins and skewers.

    Replace the bishop with a knight, and your middlegame and endgame play would be significantly more difficult (in most situations).

    I just want people to acknowledge my reasons why I see knights as being on par in value with pawns.

    LaughingInnocent

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #43

    waffllemaster

     

    I hope to meet you in some tournaments soon Wink

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #44

    waffllemaster

    VULPES_VULPES wrote:
    Gamer2O12 wrote:

    Dude i could write you a million reasons why your reasoning is absurd. Give me 2 knights, 6 pawns a rook and a queen and i will win your 6p, 2B, 1Q, 1R easy, just because you wont understand what to do:) Even your material is slighty stronger...

    If you want one of the million reasons - knights can go back, pawns cant. And knight value is from 3 to 2.6 depending on a master who analizes. Theres a lot of books about it... Also for my knights ppl sacrifice rooks...:)

    Um... that's NOT what I meant. Knight can go backwards, sure, but the fact that pawns can eventually turn into queens compensates for their weakness. 

    By the way, you wouldn't take a heavily defended knight with a rook, nor would you take a heavily defended pawn, because they rarely pose a threat to me should my opponent possess one. 

    However, you sometimes need to sacrifice your rook for a heavily protected bishop, because it might be a big tactical or positional threat, or assisting in a checkmate. That, I can comprehend.

    Just so you know, exchange sacs for knights are much more common than exchange sacs for bishops.  In fact off the top of my head I don't know any line that contains a RxB sac but for example RxN is a thematic and common move in some Scicilian and French lines, and played at the highest level.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #45

    ash369

    Wafflemaster.  Sorry can't agree.  Bishops and knights have different characteristics and I think it is wrong to put one ahead of the other arbitarily.  For example two bishops at the end game are a powerful combination.  But a lone bishop is deprived of half of the squares on the board.  A lone knight is much more desirable than a lone bishop -- to me.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #46

    mrguy888

    ash369 wrote:

    Wafflemaster.  Sorry can't agree.  Bishops and knights have different characteristics and I think it is wrong to put one ahead of the other arbitarily.  For example two bishops at the end game are a powerful combination.  But a lone bishop is deprived of half of the squares on the board.  A lone knight is much more desirable than a lone bishop -- to me.

    But you don't with what or why...

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #47

    waffllemaster

    ash369 wrote:

    Wafflemaster.  Sorry can't agree.  Bishops and knights have different characteristics and I think it is wrong to put one ahead of the other arbitarily.  For example two bishops at the end game are a powerful combination.  But a lone bishop is deprived of half of the squares on the board.  A lone knight is much more desirable than a lone bishop -- to me.

    I wasn't arguing a point, I was giving information... there's nothing to debate because what I said is a fact.

    However you seem to misunderstand, I didn't say whether one was more valuable than the other.  Any half-serious player understands a piece has no value in a vacuum.  It's entirely dependant on the specific position where the piece exists and is evaluated primarily by mobility and threats on either king.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #48

    helltank

    Troll+hallucinogen=this thread 

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #49

    VULPES_VULPES

    ash369 wrote:

    Wafflemaster.  Sorry can't agree.  Bishops and knights have different characteristics and I think it is wrong to put one ahead of the other arbitarily.  For example two bishops at the end game are a powerful combination.  But a lone bishop is deprived of half of the squares on the board.  A lone knight is much more desirable than a lone bishop -- to me.

    Good point, which I have forgotten to make.

    Yes, bishops are much better group attackers than knights, who are better as solo attackers, are. It also depends on the target, but generally, group attackers beat isolated pieces and solo attackers beat scattered pieces.

    It is probably due to my playing style that has lead me to think that bishops are better than knights in general. 

    You can correct me if I'm wrong (and I probably am, circumstancially), but none of you have any reason to insult my way of reasoning and thinking.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #50

    xitvono

    while a single bishop can only reach half the squares on a chessboard, knights have some serious disadvantages as well. In particular, knights can take several moves to go from one side of the board to the other, and also they have the potential to be cornered. In addition, knights can't triangulate like a king or bishop can. For this reason I consider a bishop to be somewhat superior to a knight, even when not part of a bishop pair.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #51

    VULPES_VULPES

    thank you for acknowledging my reasoning, xitvono.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #52

    MinxVishous

    hahaha well you work with what ur comftable with babe ;)

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #53

    VULPES_VULPES

    I'm a boy (although I wish I weren't).

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #54

    ash369

    Quite so Vulpes.

    Don't worry about the insults.  I found long ago that all blog threads are infested with guys waiting to pounce with insults on anyone.  In real life they are cowards and would never insult you to your face.  But on the Internet they are fearless.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #55

    waffllemaster

    VULPES_VULPES wrote:
    ash369 wrote:

    Wafflemaster.  Sorry can't agree.  Bishops and knights have different characteristics and I think it is wrong to put one ahead of the other arbitarily.  For example two bishops at the end game are a powerful combination.  But a lone bishop is deprived of half of the squares on the board.  A lone knight is much more desirable than a lone bishop -- to me.

    Good point, which I have forgotten to make.

    Yes, bishops are much better group attackers than knights, who are better as solo attackers, are. It also depends on the target, but generally, group attackers beat isolated pieces and solo attackers beat scattered pieces.

    It is probably due to my playing style that has lead me to think that bishops are better than knights in general. 

    You can correct me if I'm wrong (and I probably am, circumstancially), but none of you have any reason to insult my way of reasoning and thinking.

    Realizing that the relative values of pieces change = good.  As you say the loss of a knight can be compensated for by weakening the opponent's king when you can attack.

    However generalizing this realization to knights are worth no more than a pawn is flawed reasoning and self-contradictory (otherwise you woudln't have used the idea of compensation).

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #56

    MinxVishous

    :o i didnt insult you, and theres nothing wrong if you don't want to be a boy :) That's all good hon.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #57

    mrguy888

    MinxVishous wrote:

    :o i didnt insult you, and theres nothing wrong if you don't want to be a boy :) That's all good hon.

    I'll bet that is a very minority opinion. 

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #58

    waffllemaster

    ash369 wrote:

    Quite so Vulpes.

    Don't worry about the insults.  I found long ago that all blog threads are infested with guys waiting to pounce with insults on anyone.  In real life they are cowards and would never insult you to your face.  But on the Internet they are fearless.

    It's funny to me that you comfort perceived unjustified insults by grouping those people together and insulting them yourself.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #59

    helltank

    Quite so waffllemaster.

    Don't worry about the insults. I found long ago that all threads are infested with guys waiting to pounce with insults on anyone offering constructive criticism. In real life they are hypocrites and would never do that to your face. But on the internet they are fearless.

  • 14 months ago · Quote · #60

    waffllemaster

    mrguy888 wrote:
    MinxVishous wrote:

    :o i didnt insult you, and theres nothing wrong if you don't want to be a boy :) That's all good hon.

    I'll bet that is a very minority opinion. 

    Either way, it's funny that the profile page and picture suggest a girl, but he's so quick to point out he's a boy.

    My brother would always feign female status in games like world of warcraft because it was easier to join groups, make friends, get free items, etc (he said).


Back to Top

Post your reply: