Analyzing The Bishop-Knight Trade

One of the more common openings is the Ruy Lopez Opening:

The way it differs from the Italian Game is where it places the white Bishop. The placement of the Bishop in this opening often leads to a common trade in Chess: One where one player sacrifices their Bishop to capture an enemy Knight.

This specific trade happens most often during the opening stages of the game, and not just in the Ruy Lopez. The most common situation is where the Bishop pins the Knight to the King or Queen before taking it:

Or the Knight is moved onto a diagonal controlled by a Bishop and immediately captured:

One thing we need to consider for this trade is the resulting pawn structure. In the first example of a trade I listed, the Queen did end up capturing the sacrificed Bishop, so the pawn structure doesn’t change. However, the second example I had showed one player forced to move their Pawn to capture the Bishop.

Analyze the pawn structure for that board for a second. Notice how there are 2 pawns on the a-file.

Not only that, but that trade also removes a pawn from the b-file. If that trade had happened later, after the opponent had castled to that side, they would have to choose between letting the Bishop get away or leaving their King vulnerable:

But in the opening, it offers no advantage, and also allows the opponent to move the Rook onto the now-open file, increasing its activity and making this a bad trade.

In the first example, the pawn structure is not automatically changed, as the opponent can capture with the Queen. And if that is not an option, they can move a Bishop onto the diagonal to capture before the Knight is taken:

And most likely, it will be a Bishop or Queen that does the capture instead of a Pawn.

Now, you might argue that this trade is set up just to pin the Knight, as if it moves, the King or Queen is taken. That might be true, but a Bishop can quickly be moved (see the last board) to un-pin the Knight, or the opponent can launch a pawn attack and force the Bishop back:

So I do not approve of this trade either.

The 2 analyses I did were based on external factors, not the pieces involved. We need to turn our attention to that.

Bishops vs Knights is one of the biggest debates of chess. Most people believe that the Bishops are better. To reach a verdict, you have to look for a game that pits the Knights and Bishops against each other, which is a needle in a haystack if you play a lot of games.

However, I once played in a club tournament with this position:

This custom position tournament (I forget which club it was for) definitely provided evidence for the Bishop vs Knight debate, as almost always, the player with the Bishops won, showing that the Bishops are more powerful.

Why is this?

We need to look at the qualities of each piece to answer that question. Here is a list:

Bishops:

Advantages:

• Can threaten more squares than the Knight
• Can quickly get away from an attack
• Can form batteries
• Can pin pieces

Disadvantages:

• Are confined to one color
• Cannot jump

Knights:

Advantages:

• Can threaten both light and dark squares
• Can jump over pieces
• Can fork pieces

Disadvantages:

• Have a limited range of movement per turn
• It is difficult to get Knights to guard other pieces, Batteries are the easiest option for that

My friend, @MrCheesec4ke, did a blog himself on the Bishops vs Knights (you can read it here), with some more info on the debate. This blog is not about the debate itself, but just one out of many trades that is a result of that debate, so you might be interested in going there to learn more. You also might be interested in going to this forum and this one.

Now, if you’re sacrificing a Bishop to capture a Knight to make the King vulnerable or to remove a defender, that is a different story. But that never happens in the opening trades I’m analyzing.

And overall, they are not good. In the opening, this trade just sees the commences exchange a more powerful piece for a less powerful one, sometimes developing more enemy pieces in the process. Next time you play, do not sacrifice your Bishop for a Knight.

Hope you learned something

— ChessPawn921