Knights vs. Bishops Revisited
Hey everyone!
As President of my School Chess Club, I get to organize events and help others with their chess. Recently, I stumbled upon one of my member's game, played on chess.com:
As much as I was glad he won the game, I was appalled that he opted to trade BOTH his Bishops. When asked about that choice, he said: "I was up a pawn, so I just traded."
It's good to trade when up material, but you got to make sure that the trade doesn't put you in a worse position. I would've loved to play White after 18... Ne8.
So the question remains: is two Bishops better than two Knights? The answer: not necessarily. Here is a game that I played on the FIDE Online Arena Server.
Although I did get lucky by not losing that d4 pawn, I made no mistakes afterwards. With the position being draw at worst for me, I decided to spice things up with an Exchange Sacrifice, letting my Knights dominate the game.
As you can see, it really depends on the position. Here are some tips to counter the two Bishops:
1. Eliminate the Bishop Pair. My Sacrifice did just that
2. Close the position. It worked very effectively in my game.
3. Find outposts for the Knights. I did not get a chance to put my Knight on e5, but the Rook worked as well.
4. Use Knight forks!
Thanks for reading :)
