Pawn vs bishop

I've been playing chess a couple months now and have progressed pretty well thus far I think and have created a "habit" for lack of a better, of trading bishops for knights. I tend to swing my bishops out wide to b/g 5 as white and b/g 4 as black in my open when my opponent plays his knight to the f or c file and if/when he plays the rook pawn to attack the bishop I take the knight. Now basically this exchange is seen as no less than equal if not positive to me as I find that I attack more profitably with my knights especially in pairs, and am hurt more often by knights than bishops. Now I realize they both have their upsides and downsides, bishops cover much more space in the long diagonal and therefore defend and attack with more swiftness and maybe less effort than knights but I simply find that the knights work so well in and around my opponent's back line in situations like the pinned rook on unchecked knight or in creating forks with middle and major pieces in general. Their attack is so deceiving at times if u don't keep a close eye on them as that l movement can go from a harmless position to a previously in calculated fork. Also I like them much more in the end game covering all squares as opposed to a line bishop being confined to half of them....now I realize that they are probably thought of as equal for a reason, I don't think my theory will turn the thousand year history of chess upside down as I create this never before realization that the knight is superior but I guess I'm wanting to know if my theory is necessarily a bad one and if I could get some insight as to how it could be and maybe help seeing the big picture and why I should see more benefits w the bishop, not that I think they are not of great value now though. Thank for any help you could give me, cheers - Matt

Generalities which should be taken with caution:

The pair of bishops is a well known advantage, and it's easier to create positions that favour bishops because it's more difficult to force a position to be closed than open it.

Knights don't work well in pairs: if you have a pair of knights it's better to trade one off.

Endgame = bishops are normally better if there are pawns on both sides, knights on one side. Knights are pretty poor against rook pawns. Obviously 2 bishops mate, whereas 2 knights don't.

The stuff about knights being harder to predict is true for beginners, but you should have no problem at longer time controls.

Really, in chess: It depends on the position.

Try not to follow any rule without thought.

Wow. That is very astute and eye opening. Your specificity w examples is impressive. I get the idea in general but can u expound on knights not working well in pairs and "obviously bishops mate"...and it just seems to me that bishops in the end game can be avoided as they get in a position to check, say a pawn, they simply move forward to the other colored square, I do realize that my thinking is amateur and part of the reason I asked this question, I knew that this theory of mine needed to be quelled and wasn't the way to go about improving. Thanks a lot

King and 2 bishops vs king is a forced mate:

http://www.chess.com/article/view/basic-checkmates-two-bishop-mate

King and 2 knights vs king is only a mate if your opponent helps you out: it can't be forced.

They are just a bit clumsy together, it's easy to attack one with a pawn and remove it as a defender of the other (other pieces can move and still protect a square, knights can't), they are slow to coordinate against the same square etc.

I agree that they can be a bit clumsy, their ability to maneuver in that situation I can see being roublesome as there would seem to always be a square to move to whether they are on same or different square vs king on either square, never really thought about it but just went to analysis board and saw difficulty, when u say he has to help u out do u mean that it can be avoided completely by a skilled player, especially without the king involved or is it more the fact that the number of moves to get in this position without being taken by an opponents piece or even a pawn queening on the other end of the board as well? I DO see a big problem tracking down a passed pawn while at the same time attacking the king, again, especially with an opponents bishop or some such lurking

Just stay in the middle of the board and you can't get mated by 2 knights. Apparently if you avoid walking into a mate in 1 (and you always can) you're fine.

When you have two knights, it’s easy for them to get in each other’s way. Since bishops are on opposite colors, they will never get in each other’s way. For the endgame with a bishop, you could target the square right in front of a pawn. If the pawn moves, the bishop takes it. Now that the pawn is frozen and fearing for its life, you march your King over to capture the pawn.

For beginners, the knight AND the bishop are both really weak pieces. The only way to strengthen them is to learn how to use them. I’d recommend starting by learning all the tactical motifs and practicing them. Then move on to learning all the common checkmate patterns and practicing them. You’ll be surprised at how powerful your pieces become.