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Would you rather have a strong bishop pair or a strong knight outpost?

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chesswithpatrick

Hey everyone! As part of my Winter Blunderland series on Youtube, I am posting a question every day in December. Today's question: Would you rather have a strong bishop pair or a strong knight outpost?

I've heard that having a bishop pair in the end game is very powerful, but I've found that an outpost can be more satisfying as I tend to always look for tactics that that involved sacrificing my knight (even though I don't think I should.... it's just pretty satisfying.)

I can't really remember many times where I actually got to use the bishop pair, so I thought I'd ask the group.
Thanks again for your support on my journey!
-Patrick

Speakyoulisten

Personally I prefer the bishop pair as bishop's tend to be pretty good at restricting my opponent's moves.

SomeoneonEarth0123456789

I mean it really depends on how good my other minor piece is if I choose the knight

SomeoneonEarth0123456789

Hmm unless you mean 2 strong knight outposts or the strong bishop pair. In that case the bishops under most circumstances, as most often I can just trade my bishops off for the knights at worst case scenario, while in the best I win because of my bishops. However sometimes it is impossible to trade the knights off or if I do I will lose and so in those cases I guess it really depends on what the knights and bishops are doing in the position.

Senator-StevenArmstrong

1. If the position is semi-closed or completely closed, I'll take the knight on the outpost

2. If the position is open, I'll take a strong bishop pair.

EnCrossiantIsBrilliant

strong bishop pair

MayTheChikenBeWithYou

knights any day of the week

smcmillan88

Really comes down to open vs. closed game and how many pieces are left. The more major pieces my opponent has left the more I like having the knight on an outpost.

self_taught_gm

It depends on the position. A knight outpost with no one can touch it is also very strong.

x6px

Bishop pair looks inanpropraite

Eyes1289

This comment is more for entertainment than education but I think it depends on the piece accuracy of your bishop pair vs how good you are with your knight or knights... Personally I don't consider myself accurate with either and I probably would have sacrificed one of the bishops and a knight before endgame

lat2b

It really depends on the position, but I prefer Knight outposts. He can control many squares in the opponent's position.

In the example above, the d5-knight is much stronger than the bishop on f6.
DamianoChess98

i know that theoretically bishop are worth 3.15 so they are better in the longrun, but i'm not stockfish nor a top 50 player so i prefer the outposts cause knights are tricky and cooler to use. It doesn't matter what's slightly better if you blunder a king and pawn endgame anyway grin.png

Kustomized

Bishop pairs tend to be worth more as your elo increases. "Knights are tricky b*st*rds" - is a common saying, especially because early on, players tend to miss simple captures and tactics with the knight.

8Winters8

Jumbo Pony

Cazad0r75
Senator-StevenArmstrong wrote:

1. If the position is semi-closed or completely closed, I'll take the knight on the outpost

2. If the position is open, I'll take a strong bishop pair.

This

chesswithDonTony

I prefer a strong bishop pair, 100!

kapurthala777

Strong bishop pair

dmc76642
I like me some knights. But a strong bishop pair projects influence across the board, even in a closed position.
EasyJayChess

I prefer closed positions, so Knights work better for me. However, it sure is nice to have two bishops in the end game.