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Often in chess we deal with material imbalances that often favour one side or the other. For example it is well known that 3 minor pieces can often overpower the Queen, or a minor piece almost always overpowers 3 pawns. Perhaps the most infamous material mismatch is the bishop versus the knight. Both pieces are worth 3 points, however most people consider the bishop to be better than the knight. Engines typically has shown that the bishop is generally stronger than the knight. But what does this all mean?

The “point” of the question.

In the very beginning of our chess journey, we learn that the pawns are worth 1 point, the bishops and knights 3 points each, the rooks 5 points, and the all-powerful queen worth a whopping 9 points! However as we move on in chess we learn that the bishop is usually stronger than the knight in most cases. So how much points is a bishop worth? I will show you some specific cases in the list below with explanations.

• Bishop in a bishop pair in an open position – 3.5 points each: A bishop with its partner can see all 64 squares, and in many cases during an attack, the defending side has to often choose which colour complex to weaken. Favouring at least 1 bishop.
• Lone bishop in open position – 3.25 points: a bishop has similar capabilities to a rook, however it can only see half of the squares on a chessboard. It can often be isolated or blunted its colour complex.
• Bishop(s) in closed position – 2.5 points each: In a closed position a knight’s value increases dramatically therefore, it is often a good idea to trade a less useful bishop to a more maneuverable, and valuable knight.
• A “bad” bishop – 2 points: A bad bishop is a bishop who is restricted by its own pawns, therefore it can’t easily participate in the game. Some good examples are the French bishop in the French defence, blocked by its e6 pawn, and the c8 bishop in many QGD (Queen’s gambit declined) positions. Occasionally, there are cases where the bad bishop serves a role in defending the pawns that block it, however, it is generally a good idea to trade your bad bishop

So that concludes our evaluation of the bishop’s power. Let’s think about it more. In a closed position, pawns often block the bishop’s potential diagonals and the bishops power is often reduced. In closed positions, games are often switch from open, tactical, and quick, to slow, maneuvering, and tense. Therefore, the knight can squeeze through the gaps and take outposts. Here is one example!

Diagram 1 – white to move

In the above image, black’s dark squared bishop is a lone, “bad” bishop it is also a relatively closed position. The queenside is locked, and the kingside is stable. The white knight enjoys its outpost on the d5 square which is a light square, it can’t be easily removed by by black. The knight attacks f6 and can always jump to b6. In addition, Qh6 wins a pawn and cashes in on the advantage.

So that illustrates the knight’s dominance over the bishop. Let me show you another example.

Diagram 2 – white to move

In this next example, a rook and minor piece endgame is significantly better for white. The Black knight on b8 is tied down to the defence of a6 and c6, The doubled black rooks are neutralized by the untouchable “octopus” knight on d5. Black’s bishop on g8 is a very bad bishop. Due to all these factors white is close to winning.

Now I think we had enough, taking a look at positions where the knight(s) dominate the bishop. Now we’ll take a look at the power of the 2 bishops working together in an open position. Here we’ll see how the knight serves almost no meaningful purpose in the game.

Diagram 3 – black to move

In the above position, white is down two full pawns yet, the attack is almost winning. It is black to move and white is threatening mate on g7. Here Bf6 can’t be played because of 1… Qf5! Which forces g6 and wins the bishop on f6. Therefore 1. g6 f5 2. Bf6 is the only line for black if they wish to survive. However 2… fxg6 3. fxg6 Bxf6!! which completely exposes the black king. Meanwhile the knight on b6 doesn’t serve a role in the defence of the black king.

One key thing about bishops to remember is that bishop are long range pieces while knights are quite short ranged. So in an attack the bishop pair can participate even if it is close to home. The knight on the other hand, has to get close to something attack or defend it. This is a principle to remember when we deal with knight vs bishop. So we have another position. This demonstrates the bishops power in an endgame!

Diagram 4 – white to move

Who is better? In the the endgame the bishops power increases because the positions tend to get more open. The knight can fight for both colour complexes and can target, immobile pawns on all 64 squares. The knight is limited in mobility itself as well. The bishop can cross the board in one swoop and can fight for both sides of the board like in the position above. The bishop can go to g7 and gobble some pawns. The bishop also restrains the knight on c8. White is better.

I can’t wait for part 2!

Due to other projects on this website, we have decided that this is all we can do for now. We are working on so many new things. Like the Anti-Caro weapon we are introducing in our e4 aggression course. Can’t wait to get all of this done! Don’t worry we will come back with more examples next time! Thank you so much!

From: The analysis team

Approved by the Admin Saturday, July 29, 2023. Admin here! If you are reading this, you have an account! We’d like to thank-you as well and thank our website designers for making this possible.

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Which site is better for you?

Our team has done quite a bit of work and analysis on this topic which we believe is very important to understand which website is better and why. In our team’s opinion, it is chess.com that is superior to Lichess. Chess.com generally has more features and is better for you to stick with. However, both are Ok in our team’s opinion.

Why chess.com?

During our research on this topic, our team came across the fact that Lichess has 4 ratings based on time, bullet, blitz, rapid, and classical. The classical time control issn’t exactly the best choice of words. To our eyes 30+0 is rapid, not classical. Inside the Headquarters, we had a debate as our chess analysts agreed that any time control using more than 50 minutes on either side should be considered classical chess. Lichess, therefore doesn’t meet this criteria for classical so therefore we think it is a bit misleading. On top of that, even though Lichess has a database of all the games played on Lichess ever, our team mostly agrees on the fact that chess.com has superior analysis due to the fact that game review and better tools are offered. On chess.com, you can still customize the time control to classical.

I like Lichess though!

It is fine to us if you stick with Lichess, to our team, it is Ok to use either, but another benefit of chess.com is that your elo isn’t inflated. However, chess.com is the better of the two.

What is included in our E4 aggression repertoire

E4 aggression is a complete repertoire unlike some of our future courses. This course is okay for beginners, intermediates and some advanced players. Basically, anyone who has a U2000 rating on chess.com. We will have a section on every major black defence, including annoying troll openings like the hippo or the bongcloud. One of our openings is a sideline in the 150-attack against the Modern Pirc, another will be a very aggressive system against the annoying e6/b6, CRUSHING the Caro-Kann with the advance variation, and a flexible weapon against the Sicilian, so what are our elite recommendations?

Our weapons

Against the lame 1… e5 we will be playing a slow, but aggressive line in the Italian.

Against the Sicilian, it’s time to introduce the Alapin Sicilian, seize the centre early and gain the initiative.

French? No problem, with the Classical variation, you’ll limit your opponent’s counter-play on your centre.

The annoying Caro-Kann, Advance with e5!

Pirc? Learn this aggressive system.

Modern Pirc? I50-attack them.

Scandinavian? Play into their prep and still crush them with the main line.

Levy’s e6/b6? Why allow anyone to get away with a subpar and offbeat opening?

Friends that troll you with the Polish? The Grob? The bongcloud? The Hippo? Destroy them.

You might be wondering how we came up with this repertoire, we find lines that score very well for the average player while taking in account master level games. This way we find aggressive openings that are practically very good and objectively maintaining white’s advantage of moving first. In this repertoire, there will be no objectively bad openings, let alone refuted openings. Our team has been researching little intricacies of these positions and have been analyzing them with opening books and computers. Our progress has been slow, but we plan to release a chapter on the 150 attack soon, and we are deeply analyzing the Advance Caro. Stay Tuned!

Welcome! In Sfmedia’s chess association we have many tools for you to improve at chess! This includes blogs, videos, and free service. You may contact out team at any time you would like to! You could read more us on the about section, and watch our video courses on the video courses section! We have many things planned for our website. One of which is to continue adding videos to our courses. Our chess teaching system works differently, we currently have 3 steps in the cycle of improvement.

1. Learn by watching the videos in the video courses
2. Practice them by using those weapons in your own games.
3. Fixing your mistakes by consulting us, or analysing your games.

We also have a new idea that we hope will take affect by 2024 (written in 2023 for those reading in the future)

If you would like to learn, or improve at chess efficiently, please, make an account and stay with us! To make an account, please type in your browser, sfmediaca.com/login. Then, continue by clicking register, and make your account. Feel free to contact us for assistance. Having an account will give you added benefits. So, what are you waiting for? Make an account and join us!

What opening is better?

In our opinion, E4 is better than D4. E4 invites more open games and is very flexible. You learn more tactics and you have sharp positions that could never be found in D4 openings for example, the Najdorf Sicilian, is one of the most sharpest, double edged, and exciting opening known to humanity, it is a perfect playground to train tactics. The Queen’s gambit declined will never be able the match the sharpness of the Najdorf Sicilian. Openings like the Scotch create rich battlegrounds with imbalances. The Scotch opens up lines and aims to aggressively seize the centre away from black. Beginner and Intermediate players are able to think more creatively in open positions.

Why is E4 more “open” then D4

When you play E4 E5, the option of the D4 pawn break is a possibility, for example, the scotch and Danish openings. Whereas, in D4 D5 openings the E4 pawn break doesn’t really exist, unless you play the Blackmardiemer gambit, which isn’t the best opening. Same thing with D4 Nf6 openings, E4 is prevented by the knight on f6. In most D4 Nf6 openings like the Nimzo-Indian defense you are trying to play for E4, but whether you are able to is a different story. D4 tends to support very deep positional thinking, something that is for later. E4 however, rapidly creates open lines and is very sharp and tactical

My favourite thing about 1. e4

In E4 there is a good range of positions you can get. If you like manuevering you can try the Ruy Lopez. However my favourite thing about 1. e4 is… THE GAMBITS! After E4 aggression is completed, we’ll be working on the White and Black Gambits repertoire. With D4 there aren’t a lot of gambits. There is the Queen’s gambit, but it isn’t really a true gambit because White will often win the the pawn back fairly easily. A lot of the other D4 gambits aren’t really good or popular, so if you’re like me and you’re an aggressive player, you can play E4 aggression or the White Gambits repertoire. Also spoilers, we’ll be recommending the Smith-Morra Gambit against the Sicilian in our upcoming White Gambits repertoire. I love 1. e4

Let’s summarize

E4 in our opinion is better than D4 because it results in more open lines and is good to train your tactical vision. E4 gives you aggressive options and gives you dynamic attacks. You have multiple gambits in 1. E4 whereas you have almost no true gambits in D4 openings. So please play 1. e4!

Wonderful chess fans, bullet is a time control in chess that is really fast. Usually games only last from a minute to 3 minutes. We at the website understand that bullet chess is fun. In fact I used to play it often online on chess.com. But is bullet good for you? Does it improve your chess, if so how much. Dear viewers, you could be wondering, but we are going to answer that question in your curious mind. So let’s jump right in!

Is Bullet good for you?

Long story short, bullet is trash for your chess. The lower your elo the more it impacts your chess. Allow me to elaborate. When you are playing bullet, there isn’t a lot of time on the clock. You almost never have enough time to think deeply. In the opening, you premove, in the middlegame, you will play every move within one or 2 seconds, and towards the end, there is a time scramble. You do not get to think about any of your moves, you just play what “feels” right to you. No connections are made in the brain. You see, during a blitz or rapid game, you have time to think about your move and make connections your mind, for example, this could be your thinking in a rapid game: “If I play bishop to e6 I am threatening to take white’s strong knight, remove my bad bishop, and damage white’s pawn structure. If they move the knight avoiding damage to the pawn structure then I get a tempo to improve my rook’s position” Later in the game, you get a good position and you go on to win. Your brain makes a mental file about how you won the game (I played Be6 making a positional threatened slowly converted). So in future games, you would understand the strategy. Now let’s say you have the same position in a bullet game this is your thinking: “I ONLY HAVE 30 SECONDS LEFT AHHHHHHH! PLAY BISHOP e6 TRADE PIECES! MUST PLAY AS FAST AS POSSIBLE!” Your brain doesn’t have time to make connections or store files, so even if you win you don’t improve, because all your moves are based on your instinct of the position, so it doesn’t do any good for you. You don’t really take time to think critically and make connections. Bullet gives you the bad habit of playing impulsively. Bullet is NOT GOOD FOR YOU AND IS HARMFUL.

Then why do streamers often stream bullet?

Most streamers often care more about getting that ad revenue than about improving their viewers chess. For example what would you rather watch? Hikaru streaming Hyperbullet (30sec + 0 don’t try this at home) or Hikaru playing a classical game and explaining every intricacy of the position. Most of you would choose the first option. Therefore, streamers that care more about ad revenue are more likely to stream bullet. You may start to think, “These titled players are good, so let me copy what they are doing.” You shouldn’t think like that. They are high rated and as I said, the lower your rating the more it impacts your chess. Playing bullet doesn’t impact them as much as it will impact you (unless if you’re a titled player yourself). I am not saying that those streamers are bad, but just because titled player stream bullet, that doesn’t mean you should play bullet.

What time control then if I love bullet?

If you really love bullet then I recommend playing 3+2 games get used to some fast blitz where you have time to think about your moves and make connections. In blitz you often have a short time to think deeply in positions, so after you analyze your game you can combine your short time of deep thinking with your instincts, and where you can still distinguish them from one another. You can analyze and improve your instincts by adding that slight bit of deep thinking. If you really, REALLY, ABSOLUTELY LOVE bullet, and can’t survive without it then at the most you can play 2+1 NOTHING faster. Remember, blitz is VERY different from bullet.

Do I get better at ANYTHING by playing bullet.

You don’t improve your chess because you don’t have time think, but you get better at ANYTHING? You think you can improve your skills of getting a plateau. Oh yeah, you get very good at premoves as well. Bullet also has the added benefit of improving your time scramble skills, which you often never will have in serious games. Bullet has its benefits, but would you rather be better at time scrambles? or improve at chess?

If I play for fun?

If you just play for fun and for the love of chess. Fine, you can play bullet, I am just telling you, it’s not good for your chess. If you want to improve, you should stop playing bullet

Recap

Bullet is harmful to your chess growth, because it doesn’t help create connections in the brain, and it builds the bad habit of playing impulsively. Streamers may stream bullet, to get a bigger audience and get more ad revenue. I recommend playing 3+2 blitz if you love bullet, and if you play for fun, you can ignore this article.

Sincerely,

The team