Which is more valuable pointwise?
Which do you prefer?
Answer both please!!! I'm very undecided between both when it comes to sacrificial times.
Depends on the specific situation. Bishops have long range capabilities and are useful in open positions. Knights move in unusual ways that can catch an opponent off guard and fork pieces.
Knights are more useful in close quarter situations but in an endgame i'd rather have two bishops than two Knights.
If you have doubts, keep the bishop over the knight.
http://en.lichess.org/forum/general-chess-discussion/knight-worth-more-than-bishop This may help answer your questions ....... oh yeah i like the Knight because it looks cool, but gamewise i would say I like both because they are equally important in equally different situations.
I hope that last sentence made sense.
i don't like knights against me in endgames, but in the same way i can not handle themif i have them in endgame for myself. I think bishops are a little easier to play but with knights you can easy trick someone. Especially in a blitz.
I vote for bishops, but if you loose one, the other can turn useless in a very short time: all the oponent has to do is put as little pieces in the squares of the oponent bishop's color as fast as possible.
rule of thumb:
in the opening, knights>bishops
in the endgame, bishops >>>>>>knights
the lower the time control, the better the knight is
I disagree with SJMistery. I think in middle game bishop is stronger than knight (because there you mostly have bishop pair).
In endgame I prefer a knight over a (single) bishop, though bishop pair is stronger of course.
LM Lightsss; depends IMO; in non-endgame yes but knight endgames are difficult to play (but at long time control one can play them fairly well IMO).
Their strengths and weaknesses, based on conventional wisdom (obviously not mine, I'm just a patzer -- feel free to correct):
BISHOPS:
- Bishops can unite with pawns (i.e. stand diagonally in front of them), a very powerful combination
- Bishops are better in open positions (and open diagonals) because of their greater range than the knights. This is why bishops are preferred for the endgame.
- Bishops can attack the kingside without being in striking distance of the opponent's pawns. The same can't be said for knights a lot of the time, who have a hard time advancing to that position.
- Bishops are more prone to flank attacks if they are in the centre which may require them to be moved twice, hence why opening theory prefers to leave them to be developed later. Moreover, they are not as powerful in that moving the bishops to the centre minimises their range. This is how the popularity of the fianchetto openings came about (like the Indian games), which is the strongest position of bishops in the opening for they control an enormous length of squares, though frequently at the cost of centre development.
KNIGHTS:
- Knights are preferred in the opening (at least in classical play) due to the ease of which they can control the centre squares (e4, d4, e5, d5). Indeed, two knights can get in their most active positions (f3 and c3 in White's case, f6 and c6 for Black) with just one move for each.
- Knights are good for breakthroughs, spearheading pawn breaks, etc. Bishops are relatively weak in closed positions. The queenside bishop goes unused until much later in certain openings!
BOTH MINOR PIECES:
- Both are frequently useful to fork pieces, particularly forks on rooks, as rooks cannot effectively respond to their patterns of movement (they can usually attack only 2 of their flight squares at most).
Overall, the Knight seems to be more of a 'jack of all trades' piece that is strongest when attacking squares other than the first and last two ranks. The Knight is less useful than the bishops for direct attacks on the opponent's King (in combination with other pieces, of course).
The Knight's funny movement patterns can make them a real tempi-losing liability in the endgame (and quite vulnerable too) and open positions in general. Bishops are very often more valuable in the endgame due to their ability to easily move from one side of the board to the other.
The Bishop is severely lacking in the opening, requiring a full two unforced moves to fianchetto, and always at the cost of other development. Moreover, they don't really have the strongest starting position, and find themselves blocked for a while in many opening lines.
TL;DR: Knights almost always better in the opening, Bishops almost always better in Endgame. Knights > Bishops in closed positions.