3/16/2012 – Which of these pieces is stronger in the endgame? Nowadays players usually prefer the bishop, but that wasn't always the case. Chigorin and his followers preferred to play with the knight. The famous chess trainer GM Adrian Mikhalchishin shares this preference and tells you exactly why on this 60 Minutes Trainer, which you can download in our shop. Review by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson
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Adrian
Mikhalchishin: Bishop against Knight
Review by GM Hedinn Steingrimsson
One of the most interesting positional themes in chess is how one handles positions
where one has a bishop against a knight or vice versa a knight against a bishop.
Nowadays players usually prefer to play with the bishop. This was, however,
not always the case, as for example Chigorin and his followers preferred to
play with the knight. One can say that the Chigorin opening is based on this
opinion.
The theme of the lectures here are positions where the knight is stronger than
the bishop. Most players would think, that these are closed positions, but that
is not the case. The main characteristic is that the side with the bishop, has
a rather harmless looking double pawn, which changes the character of the struggle
more than one might at first think. One has to admit, that the side that has
the knight usually also has a slight initiative and manages to place e.g. its
rooks more actively than the bishop side.
This theme – open positions where the bishop is usually stronger, in
which however an innocent looking double pawn changes the balance in the knights
favor – has not been covered much in chess literature. Very strong players
will for this reason be able to learn a thing or two from this DVD. GM Mikhalchishin
explains the main ideas very thoroughly, including Capablanca’s rules
on where one should place ones pawns depending on the material balance on the
board. He explains very well what went wrong for the defending side and shows
partly his own games, both games that he won and which he lost.
I especially liked a game that he won, where he deliberately went for the
type of position discussed in this DVD by exchanging his bishop for the knight.
I also liked a lot the game Karpov-Kramnik which Karpov won in a very instructive
way. Kramnik should have tried his luck in a rook endgame a pawn down, exchanging
his bishop for Karpov’s knight. Instead Karpov managed to create mating
threats with his rook, knight and king and eventually used one pawn of Kramnik,
a black f6 pawn, as a blockade for Kramnik's bishop on the long diagonal, preventing
it to stop a passed h-pawn.
GM Mikhalchishin is a very experienced trainer. He chooses the examples well,
explains them in an understandable manner and selects a topic that is not too
large in order to be explainable in one hour. I find this DVD quite good.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
GM Blohberger presents a complete two-part repertoire for Black: practical, clear, and flexible – instead of endless theory, you’ll get straightforward concepts and strategies that are easy to learn and apply.
Opening videos: Sipke Ernst brings the Ulvestad Variation up to date + Part II of ‘Mikhalchishin's Miniatures’. Special: Jan Werle shows highlights from the FIDE Grand Swiss 2025 in the video. ‘Lucky bag’ with 40 analyses by Ganguly, Illingworth et al.
In this video course, Grandmaster Ivan Sokolov explores the fascinating world of King’s Indian and Pirc structures with colours reversed, often arising from the French or Sicilian.
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Adrian
Mikhalchishin: Bishop against Knight
