Ralph Betza has written here 'It is clear from the discussions of endgame advantage that the Knight must be actually stronger than the Bishop in the opening and middlegame: if their total value is roughly equal, and the Bishop gets stronger as the number of pieces on the board decreases, and everybody agrees that the Bishop is generally stronger in the endgame, then it must be true that the Knight contributes more to your position in the early part of the game than the Bishop does.' DAVID SAYS: I would not be surprised if a series of test games yielded a surplus of early wins for White in Chigorin Chess. [EVEN SIMPLER EXAMPLE] Both players keep their queens and the games is 4 Knights versus 4 Bishops:
rbbqkbbr/pppppppp/32/PPPPPPPP/RNNQKNNR
When White has 4 N and Black has 4 B, 'Zillions Chess' values a Pawn at 1847 points and puts Black 2588 points ahead after 1. d2-d4.
rnnqknnr//pppppppp/32/PPPPPPPP/RBBQKBBR
When White has 4 B and Black has 4 N, 'Zillions Chess' values a Pawn at 1847 points and puts White 1580 points ahead after 1. d2-d4. The average of 2588 and 1580 is 2084 (1.13 pawns), which would seem to be the value of having 4 Bishops versus 4 Knights, according to Zillions. As to how well the White pieces would score in 'Zillions versus Zillions' games, that is an entirely different matter.
Ralph Betza has written here 'It is clear from the discussions of endgame advantage that the Knight must be actually stronger than the Bishop in the opening and middlegame: if their total value is roughly equal, and the Bishop gets stronger as the number of pieces on the board decreases, and everybody agrees that the Bishop is generally stronger in the endgame, then it must be true that the Knight contributes more to your position in the early part of the game than the Bishop does.' DAVID SAYS: I would not be surprised if a series of test games yielded a surplus of early wins for White in Chigorin Chess. [EVEN SIMPLER EXAMPLE] Both players keep their queens and the games is 4 Knights versus 4 Bishops:
rbbqkbbr/pppppppp/32/PPPPPPPP/RNNQKNNR
When White has 4 N and Black has 4 B, 'Zillions Chess' values a Pawn at 1847 points and puts Black 2588 points ahead after 1. d2-d4.
rnnqknnr//pppppppp/32/PPPPPPPP/RBBQKBBR
When White has 4 B and Black has 4 N, 'Zillions Chess' values a Pawn at 1847 points and puts White 1580 points ahead after 1. d2-d4. The average of 2588 and 1580 is 2084 (1.13 pawns), which would seem to be the value of having 4 Bishops versus 4 Knights, according to Zillions. As to how well the White pieces would score in 'Zillions versus Zillions' games, that is an entirely different matter.