The Anti-Knight Technique (HTRYC 3rd)

The correct technique for battling knights: if you take away all their advanced support points, the knights will be ineffective and the bishops will have an excellent chance of winning out.  Because of this, you must make some decisions before you trade off into a B v. N position.  Ask yourself the following questions whenever you face the possibility of creating this type of imbalance:

1. Is the position open or closed?  If it's closed I may prefer to own the knights.  If it's open the bishops may be a good bet.
2. Will there be support points available for his knights.  If there are, then other questions arise:
• can his knights get to them?
• if the knights do get to these squares, does it matter?  in other words, if his support point is on the queenside but all the play is taking place on the kingside then you would actually encourage him to stick hi knight on that far away post!
• can the bishops reach similar or superior squares?

Be sure to answer these questions before the trade.

Rules for Knights (HTRYC 3rd)

1. Knights need advanced support points to be effective.
2. Knights are very useful pieces in closed positions.
3. Knights are the best blockaders of passed pawns.
4. Knights are usually superior to Bishops in endings with pawns on only one side of the board (due to their ability to go to either color)

Rules for less experienced players (regarding Knights)

1. Knights on the first and second ranks are purely defensive and are usually on their way to greener pastures;
2. A Knight on the third rank is useful for defense and is ready to take a more aggressive stance by jumping to the fifth;
3. A Knight on the fourth rank is as good as a Bishop and is well poised for both attack and defense;
4. A Knight on the fifth rank is often superior to a Bishop and constitutes a powerful attacking unit;
5. A Knight on the sixth rank is often a winning advantage.  It spreads disharmony in the enemy camp to such a degree that the opponent will sometimes feel compelled to give up material to rid himself of it.

Note 1: Rule for Knights on 4th, 5th and 6th ranks means they are on unassailable points.

Note 2: A support point (for the Knight) is only useful if it is in an area of the board where action is taking place.

Misc. Items

Example of a plan involving Knights: You recognize you have Knights; you decide to make them better; you find or create weak squares in the opponent's camp and you get your Knights to these weak squares.

Rules for Bishops (HTRYC 3rd)

Rule 1: If you have a bad Bishop, you must correct it in one of the following ways
1. Trade it for an enemy piece of equal or greater value
2. Make it good by getting your central pawns off its color
3. Make it active by getting it outside the pawn chain


Rule 2: Bishops are usually strongest in open positions


Rule 3: In an endgame, with passed pawns on both sides of the board, Bishops tend to beat out Knights because they utilize their greatest strength: its long-ranged abilities

Rules for Combinations (HTRYC 3rd)

"If these factors do not exist, then a combination cannot exist either.  At least one of these factors must be present if a combination is to work"

1. Open or weakened King.  Also includes Stalemated King
2. Undefended pieces (this does not include pawns)
3. Inadequately defended pieces

Only look for a combo when one or more of these appear.  If they do not, then don't look for a combo.

Silman's Thinking Technique (HTRYC 3rd)

1. Figure out the positive and negative imbalances for both sides.
2. Figure out the side of the board (K vs Q) you wish to play on.  You can only play where a favorable imbalance or the possibility of creating a favorable imbalance exists.
3. Don't calculate!  Instead, dream up various fantasy positions, i.e., the positions you would most like to achieve.
4. Once you find a fantasy position that makes you happy, you must figure out if you can reach it.  If you find that your choice was not possible to implement, you must create another dream position that is easier to achieve.
5. Only now do you look at the moves you wish to calculate (called candidate moves).  The candidate moves are all the moves that lead to our dream position.