🕸💡📝Fergus Duniho wrote on Wed, Apr 12, 2017 05:26 PM UTC:
I guess the reasoning is that a Knight plus any other piece is sufficient mating material, but a Bishop must be paired with the right piece to have sufficient mating material. While two Vaos on the same color would be equal in value to a Bishop when paired with a Bishop on the opposite color, this is an unnatural combination that would occur only through promotion, and a single Vao in combination with a Knight or Cannon is sufficient mating material. So, I would not value a Vao at exactly half of a Bishop. I would value it at more than half a Bishop. In the middle game, its value may be close to that of a Bishop, but in the endgame, its value will decrease. In general, piece values are useful fictions, and we should consider values of piece combinations more important than the values of individual pieces.
I guess the reasoning is that a Knight plus any other piece is sufficient mating material, but a Bishop must be paired with the right piece to have sufficient mating material. While two Vaos on the same color would be equal in value to a Bishop when paired with a Bishop on the opposite color, this is an unnatural combination that would occur only through promotion, and a single Vao in combination with a Knight or Cannon is sufficient mating material. So, I would not value a Vao at exactly half of a Bishop. I would value it at more than half a Bishop. In the middle game, its value may be close to that of a Bishop, but in the endgame, its value will decrease. In general, piece values are useful fictions, and we should consider values of piece combinations more important than the values of individual pieces.