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Ideal Values and Practical Values (part 4). Additional details on the values of Chess pieces.[All Comments] [Add Comment or Rating]

Jeremy Lennert wrote on Wed, Apr 13, 2011 11:17 PM UTC:Excellent ★★★★★

Can anyone explain to me why color-switching it supposed to be a
disadvantage?  The colors of squares have no inherent mechanical
significance.

Color-boundness results in some squares being unreachable, and this can be
generalized in a way unrelated to colors; e.g. D plus narrow knight can
reach only half the ranks, while D plus wide knight can reach only half the
files, and thus presumably have an equal disadvantage even though they can
change colors.

Trying to generalize 'color-switching', I've come up with:

1.  Any series of moves that returns the piece to its starting square will
involve an even number of moves, never an odd number.  I don't see any
obvious reason this would be a disadvantage.

2.  The piece does not attack any of the same squares both before and after
any move.  I can see situations where this would be a disadvantage, but it
also seems like an advantage, since it means you can attack more new
squares after a move, and thus increases 2-move mobility and (presumably)
forking power.

By #2, I think NA, ND, and WA are also 'switching' despite having
color-preserving moves, as are F, D and A alone.