The importance of the bishop in chess
“The future belongs to he who has the bishops.” Siegbert Tarrasch, the great chess player and teacher, said this about one of the chess pieces. In this article we are going to find out what makes the bishops so important in chess.
Each player has a pair of bishops in their arsenal. The bishop is placed on the first rank, two squares away from the corner of the board. The bishop is among the three pieces in chess, other than the queen and the rook, which has a wide range. Range refers
to the ability of a chess piece to move to any square in its path as long as there is no other piece in the way. The movement of the bishop takes place in the form of a diagonal. The bishop can crisscross the entire chess board if its path is clear.
Even though the bishop has more range, the standard value that is ascribed to it is still the same as that of the knight. This is because in some instances the bishop loses its effectiveness. For instance, if the pawn structures of both players are developed
and have not been broken into, the game that ensues will be a closed game. Such games characteristically limit the mobility of the pieces. Therefore, closed games decrease the value of long range pieces like the bishop. In closed games, the value of the knight
increases, as it is able to jump over other chess pieces, be it friend or foe.
The two bishops that a player has are called the queen’s bishop and the king’s bishop, depending on the side that they occupy. However, these bishops can also become good or bad bishops. First let’s talk about the good bishop. If a player is left with only
one bishop, then their aim should be to move the pawns in such a way, that they occupy squares which are of the opposite colour to that on which the bishop moves. This will help increase the mobility of the bishop. Not only that, this strategy also helps restrict
the pawns of the enemy on those squares, which are vulnerable to the bishop’s attack.
As opposed to a good bishop, a bad one is restricted by its own pawns, which are present on squares of the same colour as that of the bishop. However, a bad bishop can be used defensively and if it is present outside a player’s pawn chain, it can be used
in attacking manoeuvres as well.
An important move in connection with the bishop is known as the fianchetto. This can only happen if the king is castled, usually on the kingside. The pawn directly in front of the castled king is moved one step forwards, and in the next turn, the
bishop is brought to the square vacated by the pawn. This manoeuvre greatly increases the defence of the king and gives the opponent a hard time breaking into the castle. For the same reason, a player should take serious measures to protect the fianchettoed
bishop.
If the play has progressed to the endgame and both the players have one bishop each, the game will result in a draw if the bishops are of different colours. Even if one of the players has an advantage of having a pawn or two, they will not be able to make
a checkmate because a deadlock will result. An endgame of only two bishops can progress only if the bishops are of the same colour. In such cases, even a positional advantage can tip the scales to one player’s side.
These were some of the basic pointers that every beginner in chess should know about the bishop. The next time you play chess, make sure to utilise them and you will be able to see the scales tip in your favour.
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