The Bishop Pair in Chess: A Powerful Weapon

Here's our full guide to the strength of the bishop pair. If you're looking to sharpen your positional play, you're in the right place.

Here's what this guide covers.

• The definition of the bishop pair.
• How to "win" the bishop pair.
• How to use the bishop pair to launch a crushing attack.
• A comparison between bishops and knights.
• How to use the bishop pair in the endgame.

What Is the Bishop Pair?

At the start of a chess game, each player has two bishops, one on the c-file and one on the f-file.

Look closely and you'll notice each side has a light-squared bishop and a dark-squared bishop. White's light-squared bishop starts on f1, while the dark-squared bishop sits on c1.

Those two bishops will never meet anywhere on the board. The c1 bishop spends the whole game on dark squares, and the f1 bishop stays on light squares the entire time. Together, they make up White's bishop pair.

A well-placed bishop pair can control an enormous number of squares, as the diagram below shows.

This chess position comes from an opening called the Danish Gambit. Notice how White's bishops, placed on b2 and c4, sweep across the whole board and already look extremely threatening.

The Power of the Bishop Pair

It was the great early twentieth-century player David Janowsky who showed just how strong the bishop pair can be. Janowsky had an almost blind faith in his bishops. A big "argument" grew out of this with Dr. Tarrasch, who preferred the knight pair instead. History settled the debate in favor of the bishops, though as we'll see, knights are far from powerless.

Here's a beautiful attack played by Janowsky against Saemisch in 1925.

White to move.

Look at White's bishop pair. It's aimed straight at Black's castled king. Janowsky is about to turn that into a remarkable attack.

1.Qh6!!

A superb move. The threat is double (Qxg7 mate and Qh7 mate). Black can't take the queen (1...gxh6) because of Rg3 mate. Here are Black's different tries.

• If 1...f5 2.Bc4+!! (a deflection sacrifice that drags the black queen away from g7) Qxc4 3.Qxg7#
• If 1...f6 2.Qh7+ Kf7 3.Qxh5+ Ke7 4.Bxd6+ Qxd6 5.O-O-O, with a terrible attack for White.

Black resigned immediately after 1.Qh6.

The bishop pair is so strong that one of the goals of the middlegame is to capture one of your opponent's bishops. We'll see that idea in the next example.

What Does It Mean to "Win the Bishop Pair"?

A player is said to have won the bishop pair when they manage to trade one of their knights for an opposing bishop. That trade lets them keep both bishops while their opponent is left with only one. Naturally, once a bishop from the pair has no more rival on the color of its own squares, it grows in strength.

Trading a knight for a bishop doesn't win any material, since both pieces are worth about three points each. Even so, taking your opponent's bishop pair is where the bishop pair advantage really starts, a tangible improvement to your position.

Consequence #1: Don't Trade Your Bishops Without a Good Reason

Take a good look at the position above. Both players have respected the big strategic rules of the opening. The center is occupied by pawns, the minor pieces have come out to active central squares, and both kings are safe, or nearly so.

Now, with White, plenty of beginners are tempted to trade the bishop on g5 for Black's knight on f6. That's a mistake. Only trade your bishop pair away if you have a good reason to. It would have been better to keep going, tucking the king away safely, connecting the rooks, centralizing them, and pushing a pawn break to open the position. The bishops would then have open diagonals to show off their full potential.

Consequence #2: Watch Out for Tactics That Win the Bishop Pair

A player has to stay alert for tricks that win the bishop pair. Look closely at the position below and try to work out how Black can play to capture one of White's two bishops.

Take your time, don't jump straight to the solution. You can even come back to this position more than once.

The bishop on e3 can be bothered by Black playing the knight from f6 to g4. It gets attacked, but it can run away, to d2 for instance. It won't get caught (though White may well need to play the little pawn move h3 at some point, just to keep it safe). It's the other bishop that's in real danger. It can get trapped.

After 1...b5 2.Bb3 Na5, White is forced to accept the trade of the bishop on b3 for one of Black's knights. If the bishop runs to d5 instead, it gets captured by the knight on f6. Black wins White's bishop pair.

During a chess game, you always have to watch out for this kind of tactic. Picture a knight fork between your king and one of your bishops. You'll save your king, but not your bishop, which can then get traded off for the knight. There's a whole range of situations where tactics can win you the bishop pair.

Consequence #3: A Player Who Has Lost the Bishop Pair Must Watch the Weak Squares

When a player loses a bishop, they've lost a defender of every square that bishop used to control. Look at the following position.

Black has lost their dark-squared bishop. Every dark square around the king is now weak. White's bishop on a3 has no direct opponent left and stops Black's king from castling, while the knight is ready to jump onto the strong d6 square.

Here's something important. Black's pieces sit almost entirely on light squares, and it's the dark squares that end up weak. Whenever a player's pieces cluster on squares of one color, it's the squares of the other color that turn weak. This is called a weak-square complex, and it's very hard to escape once it takes hold. The best-known weak-square complex shows up when a fianchettoed bishop gets traded off. The squares around the king become extremely weak.

We're now going to dig a little deeper by looking at when the bishop is preferable to the knight.

Bishops vs. Knights

A bishop is worth the same as a knight in chess. Even so, these two pieces move so differently that some positions clearly favor bishops, while others clearly favor knights.

Bishops Love Open Positions

An open position is one where plenty of files, ranks and diagonals are clear. Bishops can roam freely and control a huge number of squares in such positions. They'll often be superior to the knight, which can only ever influence part of the board at a time.

Black to move.

Black has won the bishop pair. Now Dr. Tarrasch, playing Black and holding the two bishops for once, is about to open the position further so his bishops can show their full power.

1...d4!!

2.exd4 Bxh2+!! 3.Kxh2 Qh4+ 4.Kg1 Bxg2!!

A legendary double bishop sacrifice. Play then continues.

5.Kxg2 Qg4+ 6.Kh2 Rd5

And White has nothing against 7...Rh5 mate. A lovely ladder mate.

This example shows nicely how Black's two bishops, even though they started out on the queenside, ended up sacrificing themselves on the kingside. It proves that bishops are long-range pieces. White's knight, meanwhile, never managed to have any influence on the defense of the king.

Worth noting too that in a closed position, a knight will often feel more at home than a bishop. And, still in a closed position, a pair of knights can hold its own against a pair of bishops.

Knights Love Strong Squares

A strong square is a square that can no longer be controlled by an opposing pawn. That makes it far easier to plant a piece there than on other squares. Of course, a strong square is really valuable when it sits right in the heart of the opponent's position.

Here, d4 is a strong square for Black (or a weak square, if you look at it from White's side). No White pawn can control it anymore. Black has cleverly parked a knight on d4. From there, it radiates influence over White's position and stops White from developing exactly the way they'd like.

In this particular case, having managed to plant the knights firmly on strong squares lets Black hold their own against the bishop pair. It's a roughly even position. The lesson to take away is that a well-placed pair of knights can be worth as much as the bishop pair. For a closer look at this rivalry, see our full guide on bishop versus knight.

Making the Most of the Bishop Pair in the Endgame

The bishop pair stays a fearsome weapon in the endgame. Mating attacks become much rarer, but the bishop pair is perfect for escorting a passed pawn home.

The Bishop Pair Is the Perfect Escort for a Passed Pawn

Let's look at the position below.

Let's first recall what a passed pawn is. It's a pawn with no more opposing pawns on its own file or on either adjacent file. Its road is clear, so nothing stops it from reaching the eighth rank and promoting to a queen.

Here, the a5 and e4 pawns are both passed pawns. Black is up an exchange, a rook for a bishop, yet it's White who holds the advantage, because the bishop pair escorts the a5 pawn perfectly.

After 1.a6, the a-pawn is defended by the bishop on f1 and is ready to advance to a7, since it'll be supported by the bishop on c5 once it gets there. The maneuver Bf1-c4-d5 would then let a bishop escort the pawn all the way to the end of the board.

The bishop pair is a fearsome weapon when it's paired with a passed pawn.

Bishops Help Their Passed Pawns Advance While Stopping the Opponent's

Generally speaking, a bishop is stronger than a knight in an open endgame where a passed pawn is on the board. Why? Because a bishop can act on its own passed pawn, supporting it, and on the opponent's passed pawn, stopping it, at the same time. A knight, with its shorter reach, has to choose. It can't be everywhere at once.

Look at this position. It comes from a game played between Boris Spassky, with White, and Bobby Fischer, with Black. White has a bishop, Black has a knight, and the position is open.

If you've been following along, you'll know to look for the passed pawns first. Black has one, the c5 pawn. But White has a kingside pawn majority, meaning more pawns than the opponent on that side of the board. By pushing the g- and h-pawns cleverly (h4, then g4 and h5, for example), White can create a passed pawn of their own.

White's bishop can then control the advance of Black's passed pawn while also protecting and supporting its own. This position favors White, and Boris Spassky did indeed go on to beat his formidable opponent.

The Bishop Pair in a Nutshell

Time to sum up and lock in the essentials.

1. The bishop pair is extremely strong, whether it's attacking the opposing king in the middlegame or escorting a pawn to promotion in the endgame.

2. One of the goals of the middlegame is to capture your opponent's bishop pair.

3. Bishops love open positions, so it pays to open the position as much as possible to let the bishop pair show its full potential.

4. Knights love strong squares. Getting your knights onto those squares can help offset an opponent's bishop pair.

Back at the turn of the twentieth century, top players had a clear preference between the bishop and the knight. Today's best players know how to handle both pieces equally well. Five-time World Champion Magnus Carlsen has produced some superb games with the bishop, including one from a FIDE World Championship match against the Indian grandmaster Anand, and others just as brilliant with the knight.

Where to Go From Here

• Discover 5 chess strategies worth knowing to improve your game.
• Learn the basics of the main chess openings.
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That's our guide to the bishop pair in chess. We hope you found it useful.