Dan, this scroll is of course for you and have some coffee to think about that move! …..I don’t like Bishops, but I do know they can be very powerful if you use them together! I like my Knights and won’t let them be captured so easily, if I can prevent it…because of their crafty moves they can make! Bishops can make things very difficult on the chess board! In this first diagram – a game I’m busy playing – moving my Bishop was perhaps not a good idea and I think I should have moved my pawn to block my opponent’s Bishop…I’m playing black in this game – only a friendly… have a look on the following diagrams… you can’t checkmate your opponent with a Bishop or a Bishop and a Knight, but you can when having two Bishops!
Using a Bishop Pair with their King against a lone opposing King is usually quicker to develop the mating pattern and mating net than checkmating with a Bishop & a Knight, and also is a basic simple checkmate. However, in the words of Fred Reinfeld, “As one Bishop only commands squares of the same color, you need two Bishops to force checkmate. Not only must you get the weaker side’s King to the last rank; you must get him into a corner. So you see that checkmate with two Bishops is not child’s play; it requires really harmonious co-operation on the part of the two Bishops and a King.
Please click HERE to read more about Bishops and how to checkmate with them. Links will open in a new window.
Click HERE to see how to checkmate with a Bishop and a Knight…which is of course difficult…as Dan said in the comments box!
Chessalee 