Bishop (chess)

A bishop (♗,♝) is a piece in the board game of chess. Each player begins
the game with two bishops. One starts between the king's knight and the
king, the other between the queen's knight and the queen. The starting
squares are c1 and f1 for White's bishops, and c8 and f8 for Black's
bishops.

Contents
Movement
History
Name translations
White bishop Black bishop
Comparison to other pieces
Versus rook
Versus knight
Game use
Good bishop and bad bishop
Fianchetto
Endgame
Bishops on opposite colors
Wrong bishop

Unicode
See also
Notes
References
External links

Movement
The bishop has no restrictions in distance for each move, but is limited to diagonal movement. Bishops, like all other pieces except
the knight, cannot jump over other pieces. A bishop captures by occupying the square on which an enemy piece sits.

The bishops may be differentiated according to which wing they begin on, i.e. the king's bishop and queen's bishop. As a
consequence of its diagonal movement, each bishop always remains on either the white or black squares, and so it is also common to
refer to them as light-squared or dark-squared bishops.
 a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
8 8 8 8

7 7 7 7

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4

3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1
a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
Initial placement of the bishops The black bishop can move to any of the
squares marked by a black dot. The
white bishop can move to any square
marked by a white dot or capture the
black pawn.

History
The bishop's predecessor in medieval chess,shatranj (originally chaturanga), was the
alfil, meaning "elephant", which could leap two squares along any diagonal, and
could jump over an intervening piece. As a consequence, each fil was restricted to
eight squares, and no fil could attack another. The modern bishop first appeared
shortly after 1200 in Courier chess.[1] A piece with this move, called a cocatriz or
crocodile, is part of the Grande Acedrex in the game book compiled in 1283 for
King Alfonso X of Castile. The game is attributed to "India", then a very vague
term.[2] About half a century later Muḥammad ibn Maḥmud al-Āmulī, in his
Treasury of the Sciences, describes an expanded form of chess with two pieces Permitted bishop moves
moving "like the rook but obliquely".[3] The bishop was also independently invented
in Japan at about the same time (the 13th century), where it formed part of sho shogi
and dai shogi; it remains present in modernshogi as the direct descendant of sho shogi.

Derivatives of alfil survive in the languages of the two countries where chess was first introduced
within Western Europe—Italian (alfiere) and Spanish (alfil).[4] It was known as the aufin in French,[5]
or the aufin, alphin, or archer in early English.[6]

The term "bishop" first entered the English language in the 16th century, with the first known written
example dating back to 1560s.[6] In all other Germanic languages, except for Icelandic, it is called
various names, all of which directly translate to English as "runner" or "messenger" (e.g. in
Norwegian "Løper", in Danish "Løber", in Swedish "Löpare", in German "Läufer" and in Dutch
"loper"; in Finnish, the word is "lähetti", and in Polish, "goniec", both with the same meaning). In
Romanian, it is known as "nebun" which refers to a crazy person (similarly to the French name "Fou"
(fool) which is most likely derived from "Fou du roi", a jester).[7] In Icelandic, however, it is called
"biskup",[8] with the same meaning as in English. Interestingly, the use of the term in Icelandic
predates that of the English language, as the first mentioning of "biskup" in Icelandic texts dates back A pre-Staunton
to the early part of the 14th century, while the 12th-century Lewis Chessmen portray the bishop as an bishop
unambiguously ecclesiastical figure. In The Saga of Earl Mágus, which was written in Iceland somewhere between 1300–1325, it is
described how an emperor was checkmated by a bishop. This has led to some speculations as to the origin of the English use of the
term "bishop".[9][10]

The canonical chessmen date back to the Staunton chess set of 1849. The piece's deep groove symbolizes a bishop's (or abbot's)
mitre. Some have written that the groove originated from the original form of the piece, an elephant[11][12] with the groove
representing the elephant's tusks (see photo in the history section).[13] The British chose to call the piece a bishop because the
projections at the top resembled a mitre.[14] This groove was interpreted differently in different countries as the game moved to
Europe; in France, for example, the groove was taken to be a jester's cap, hence in France the bishop is called "fou" (the "jester"; the
word can also mean madman or gannet) and in Romania thenebun (madman).[15]

In some Slavic languages (e.g. Czech/Slovak) the bishop is called střelec/strelec, which directly translates to English as a "shooter"
meaning an archer, while in others it is still known as "elephant" (e.g. Russian slon). In South Slavic languagesit is usually known as
lovac, meaning "hunter", or laufer, taken from the German name for the same piece (laufer is also alternative Polish name). An
alternative name for bishop in Russian is officer (Russian: офицер); it is also called αξιωματικός (axiomatikos) in Greek, афіцэр
(afitser) in Belarusian and oficeri in Albanian.

In Mongolian and several Indian languages it is called thecamel.

In Lithuanian it is the rikis, a kind of military commander inmedieval Lithuania.

Name translations
 Language Name English translation
Sanskrit (original) Gaja Elephant
Arabic (adopted) al-Fil Elephant
Greek Αξιωματικός Officer
Hebrew Ratz - ‫רץ‬ Messenger, runner
Romance languages
Spanish Alfil From Arabic "Elephant"
Italian Alfiere Standard-bearer
Portuguese Bispo Bishop
French Fou Jester, fool
Romanian Nebun Jester, fool
Catalan Alfil From Arabic "Elephant"
Germanic languages
English Bishop Bishop
Icelandic Biskup Bishop
Danish Løber Messenger, runner
Norwegian Løper Messenger, runner
Swedish Löpare Messenger, runner
Dutch Loper Messenger, runner
German Läufer Messenger, runner
Finno-Ugric languages
Finnish Lähetti Messenger, runner
Hungarian Futó Messenger, runner
Estonian Oda Spear, lance
Balto-Slavic languages
Polish Goniec Messenger, runner
Czech Střelec Archer, shooter
Slovak Strelec Archer, shooter
Serbo-Croat Lovac Hunter
Russian Slon Elephant
Bulgarian Ofitser Officer
Lithuanian Rikis Chieftain
Turkic languages
Turkish Fil Elephant

Comparison to other pieces

Versus rook
A rook is generally worth about two pawns more than a bishop (see Chess piece relative value and the exchange). The bishop has
access to only half of the squares on the board, whereas all squares of the board are accessible to the rook. On an empty board, a rook
always attacks fourteen squares, whereas a bishop attacks no more than thirteen and sometimes as few as seven, depending on how
near it is to the center. Also, a king and rook can force checkmate against a lone king, while a king and bishop cannot.

Versus knight
In general bishops are approximately equal in strength to knights, but depending on the game situation either may have a distinct
advantage.

Less experienced players tend to underrate the bishop compared to the knight because the knight can reach all squares and is more
adept at forking. More experienced players understand the power of the bishopMednis
( 1990:2).

Bishops usually gain in relative strength towards the endgame as more pieces are captured and more open lines become available on
which they can operate. A bishop can easily influence both wings simultaneously, whereas a knight is less capable of doing so. In an
open endgame, a pair of bishops is decidedly superior to either a bishop and a knight, or two knights. A player possessing a pair of
bishops has a strategic weapon in the form of a long-term threat to trade down to an advantageous endgame.

Two bishops vs. king can force checkmate, whereas two knights cannot. A bishop and knight can force mate, but with far greater
difficulty than two bishops.

In certain positions a bishop can by itself lose a move (see triangulation and tempo), while a knight can never do so. The bishop is
capable of skewering or pinning a piece, while the knight can do neither. A bishop can in some situations hinder a knight from
moving. In these situations, the bishop is said to be "dominating" the knight.

On the other hand, in the opening and middlegame a bishop may be hemmed in by pawns of both players, and thus be inferior to a
knight which can jump over them. A knight check cannot be blocked but a bishop check can. Furthermore, on a crowded board a
knight has many tactical opportunities to fork two enemy pieces. A bishop can fork, but opportunities are more rare. One such
example occurs in the position illustrated, which arises from the Ruy Lopez: 1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bb5 a6 4.Ba4 Nf6 5.0-0 b5 6.Bb3
Be7?! 7.d4 d6 8.c3 Bg4 9.h3!? Bxf3 10.Qxf3 exd4 1.Qg3 g6 12.Bh6!

a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
8 8 8 8

7 7 7 7

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4

3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1
a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
A bishop dominating a knight An example of a bishop fork occurs after
12...Nxe4?, when the forking 13.Bd5!
wins material after, e.g., Nxg3 14.Bxc6+
Qd7 15.Bxd7+ Kxd7 16.fxg3.

Game use
Good bishop and bad bishop
In the middlegame, a player with only one bishop should generally place Krasenkow vs. Zvjaginsev
friendly pawns on squares of the color that the bishop cannot move to. This FIDE World Chess Championship
allows the player to control squares of both colors, allows the bishop to move 2004
freely among the pawns, and helps fix enemy pawns on squares on which they a b c d e f g h
can be attacked by the bishop. Such a bishop is often referred to as a "good" 8 8
bishop.
7 7

Conversely, a bishop which is impeded by friendly pawns is often referred to as 6 6

a "bad bishop" (or sometimes, disparagingly, a "tall pawn"). The black light-
5 5
squared bishop in the French Defense is a notorious example of this concept.
4 4
However, a "bad" bishop need not always be a weakness, especially if it is
outside its own pawn chains. In addition, having a "bad" bishop may be 3 3

advantageous in an opposite-colored bishops endgame. Even if the bad bishop is 2 2

passively placed, it may serve a useful defensive function; a well-known quip 1 1
from GM Mihai Suba is that "Bad bishops protect good pawns."[16]
a b c d e f g h

In the position from the game Krasenkow versus Zvjaginsev,[17] a thicket of Position after White's 23rd move

black pawns hems in Black's bishop on c8, so Black is effectively playing with
one piece fewer than White. Although the black pawns also obstruct the white
bishop on e2, it has many more attacking possibilities, and thus is a good bishop vis-à-vis Black's bad bishop. Black resigned after
another ten moves.

Fianchetto
A bishop may be fianchettoed, for example after moving the g2 pawn to g3 and the bishop on f1 to g2. This can form a strong
defense for the castled king on g1 and the bishop can often exert strong pressure on the long diagonal (here h1–a8). A fianchettoed
bishop should generally not be given up lightly, since the resulting holes in the pawn formation may prove to be serious weaknesses,
particularly if the king has castled on that side of the board.

There are nonetheless some modern opening lines where a fianchettoed bishop is given up for a knight in order to double the
opponent's pawns, for example 1.d4 g6 2.c4 Bg7 3.Nc3 c5 4.d5 Bxc3+!? 5.bxc3 f5, a sharp line originated by Roman
Dzindzichashvili. Giving up a fianchettoed queen bishop for a knight is usually less problematic. For example, in Karpov–Browne,
San Antonio 1972, after 1.c4 c5 2.b3 Nf6 3.Bb2 g6?!, Karpov gave up his fianchettoed bishop with 4.Bxf6! exf6 5.Nc3, doubling
Black's pawns and giving him a hole on d5.[18]

Endgame
An endgame in which each player has only one bishop, one controlling the dark squares and the other the light, will often result in a
draw even if one player has a pawn or sometimes two more than the other. The players tend to gain control of squares of opposite
colors, and a deadlock results. In endgames with same-colored bishops, however, even a positional advantage may be enough to win
(Mednis 1990:133–34).

Bishops on opposite colors

Endgames in which each player has only one bishop (and no other pieces besides the king) and
the bishops are on opposite colors are often drawn, even when one side has an extra pawn or
two. Many of these positions would be a win if the bishops were on the same color
.
 H. Wolf vs. P. Leonhardt, 1905 Bogoljubov vs. Blümich, 1925
a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
8 8 8 8

7 7 7 7

6 6 6 6

5 5 5 5

4 4 4 4

3 3 3 3

2 2 2 2

1 1 1 1
a b c d e f g h a b c d e f g h
Draw with either side to move Position after 28...Kf8

The position from Wolf versus Leonhardt (see diagram), shows an important defensive setup. Black can make no progress, since the
white bishop ties the black king to defending the pawn on g4 and it also prevents the advance ...f3+ because it would simply capture
the pawn – then either the other pawn is exchanged for the bishop (an immediate draw) or the pawn advances (an easily drawn
position). Otherwise the bishop alternates between the squares d1 and e2Müller
( & Lamprecht 2001:118).

If two pawns are connected, they normally win if they reach their sixth rank, otherwise the game may be a draw (as above). If two
pawns are separated by onefile they usually draw, but win if they are farther apart F
( ine & Benko 2003:184–204).

In some cases with more pawns on the board, it is actually advantageous to have the bishops on opposite colors if one side has weak
pawns. In the 1925 game of Efim Bogoljubov versus Max Blümich, (see diagram) White wins because of the bishops being on
opposite colors making Black weak on the black squares, the weakness of Black's isolated pawns on the queenside, and the weak
doubled pawns on the kingside (Reinfeld 1947:80–81). The game continued:[19]

29.Kd2 Ke7 30.Kc3 f6 31.Kd4 Be6 32.Kc5 Kd7 33.Kb6 g5 34.Kxa6 Kc7 35.Bb6+ Kc8 36.Bc5
Kc7 37.Bf8 f5 38.Bxg7 f4 39.Bf6 f3 40.gxf3 exf3 41.Bxg5 Bxh3 42.Bf4+ 1–0

Wrong bishop
In an endgame with a bishop, in some cases the bishop is the "wrong bishop", meaning that it is on the wrong color of square for
some purpose (usually promoting a pawn). For example, with just a bishop and a rook pawn, if the bishop cannot control the
promotion square of the pawn, it is said to be the "wrong bishop" or the pawn is said to be the wrong rook pawn. This results in some
positions being drawn (by setting up a fortress) which otherwise would be won.

Unicode
Unicode defines two codepoints for bishop:

♗ U+2657 White Chess Bishop (HTML ♗)

♝ U+265D Black Chess Bishop (HTML ♝)
See also
Bishop and knight checkmate Chess piece relative value
Chess endgame (the) Exchange – a bishop (or knight) for a rook
Chess piece Opposite-colored bishops endgame
 Rules of chess Wrong bishop – a bishop may be on the wrong color
Staunton chess set Wrong rook pawn

Notes
1. Murray 1913, p.483
2. Murray 1913, p.348
3. Murray 1913, p.344
4. The Spanish alfil is simply a loanword of the Persian term, without any other meaning; while the Italian form,
interestingly enough, becamealfiere —an already existing Germanic- or Arabian-derived word for "standard-bearer".
5. Yalom, Marilyn. Birth of the Chess Queen. New York: Perennial, 2004. p. 70.
6. Piececlopedia: Bishop (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bishop) from Online Etymology Dictionary
7. ro:Nebun (șah)
8. Piececlopedia: Bishop (http://www.chessvariants.org/piececlopedia.dir/bishop.html) from chessvariants.org
9. Reopening History of Storied Norse Chessmen(https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/09/arts/09lewis.html) from
nytimes.com
10. Fiske 1905
11. The Oxford Companion to Chess
12. The Everything Chess Basic Book, by the US Chess Federation and Peter Kurzdorfer, 2003, pp. 32–33.
13. Golombek, 1976, p 80
14. Davidson, pp. 35-36
15. Davidson, p. 35
16. Discussions on the strength of bishops is covered e.g. in "The Art of Planning, part 2" by
Jeremy Silman published in
the July 1990 issue of Chess Life. Suba's quote is mentioned e.g. inSecrets of Modern Chess Strategy, Advances
Since Nimzowitsch by John Watson.
17. Krasenkow versus Zvjaginsev(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1292300) Chessgames.com
18. Anatoly Karpov vs. Walter Shawn Browne, 1972 (http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1035250)
Chessgames.com
19. Efim Bogoljubov vs. Max Bluemich, 1925(http://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1030793)
Chessgames.com

References
Barden, Leonard (1980), Play better chess with Leonard Barden, Octopus Books Limited, p. 10,ISBN 978-0-7134-
8769-5
Brace, Edward R. (1977),An Illustrated Dictionary of Chess, Hamlyn Publishing Group, pp. 34–35,ISBN 1-55521-
394-4
Davidson, Henry (1981),A Short History of Chess (1949), McKay, ISBN 0-679-14550-8
Fine, Reuben; Benko, Pal (2003), Basic Chess Endings (1941), McKay, ISBN 0-8129-3493-8
Fiske, Willard (1905), Chess in Iceland and in Icelandic literature, with historical notes on other table games (1905)
,
The Florentine typographical society
Golombek, Harry (1976), Chess: A History, Putnam, ISBN 0-399-11575-7
Hooper, David; Whyld, Kenneth (1992), The Oxford Companion to Chess(2nd ed.), Oxford University Press,
ISBN 0-19-280049-3
Kurzdorfer, Peter (2003), The Everything Chess Basics Book, Adams Media, ISBN 978-1-58062-586-9
Mednis, Edmar (1990), Practical Bishop Endings, Chess Enterprises, ISBN 0-945470-04-5
Müller, Karsten; Lamprecht, Frank (2001), Fundamental Chess Endings, Gambit Publications, ISBN 1-901983-53-6
Murray, H. J. R. (1913), A History of Chess, Oxford University Press
Reinfeld, Fred (1947), Reinfeld on the End-game in Chess, Dover Publications

External links
 Piececlopedia: Bishop by Fergus Duniho andHans Bodlaender

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