Chess Patterns   ❯   Condition of Knights and Bishops   ❯   Bishops of Opposite Color

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Bishops of Opposite Color

Bishops of Opposite Color

When players have one Bishop each, but these Bishops move on different colored squares, we have a Bishops of Opposite Colors Imbalance. In the middlegame, this situation usually favors the active player, since one Bishop can't defend what the other Bishop is attacking. In the endgame, this imbalance leads to rather drawish positions. In the diagram above, for example, Black can't dislodge White's King from h1.

Ideas for when the remaining Bishops are of Opposite Colors: (1) Fight for the initiative, (2) Restrict the mobility of your opponent's Bishop by placing your pawns on squares of its color and by ensuring they are adequately supported, (3) If in the endgame you are in a worse position, try building a fortress with pawns of the same color as your Bishop.

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Master the Bishops of Opposite Color

When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on Bishops of Opposite Color. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this type of imbalance.

 
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