The bishop, by itself, is a powerful piece. However, its value is more than doubled when another bishop is added to it. When two bishops are sweeping the board, nothing is safe from their malevolent eyes.
The bishop pair is a very powerful weapon, since two bishops working together can control many squares from a distance, creating possibilities for tactics and multiple attacks. It’s no wonder that chess coaches usually teach their students to keep their bishop (or not to exchange it for their opponent’s knight). 
So how POWERFUL is a pair of bishops? To answer this question, our guest coach IM Boroljub Zlatanovic has prepared a video lesson for you.
So how POWERFUL is a pair of bishops? To answer this question, our guest coach IM Boroljub Zlatanovic has prepared a video lesson for you.
He will teach you about the bishop pair advantage with an illustrative example – a game played by Mikhail Botvinnik in which he showed his amazing tactical and strategic skills.
You can watch the video lesson below:
Let’s summarise what you would have learnt from this lesson:
Key points
- How to obtain the bishop pair (forcing your opponent to exchange his bishop(s))
- What kind of positions favour the bishop pair?
- How to realize the advantage of the bishop pair?
- How to transfer your material advantage into a positional advantage?
- and lots more
Author information
IM Boroljub Zlatanovic
Boroljub Zlatanovic is a Serbian International Master and professional chess trainer. He became a FIDE Master, and in 1995 was Youth Champion of Serbia and a member of the national youth team. He was a two-time champion of the University of Belgrade and won 10 Serbian Open Chess Tournaments.
P.S. I hope you enjoyed yet another instructive lesson from our guest coach Boroljub Zlatanovic. Have you ever won a game through the advantage gained by the bishop pair? If so, please write in the comments below.
Recommended
Learn about the “Bishop and Company”, key strategic elements of chess, how bishops influence the flow of the game and lots more with “Grandmaster’s Positional Understanding”.
Get the course now by clicking HERE.
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