Lesson 5: THE BISHOP

The Bishop moves diagonally on the color it stands in the initial position. Black has two Bishops, a light square Bishop and a dark square Bishop. The light square Bishop starts on c8 and the dark square Bishop starts on f8. White has two Bishops too, a light square Bishop and a dark square Bishop. The light square Bishop starts on c1 and the dark square Bishop starts on f1. The Bishop on c1 can move to h6 in one move. The Bishop on f1 is restricted by the pawn on d3 and may not jump over it. If the player wants to move the Bishop to c4 the pawn has to be moved forward from d3 to d4 (d4). It can thus only move from f1 to e2.

The Bishop on f1 may also capture the black knight on h3. The Bishop on f8 is restricted by the pawn on e7. It can move to either g7 or h6. The Bishop on c8 can move to g4, it attacks the Rook on a6 and protects the Knight on h3. If the Bishop on f1 captures the Knight on h3 (Bxh3) then the Bishop on c8 can capture the Bishop on h3 (Bxh3). The Bishop can move forward and backwards diagonally. In the diagram position the Bishop on c8 can attack the King on h1 by moving to b7 (Bb7+) the + is used to indicate a check which is an attack on the King. The bishop has a restriction and that is any one Bishop can only move on 32 squares (light or dark) of the chess board.