The Bishop

The Bishop, moves diagonally. Therefore if it is on a white square it will only be able to move on white squares and if it is on a black square it will only be able to move on black sqaures!

If you put two Bishops in the middle of the board, the pattern of squares they attack and can move to, can be likened to a St Andrew's cross. The flag of Scotland has a St. Andrew's cross on it!

What is a Bishop worth? It is accepted that the Bishop is equivalent to three pawns in strength.

What is the abbreviation for a Bishop? B

Look at the board when set up to start a game. There are four Bishops.

White has two Bishops, one which works only on the White squares and another which works only on the Black squares.

In the same way Black has two Bishops, one working on White squares and the other on black squares.

The White Bishop attacks or may move to any of the squares along the Black squared diagonal marked with white stars.

Similarly the Black Bishop attacks or may move to any of the squares along the white squared diagonal marked with black stars.

The White Bishop attacks or may move to any of the squares along the two diagonals marked with white stars .

The Black Bishop attacks or may move to any of the squares along the two diagonals marked with black stars

The pattern of squares that these Bishops attack or may move to is shaped like a cross.

From a centre square a Bishop commands 13 other squares while from the side of the chessboard it commands only 7.

DISCLAIMER: The information given in this site is presented in good faith, but the site-author is human and does make mistakes! Should you find anything that you believe is in error please notify the Webmaster of your finding.

Any teacher using this site to set up a Chess Club needs to refer to their own School's Regulations on running a club within their establishment, and adhere to Health and Safety Provisions made therein. they should also carefully go through any competition rules for tournamnets they enter.