IMPROVE OPENINGS: 5 Bishop Rules EVERY PLAYER Should Know

hey guys in this video I'm going to give you five Bishop rules that every player should know and the first rule includes our Bishop and our own pawns and it says assess your Bishop strength based on your Pawn structure so in general you want to remember that we don't want to block our Bishop with our own pawns let's take a look at this example here we don't want to play Pawn to E3 because after that the bishop is closed and cannot play actively so we don't do that most of the time people play Bishop F4 because after uh we play E3 next this bishop plays actively on this diagonal uh the bishop is outside of the pawn chain in another example we play as black and this time we don't want to play Pawn to E6 because it blocks our light Square bishop and the bishop cannot play actively now or in the near future so instead of E6 we start first with Bishop F5 or Bishop G4 and then we can play Pawn to E6 okay I think this concept is understandable so let's move on to exceptions in Queen's Gambit after D4 D5 PA Pawn to C4 black can easily play Pawn to E6 closing the bishop so where's the difference and actually the difference is here with this Pawn on C4 because it means that there is some action on the queen side which will allow our light Square Bishop to find a good place on the board later on in the game Let's consider here three scenarios the first one is white captures the on D5 we recapture and now we can see that the diagonal is open for our Bishop so we can develop the bishop easily the second example is white decides to um not take the pawn and continue development he plays Knight C3 we play Knight F6 by the way this Pawn seems to be hanging on C4 by taking it right away leads to some complicated variations that I want to escape for today so we play Knight F6 they play Knight F3 we develop the bishop they develop the bishop cast link E3 and at some point we will just take the pawn on C4 and then play B6 bringing this bishop to the long diagonal and the third the third scenario is your opponents play Pawn to C5 so then we can play B6 right away they capture we take towards the center and we got lead in development as our Rook is already opened okay but in this situation where there is no Pawn on C4 white decided to to go Bishop F4 we need to remember that pawn to E6 closes our Bishop and there is no guarantee that we will find a good place for this bishop in the near future and another exception why has a lead in development has more pieces on the board and we always try to prioritize castling but in this scenario we definitely have to do that we cannot keep our King longer in the middle so we want to play Pawn to E6 next develop our dark Square bishop and basically Castle what happens if we decide to not castle and bring the bishop out first Bishop G4 for example he plays Knight E 5 we take the queen and then we lost the game or for example you can do another mistake by playing Bishop F5 then the opponent attacks our Pawn on F7 so we block it and then G4 attacking the bishop we go back H4 and trust me this is a big Advantage for white even though his King is exposed at the moment okay we move on to to the second rule which includes our Bishop and our pieces and the second rule says you can place Bishops behind your own pieces so if we have this type of position people often Play Bishop C4 because Bishop is active on this diagonal or in this type of position people play Bishop F4 again Bishop is opened play actively this is completely fine um in this scenario we have multiple squares for our dark Square Bishop we can develop it to E3 F4 G5 B2 and all these squares have the same value or like very similar but I prefer playing Bishop B2 and even though we placed the bishop behind two pieces first of all we've created very strong battery and the second thing is what we want to remember that while changing the pawn structure in chess might be very difficult sometimes pieces move very fast so there is no problem with placing Bishop on B2 and let's take a look at another example so the question is which Square would you choose to develop the light Square Bishop we have four options and let's discuss all of them so Bishop B5 the bishop is hanging on the opponent's territory and plays actively only on this diagonal uh in my opinion doesn't do too much on uh the second diagonal so I wouldn't play it Bishop C4 it walks into D5 black gets the center with Tempo because we have to move our Bishop again and the third move Bishop D3 looks like a good move and same with Bishop E2 because Bishop plays actively on both diagonals the third rule includes our Bishop and opponent's Bishop and it says trade your weak Bishop for the opponent's strong Bishop let's take a look at the example so here we can see that we have the Central Pawn on dark Square it means that it might stop activity of our dark Square Bishop in some variations if we place our Bishop on B2 it can block our Bishop or E3 this Pawn can block our Bishop so we would say that this bishop will be a bit weaker uh but this bishop will be more active thanks to this Central Pawn uh because it can play actively on both diagonals here and if we look at the position from the opponent's perspective he has the pawn on light Square it means that this bishop could be a bit uh weaker yes because might be blocked by the Central Pawn and this bishop should be better as it can play actively on these diagonals all right good Bishop weaker Bishop so we can think about trading them and instead of playing classical knight3 in this type of position and then Castle actually we can do something different and place our Knight on E2 after that the opponent plays Knight F6 we start with castling and then we might play Bishop F4 offering him Bishop's trade let's take a look at another example so actually here we are in the middle game already but this example I think illustrates very well the concept so the pawns are on light squares it means that this bishop will be strong and one of these middle game ideas in this position will be retreating our Bishop to G3 and trying trade them play Bishop H4 for example opponent plays I don't know H6 Bishop G3 boom and we will trade Bishops let's move on to another example actually this will be uh it's time for exception we can see that we have the pawn chain on light squares so it means that this bishop should be active right better and the opponent has Pawn chain on dark squares it means that this bishop should be weaker but because this bishop is outside of the pawn chain and it's also on the open diagonal this bishop is not so bad so playing Bishop D6 in this case trading offering trading Bishops would not be a mistake okay the next rule includes our Bishop and opponent's Knight and it says Bishops play a little better than knights in open positions so let's take a look here if this Knight wants to get closer to our position it's well restricted by our Bishop and in addition our Bishop attack more squares and that's why we prefer Bishops in open positions let's take a look at this example our Bishop is under attack most of the time I can see that people play Bishop B3 because they like to keep the bishop on the same diagonal with the King which is uh of course correct idea but I also like uh playing Bishop E2 right now because Bishop plays effectively against opponent's Knight and in addition we control both diagonals at the moment in general both Bishop B3 and Bishop E2 are correct [Music] moves here we have a question should we capture the Knight on C6 and I would not recommend taking this Knight right away because if we do that we traded Bishop for the knight in open position which is should be not favorable for us and what we got in compensation we just traded doubled opponent's pawns and in my opinion this is not enough compensation for that so we castle and then after opponent plays Pawn to A6 now we can start considering uh taking on C6 because we double his pawns and we also get extra tempo yes the opponent played A6 uh in this situation but moving Bishop back is also a good move and probably this is something what I would choose and let's take a look at another example so remember to always predict opponent's threats because if you decide to continue development connecting the Rooks and you play for example Queen D2 the opponent might play Knight G4 and now the bishop is stuck cannot Escape it means that this trade is forced yes the opponent will trade his Knight for our Bishop in open position which is favorable for your opponent so always be careful predict opponent's threats a super important topic maybe before we move on to the third rule please remember to subscribe to my channel uh it motivates me a lot for creating more content um that can help you improve the game all right let's jump to the fifth roll it includes our Bishop and opponent's Pawn structure and opponent's pawns and it says pay close attention to the opponent's Pawn chain so here we can see that our Dar Square Bishop plays extremely well on this diagonal all these squares are opened um so this is really good position for our Bishop let's take a look at another example uh here our Bishop is is also very active because the squares are not opened but we attack both opponent's pieces the Knight and the Rook behind and there is also the pawn that we can Target on the queen side so our Bishop is really active on this diagonal and the last example here you probably don't want to play Pawn to G3 and then plays the bishop on G2 because this Pawn chain plays really effectively against your Bishop yeah so placing the bishop on G2 probably will be not the best strategy if you see the pawn chain like that don't try to place the bishop on the same diagonal so in this case if we have this structure probably it will be better to first move the dark Square Bishop Pawn to E3 and then develop this bishop to E2 or D3 uh followed by cast link thanks for watching this video and I strongly encourage you to watch my episode about the chess mindset because this is the most important aspect in order to achieve like long-term success in chess so don't make a mistake and don't skip this topic check out my episode about the chess mindset and see you next time

Channel: IM Chessbrain

Views: 5,872

Keywords: chess videos, chess strategy, chess for beginners, chess tutorial, chess openings, chess lessons, chess tips, learn chess, bishop's opening white, how to get better at chess, chess openings for beginners

Id: uQHQkw9wz0I

Length: 13min 57sec (837 seconds)

Published: Sun May 26 2024