How to Play Chess

The Bishop

At the beginning of the game, the White bishops will be on the c1-square and the f1-square. The Black bishops will be on the c8-square and the f8-square.

The bishop is less powerful than a rook. The bishop moves to any square on the diagonal(s) on which it stands. When the bishop is on an empty board, and stands on a central square (like e4) he can move to one of 13 squares (See Figure 1).

Since bishops move only on the diagonals, each bishop can cover only half the board. For example the White bishop that starts on the f1-square is called White's light-square-bishop, because it can only travel on the light squares.

 

Just like the queen and rook, the range of the bishop is limited by the edge of the board and any pieces that may be in the way. In the case of a friendly piece, the bishop must stop on a square before it reaches the friendly piece (see Figure 2). In the case of capturing, he moves to the square occupied by the opponent's piece. The player making the capture removes the captured piece immediately from the board.

In Figure 2, the White bishop sits on the f3-square, he attacks the Black pawn at b7. To capture the b7-pawn, one would remove that pawn from the chessboard, and then move the bishop to that square (b7). Notice that the bishop's movements along one of its diagonals is restricted by the placement of the White knight sitting on the h3-square, and the White rook sitting on the f1-square.

To better understand the activities of the bishop, please watch the video at the bottom of the page.

In the next section we will descuss the Knight.