- A Bad Bishop is a Bishop hampered by its own pawns. If it's your only piece, or one of a few pieces remaining, it can lose you the game (Bernstein-Mieses)
- If your position overall is good, you can tolerate a poor Bishop in the mix. Several defences ask Black to put up with a bad Bishop (French Defence, Orthodox QGD) and they have lasted OK
Click [...] to see list of games
[Event "Coburg"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "1904.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "Bernstein, Ossip"]
[Black "Mieses, Jacques"]
[Result "1-0"]
[ECO "B45"]
[Annotator "pawns: colour complex"]
[PlyCount "97"]
[EventDate "1921.??.??"]
[EventType "corr"]
1. e4 c5 2. Nc3 e6
{This releases the Bf8 but blocks the Bc8}
3. Nf3 Nc6 4. d4 cxd4 5. Nxd4 Nf6 6. Nxc6 bxc6 7. e5 Nd5 8.
Ne4 f5 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nd6+ Bxd6 11. Qxd6 Ne4
{White had swapped off Black's good Bishop and left Black with the worse one, blocked by the Pawns on light squares. Some young players think that because the Bishop defends the Pawns and the Pawns defend each other, then Black must be solid and safe. But the remaining Bishop is only half a piece, a tall Pawn we sometimes say, and Black has nothing to defend the dark squares.}
12. Qd4 Nf6 13. Qd6 Ne4 14. Qb4
d5 15. Bd3 Qd6 16. Qxd6 Nxd6 17. f4 {[#] ! A key move, preventing the advance
e6-e5 when Black's position is fine. The rest of the game features an iron
determination to prevent any freeing move by Black, and a gradual invasion on
the dark squares.} a5 18. Be3 Ba6 19. Kd2 Nc4+ 20. Bxc4 Bxc4 {[#] It is
sometimes assumed that the presence of opposite-coloured bishops is a powerful
drawing factor. This is true of some simple or blocked positions, when perhaps there are only the bishops on the board, but Black stands badly because of the weak dark squares.} 21. a4 Kd7 22. b3
Ba6 23. Bb6 Bc8 24. Ke3 Ra6 25. Bc5 Kc7 26. Kd4 Bd7 27. Rhe1 h5 28. Re5 g6 29.
Rg5 Rg8 30. Ke5 Be8 31. Re1 Ra8 32. Kf6 Bd7 33. g3 Rae8 34. Ree5 Rh8 35. Rxg6
Rh7 36. Rg7 Reh8 37. Rxh7 Rxh7 38. Kg6 Rh8 {[#] While there's life...} 39. Kg7
{!} (39. Rxh5?? Be8+) 39... Rd8 40. Rxh5 Be8 {White needs to be sure of his
ground here, as he has an alternative plan of advancing the h-pawn.} 41. Rh7
Rd7+ 42. Kh6 Rxh7+ 43. Kxh7 {How many moves will it take White to Queen a
Pawn? How many for Black?} Bh5 44. h4 Bd1 45. c3 Bxb3 46. g4 Kd7 47. g5 e5 48.
f5 Bxa4 49. f6 {1-0 Bernstein,O-Mieses,J Coburg 1904}
1-0
[Event "?"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White"]
[Black "Defences with a bad Bishop"]
[Result "*"]
[PlyCount "34"]
1. e4 (1. d4 d5 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Nf6 {QGD Orthodox Defence} 4. Bg5 Be7 5. Nf3
O-O 6. e3 h6 7. Bh4 b6 8. Be2 Bb7 9. Bxf6 Bxf6 10. cxd5 exd5 11. b4 c6 12. O-O
Re8 13. Qb3 a5 14. bxa5 Rxa5 15. a4 Nd7 16. Rfe1 Ba6 $11) 1... e6 2. d4 d5 {
French Defence} 3. Nd2 Nf6 4. e5 Nfd7 5. Bd3 c5 6. c3 Nc6 7. Ne2 cxd4 8. cxd4
f6 9. exf6 Nxf6 10. Nf3 Bd6 11. O-O Qc7 12. Bg5 O-O 13. Bh4 Nh5 14. Rc1 g6 15.
Bg3 Nxg3 16. hxg3 Qg7 17. Bb1 g5 $11 *