Bishop (chess)

“ When the other men are exchanged off, and you remain with a Bishop and two or three Pawns, it is often proper to keep your Pawns on squares of a different color from those on which your Bishop travels, as he can then prevent the opposing King from approaching them. If, however, you have the worst of the game, it is mostly better then to keep them on the same color as the Bishop, that he may defend them. ”

“ The King's Bishop's Pawn having no support but that of the King, is usually the point to which the first attack is directed, and more than ordinary care should be taken to preserve it. It is rarely good play to move the King's Bishop's Pawn to Bishop's 3d early in the game. ”

“ The weaker the player the more terrible the Knight is to him, but as a player increases in strength the value of the Bishop becomes more evident to him, and of course there is, or should be, a corresponding decrease in his estimation of the value of the Knight as compared to the Bishop. ”

“ White is under the impression that he has the better game, because he is a Pawn ahead, but that is not so. The powerful position of the Black Rook at Q 7 fully compensates Black for the Pawn minus. Besides, the Bishop is better with Rooks than the Knight (see pages 48-56, where the relative values of the Knight and Bishop are compared) , and, as already stated, with Pawns on both sides of the board the Bishop is superior because of its long range. Incidentally, this ending will demonstrate the great power of the Bishop. White's best chance was to take a draw at once, thus. ”

“ A venomous contempt marked Drukker’s manner, but he managed to grin. “Various names, certainly. There’s the king and queen, the rook, the knight——” He broke off. “The bishop! . . .” He lay his head against the casement of the door and began to cackle mirthlessly. “So! That’s what you mean? The bishop! . . . You’re a lot of imbecile children playing a nonsense game.”
“We have excellent reason to believe,” said Vance, with impressive calmness, “that the game is being played by some one else—with the chess bishop as the principal symbol.” ”

“ When the adversary has only his king left, it is very easy to checkmate him with only a queen and king, or only a rook and king. The problem is less easy with king and two bishops, and still less easy with king, knight and bishop, in which case the opposing king has to be driven into a corner square whose colour corresponds with the bishop’s, mate being given with the bishop. A king and two knights cannot mate. ”

“ Doubtless the pieces in that chess game, which Eastern monarchs are said to play with human figures, come to think they move of themselves. The knight chuckles as he makes his tortuous jump at the queen, and the bishop swoops down on the castle with holy joy. ”

“ Be careful, as a general rule, in an open game, not to [38] move your Queen's Pawn one square before you bring out the King's Bishop, as by so doing you leave him but the King's 2d square on which to move, and there his position is defensive rather than attacking.
If strong in Pawns towards the conclusion of the game, endeavor to get rid of the enemy's Bishops, because they can impede the march of your Pawns more readily than either the Rooks or Knights. ”

“ A Knight with three or four Pawns, at the end of a game, has an advantage over a Bishop with an equal number of Pawns, because he can leap from white to black, and thus attack the Pawns on either colored squares, whereas the Bishop can attack them only when they move on squares of the color of his diagonals. ”

“ It is generally thought by amateurs that the Knight is the more valuable piece of the two, the chief reason being that, unlike the Bishop, the Knight can command both Black and White squares. However, the fact is generally overlooked that the Knight, at any one time, {53}has the choice of one colour only. It takes much longer to bring a Knight from one wing to the other. Also, as shown in the following Example, a Bishop can stalemate a Knight ”

“ To a beginner the position may look like a draw, but the advanced player will realise immediately that there are great possibilities for Black to win, not only because he has the initiative, but because of White's undeveloped Queen's side and the fact that a Bishop in such a position is better than a Knight (see Section 14) . It will take some time for White to bring his Rook and Knight into the fray, and Black can utilise it to obtain an advantage. ”

“ The aufin, or bishop, had the same form as the knight, except that the bent end was cleft, probably as an indication of the episcopal mitre. The accompanying figure of a chess-board (No. 144) , taken from a manuscript of the earlier part of the fourteenth century (MS. Cotton. Cleopat. B. ix.) , but no doubt copied from one of the latter part of the thirteenth century, when the Anglo-Norman metrical treatise 208 on chess which it illustrates was composed, gives all the conventional forms of chess-men used at that time. The piece at the left-hand extremity of the lower row is evidently a king. ”

“ A simple examination will show that White is minus a Bishop for all practical purposes. He can only free it by sacrificing one Pawn, and possibly not even then. At least it would lose time besides the Pawn. Black now devotes all his energy to the Queen's side, and, having practically a Bishop more, the result cannot be in doubt. The rest of the game is given, so that the student may see how simple it is to win such a game. {99}
There is no necessity to pay any attention to the King's side, because White gains nothing by exchanging Pawns and opening the King's Rook file. ”

“ The last move would be Bishop to Knight-7, mating. In other words, Pardee was beaten by the black bishop! Incredible!”29
Professor Dillard put down his book.
“What’s this?” he exclaimed, joining us at the chess table. “Pardee was defeated by the bishop?” He gave Vance a shrewd, admiring look. “You evidently had good reason, sir, for investigating that chess game. Pray overlook an old man’s temper.” He stood gazing down at the board with a sad, puzzled expression.
Markham was frowning with deep perplexity.
“You say it’s unusual for a bishop alone to mate?” he asked Arnesson. ”

“ DIAGRAM 31. Pieces that can be used for pinning a hostile man are, apart from the Rooks, the Queen and the Bishops; in fact pinning is the main activity of a Bishop throughout the game. Right after the first few moves one of the Bishops, as a rule, finds an opportunity to pin a hostile Knight. For instance: (1) P-e4, P-e5; (2) Kt-f3, Kt-c6; (3) B-b5 and as soon as the Pawn d7 moves in order to give an outlet to the Bishop c8, the Knight c6 is pinned. Or: (1) P- d4, P-d5; (2) Kt-f3, Kt-f6; (3) P-c4, P-e6 ”

“ The conclusions arrived at by the most able and trustworthy authorities however, are, that chess originated in India, was utterly unknown to the Greeks and Romans, and was first introduced into Europe from Persia shortly after the sixth century of our era. In its earliest Asiatic form styled the Chaturanga, It was adapted for four persons, having four small armies of eight each. King, three pieces answering to our Rook, Bishop, and Knight, Elephant (Chariot or Ship,) and Horse, with four Pawns. The players decided what piece to move by the throw of an oblong die. ”

“ The Queen is apparently the strongest piece. On account of her superior mobility she can confine the hostile King with a few moves and force him into a mating net. Of the other pieces the Rook is no doubt the strongest for he is sufficient to force a mate in conjunction with his own King, while Bishop or Knight cannot do so. Two Bishops apparently are stronger than two Knights, while it is not possible yet to say anything about the relative value of one Bishop and one Knight. ”

“ Fancy what a game at chess would be if all the chessmen had passions and intellects, more or less small and cunning: if you were not only uncertain about your adversary's men, but a little uncertain about your own; if your knight could shuffle himself on to a new square by the sly; if your bishop, in disgust at your castling, could wheedle your pawns out of their places; and if your pawns, hating you because they are pawns, could make away from their appointed posts that you might get checkmate on a sudden. ”

“ Eudes, bishop of Sully, forbade his clergy to play at chess. As they were resolved not to obey the commandment, and yet dared not have a chess-board seen in their houses or cloisters, they had them bound and lettered as books, and played at night, before they went to bed, instead of reading the New Testament or the Lives of the Saints; and the monks called the draft or chess-board their wooden gospels. They had also drinking vessels bound to resemble the breviary, and were found drinking, when it was supposed they were at prayer.—Literary Gazette. ”

“ Two Rooks are slightly stronger than a Queen. They are slightly weaker than two Knights and a Bishop, and a little more so than two Bishops and a Knight. The power of the Knight decreases as the pieces are changed off. The power of the Rook, on the contrary, increases.
The King, a purely defensive piece throughout the middle-game, becomes an offensive piece once all the pieces are off the board, and sometimes even when there are one or two minor pieces left. ”

“ From this document we learn that the Bishop of Autun, notwithstanding his labours in the Assembly, was still a gay frequenter of the world: to be found pretty frequently at the chess-club, as well as in private society ”

“ Black's plan is to play P - K Kt 4, as soon as the circumstances permit, in order to free his Queen and Knight from the pin by the Bishop.
White falls into the trap. Only lack of experience can account for this move. White should have considered that a player of my experience and strength could never allow such a move if it were good. ”

“ K-R8, Kt-K4; 2. K-R2, Kt-Q2; 3. K-R8, Kt-B1; 4. P-R7, Kt-Kt3 mate.
Black with the move cannot win, as he cannot bring about the same position with White to move.
In end-games of BISHOP V. BISHOP, of which we have already had an example in Diagram 70, an extra pawn wins in most cases if the Bishops are of the same colour. It is generally possible to force an exchange of Bishops and obtain one of the well-known pawn endings. ”

“ Rook's 5th square. It is true that he need not have taken the Bishop, but still his King must have moved, and White could then have taken the King's Knight with his Bishop, having always the better position.
But now to proceed with the actual game:—
Bringing out the Knight is good play ”

“ In a good or strong development, the forces cooperate without much obstruction. In a bad or weak development, there is needless obstruction and lack of co-operation which frequently leads to a permanent disadvantage.
Discovered Check. An attack opened upon the King by the removal of an intervening Piece or Pawn. For example: If the Black King occupies KKt7, the White Bishop occupies KKt5, and the White Queen occupies KKt8, by removing the Bishop the file is opened to the Queen and the adverse King is attacked. Moving the Bishop is said to "discover check." ”

“ The Bishop moves diagonally forwards or backwards, to the extent of the Board. ”

“ Minor Pieces.—The Bishop and Knight, in contradistinction to the Queen and Rook, are called Minor Pieces. ”

“ This move is the first one with which White trespasses the "frontier" which may be said to run in the openings of all games between the fourth and fifth ranks of the board. The Bishops are the only pieces for whom there is a field of action in the opponent's camp early in the game. They pin a hostile Knight and thereby exert a certain pressure on the opponent who naturally does not like to see any of his pieces deprived of its mobility. ”

“ This is quite a fascinating little puzzle. Place eight bishops (four black and four white) on the reduced chessboard, as shown in the illustration. The problem is to make the black bishops change places with the white ones, no bishop ever attacking another of the opposite colour. They must move alternately—first a white, then a black, then a white, and so on. When you have succeeded in doing it at all, try to find the fewest possible moves. ”

“ The Prince-Bishop changed colour ever so faintly, the sarcasm of the accent rather than of the words pierced his armour of omnipotence and self-love; he understood why men had dreaded the lash and the steel less than they had dreaded the lightest touch of this woman's scorn. But he was a powerful and accomplished personage, to whom defeat or opposition were heresies unknown; he recovered his momentary discomfiture, and came nearer to her, the warm after-glow on his stately stature and his handsome majestic form, while his lustrous eyes smiled gently. ”

“ The soul of a Bishop is for all the world like a vessel in a storm: lashed from every side, by friends, by foes, by one’s own people, by strangers. Does not the Emperor rule the whole world, the Bishop a single city? Yet a Bishop’s anxieties are as much beyond those of the emperor, as the waters of a river simply moved, by the wind are surpassed in agitation by the swelling and raging sea. ”

“ In this century the game of chess had become extremely popular among the feudal aristocracy—including under that head all who could aspire to knighthood. Already, in the twelfth century, directions for the game had been composed in Latin verse, which seems to show that, in spite of the zeal of men like cardinal Damianus, it was popular among the clergy. ”

“ There was a procession, with the Centum quadraginta, at Matins. At Mass, the boys led the choir. At Vespers the baculus was handed over, while the Deposuit potentes was being sung [1204] . At Bayeux the feast followed the same general lines, but the procession at first Vespers was to the altar, not of the Holy Innocents, but of St. Nicholas [1205] . Precise directions are given as to the functions of the ‘bishop.’ He is to wear a silk tunic and cope, and to have a mitre and pastoral staff, but not a ring. The boys are to do him the same reverence that is done to the real [Pg 346] bishop. ”