How the Bishop Moves in Chess
In the fourth stage, your child learns how the bishop moves: why there are light-squared and dark-squared bishops, what gets in a bishop’s way, how it captures the opponent’s pieces and how it attacks them. The stage is made up of short videos, explanations and 95 exercises on an interactive board.
What’s in this stage
- How the bishop moves in chess — 10 exercises
- Moving the bishop from square to square — 6 exercises
- Can a bishop jump over pieces — 16 exercises
- How the bishop captures — 7 exercises
- Which piece is best to capture — 8 exercises
- How the bishop attacks pieces — 20 exercises
- Attacking several pieces at once — 6 exercises
- Test yourself: exercises on everything you’ve learned — 22 exercises
Total: 95 exercises
How the bishop moves in chess
The bishop moves only diagonally, any number of empty squares, in one direction per move. That’s why a bishop stays on squares of the same color for the whole game: at the start, each player has one light-squared and one dark-squared bishop. A light-squared bishop and a dark-squared bishop can never attack each other. A bishop is worth 3 pawns.
Moving the bishop from square to square
The players take turns: White, Black, then White again. In a single move a bishop can travel the whole long diagonal, for example from h1 to a8.
Can a bishop jump over pieces
No. Just like the rook, a bishop can’t jump over any pieces, its own or the opponent’s: it travels along the empty squares of a diagonal up to the first obstacle.
How the bishop captures
The bishop captures the same way it moves: if the first thing on its diagonal is an opponent’s piece or pawn, the bishop can capture it. Capturing isn’t compulsory.
Which piece is best to capture
If the bishop can capture several pieces, it’s usually best to take the most valuable one: the queen (9 pawns) before a rook (5), a rook before a knight or a bishop (3).
How the bishop attacks pieces
To attack a piece, the bishop has to get onto the same diagonal as that piece. It can only attack pieces standing on squares of its own color: a piece on a dark square can be attacked only by the dark-squared bishop. Sometimes you can attack a piece by capturing another one on the way.
Attacking several pieces at once
A well-placed bishop can attack two or three pieces at once, along different diagonals at the same time.
Test yourself: exercises on everything you’ve learned
A mix of exercises on every topic in this stage: moves, obstacles, capturing and attacking. In the next stage: the queen, the strongest piece.