The Bishop Chess Piece

Marble Chess Board

The Bishop is another chess piece that starts on the back row.  Remember one Bishop is right next to the King and the other is right next to the Queen.

He has the same distance capability as the Queen and the Rook, except, that he only moves diagonally. An easy way to remember that is to remember that a Bishop will only be able to move on the color of the square he starts out on. If the Bishop is on a white square, he will always stay on white squares to move. The same moves, only on black squares, for a Bishop that starts out on a black square. He may not at any time zig-zag. Notice on the diagram how a Bishop can move diagonally.

How the Bishop Moves

Of course, remember that the squares just have to be different colors, they do not have to be black and white for you to practice the game.

The Bishop may be referred to as the Queen's Bishop or the King's Bishop in order to identify which chess piece they are. They do not have to follow the Queen chess piece moves nor do they follow the King, it is just a way of identifying which piece they are. Since they are "forever doomed" to play on only one color you may look at them as in a prison type setting. I prefer to look at them as a guard. I imagine them as tall and majestic with authority. Nobody I would want to fool with.

The Bishop will capture as any other piece. He will occupy the chess piece that he lands on and takes the opposing piece out of the game.

One white Bishop can capture
the black Rook
The other white Bishop can capture
the Black King

The Bishop will capture anything that lands on his territory. A white Bishop that is on a black square can capture the King. That leaves the white Bishop on the white square waiting to capture the Rook. You can see how this works in the diagram.

It is pretty simple to remember that the Bishop chess piece moves have to stay on the white squares if he starts out on the white squares, and he has to stay on the black squares if he starts out on the black squares.

How do you picture this bishop and what will you think of to remind you of his role and his movements?

Bishop

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