We've probably all heard how grat the bishop pair was, and I understand the logic behind this claim, but I must admit I never had the occasion to feel it in a game. Most of the time, I played openings where I had to exchange one of my bishop for a knight, or all the minors pieces were exchanged, but now I'm getting into a endgame with the bishop pair, and I wonder how to use them.
Someone has a good example of the mighty bishop pair in action in the endgame ?
Well not the classic endgame you might be thinking about, but these were the end-of-the-game. 😀 The strength of the bishops is they can project their power across the width of the board and the crisscross checking pattern that can develope.
Game 4110954
Game 4245356
Game 4226869
This is one of my best bishop pair games. I think people can over estimate bishop pairs - especially if they have given themselves positional deficiencies in order to get one. But more often then not, it comes in handy- you just have to be patient and not swap them off for anything less then a material gain or if it is totally forcing. Eventually, something seems to present itself, all it takes is a little manouvering.
I think it comes down to two things - range and control. Usually, you having the bishop pair means that your opponant can only oppose one of your bishops and the other one has total dominance over its colour squares.
This, in itself, is not a winning advantage but if you pair the unchecked bishop up with a queen (for example) then suddenly you have created a powerful combination. Also, the added bonus is, you can let your opponant scramble a defence to the threats you are making with this battery and then suddenly switch to attacking with the other bishop.