Trapped Bishops
So I'm sure all of us has played a game with a position something like this:
Where you literally can't find a place to put that gosh darn bishop. And that bishop blocks your lonely rook on a8, and then your position is just bad. More often than not, your bishops(Especially the queen's bishop) will have a hard time getting into the game in certain openings, for example, the "french bishop". But then some positions take it one step further, to the point where the bishop actually has no moves at all! I don't think there's actually a term for this(Create a suggestion in the comments below 
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Let's take a further look at the position above:
| Square | Why can't the bishop go there? |
| d7 | Bd7-b5 would be a good plan, but Bd7 hangs the pawn on d5 to simply Qxd5. |
| e6 | Would lose a pawn after Be6 Nxe6 fxe6 Rxe6 |
| f5 | Loses the bishop to Nxf5 or Qxf5 |
| g4 | En prise to hxg4 or Qxg4 |
| b7 |
b7-b5 followed by Bc8-b7 makes too many weaknesses after b5 axb6 Rb8 Ra5! |
In particular, the knight on d4 occupies an exceptionally good post to hinder the poor queen's bishop. e6, f5, and c6 are all squares the bishop would like to move to but are covered.
However, a blockading knight isn't the only way for a bishop to become stuck.
An ill-positioned bishop can fall victim to what I call "the pawn cage"
This pattern can be found in more mainstream openings as well:
- Break down the opponent's pawn chain, starting with the base in order to open the bishop
- Find a pawn push that gains space for the bishop
- And probably the most effective, I've come to realize that sometimes the bishop really is best placed on its home square! If you just don't move it, it can still have power! (I will discuss this in my King's Indian Article coming up. Don't miss it!
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)Remember, it takes just one bad piece to make an entire position bad, so try to avoid them in the first place.
This is Austin, Signing off 
