Winning With the Bishop Pair

Don't forget to look at the move list.

Beginners are taught at some point that the bishop pair is, in general, a desirable asset. However, many of them do not know how to fully utilise the strength of the bishop pair. We can draw on Schuh-Grivas to understand how the technique works. Black began by creating static weaknesses on both sides of the board, hence the h6-h5-h4 and a6-a5 pawn pushes. Next, he eliminated White's counterplay, a very important step. The presence of queens makes things somewhat more difficult for Black; he needs to make sure his king doesn't get chased all of a sudden! Then he targeted White's a4 weakness. Once White defended that point, Black swiftly shifted fronts and attacked the kingside. After winning a pawn, Black removed White's counterchances once more. Finally, he conducted the decisive assault which culminated into the win of the knight. So in a nutshell:

1. Remove your opponent's counterplay(ALWAYS take time out to do this; it could mean the difference between a win and a draw)
2. Create weaknesses in multiple sectors
3. Attack one of the weaknesses
4. Once the opponent defends, attack another weakness

The above steps can also be used in bishop vs. knight positions and in middlegame positions. That about sums up this post, hoped you liked it. Constructive criticism would be appreciated.

thanks

kwl