Bishop pair — what it means in chess
The lasting advantage of keeping both bishops in an open position.
The lasting advantage of keeping both bishops in an open position.
[[board startfen="rnbqkbnr/pppppppp/8/8/8/8/PPPPPPPP/RNBQKBNR w KQkq - 0 1" caption="The French Winawer: Black gives up the dark-squared bishop to wreck White's queenside pawns. White accepts the damage — because two bishops against bishop and knight is a real, durable asset." pgn="e4 e6 d4 d5 Nc3 Bb4 e5 c5 a3 Bxc3+ bxc3" notes="One of chess's oldest bargains is about to be struck: structure against the two bishops. White opens. The French. White claims the center. Black strikes at it. White defends e4 with the knight — — and Black pins it, announcing the trade to come. White advances, gaining space and dodging the tension. Black hits the chain's base. White puts the question to the bishop. Black executes: bishop for knight, doubling White's pawns. The recapture completes the deal. Tally it: Black owns the healthier pawns and the c-file pressure; White owns both bishops on a board that will open. Two half-answers to one question — which is why the Winawer has been argued for a century."]]
The bishop pair is the advantage of holding both bishops when the opponent has traded one away — most often against bishop-and-knight, as White keeps above. Its value is one of the best-supported judgments in the game: across master practice the pair is consistently worth a meaningful fraction of a pawn, enough that "wins the bishop pair" justifies real concessions, and enough that strong players track it the way they track material.
The Endgame Society glossary defines more than 240 chess terms — rules, notation, tactics, strategy, pawn structures, endgames, and openings — in language a beginner can act on rather than dictionary shorthand.