FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

1

Vladimir Grabinsky:

The important bishop out of
bishop pair

What is included into essential knowledge
about bishop pair advantage? Apparently,
every schoolboy knows that one has to
open up center. This is declared eagerly,
but the rest is going not that easy. I came
across the players of master level who
didn’t know that with pair of bishops one
has to go into endgame. I like bringing
students into stupor by asking which of
bishop pair is more important. I looked up
the answer in the book Elements of Chess
Strategy written by Ukrainian chess coach
Alexey Kosikov. He brought up many
strong chess players in Kyiv, such as GMs:
V. Baklan, V. Malakhatko, A. Zontakh, S.
Vysochin. Beside his trainer’s
achievements it’s remarkable that Kosikov
also declared several chess rules which are
used by many chess players and coaches.
For example, at his lecture, which was
published in one of Dvoretsky books, there
was mentioned “the principle of the worst
piece” for the first time. But I like even
more his rule about 2 bishops. “To
demonstrate the advantage of bishops
pair one has to prove first of all the
power of that bishop which is missing
for your opponent’s”.
Alexey Kosikov brings few games on this
theme, among them especially impressive
looks his own victory against Agzamov. I
wanted to collect more examples, which
demonstrate on praxis this important and
little known rule. So now I suggest my
positions collection on this topic.

A. Sokolov : Sveshnikov
USSR 1985

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To increase the role of bishop on b2 it’s
important to break its main opponent - the
c5-pawn.
18.b4!!
The best move – with idea to bomb up the
dark squares. If white delayed it for a
move, Black would strengthen the dark
squares with b4, Qd6 just on time.
18...cb4 19.Na2!!
The key move! This side knight’s retreat is
much stronger than any other natural
knight jumps. 19.Nb5?! ab5 20.Rc6 ba4
and pawns on the queenside look
dangerously; 19.Ne4!? de4 20.Rc6 e3!
21.fe3 ba4 22.f5 and the positions seem
promising for white but still it’s more
irrational and really less convincing than
the one Andrei Sokolov achieved in his
game.
19...Rac8

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FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

2

20.a5!!
This is the quiet move which is so hard to
notice at the beginning. That’s why only
few students can find the right idea of
breakthrough which starts with the b4
move.
20...Nb8 21.Nb4?
It’s haste. Andrei Sokolov in his
commentaries recommended 21.Qb3!?
hinting on capture on b4 with all comfort,
but this gives chance to remove blockade
with pawn sacrifice 21...d4! 22.Bd4
(22.Qb4 Qd8!) 22...Bg2 23.Kg2 Nc6.
Apparently we come to conclusion that the
best choice is 21.Bd4!, with possible
variation 21...Bd7 22.Rc8 Bc8 23.Qa1!
Nbd7 24.Qb2 and White has total
domination over dark squares!
21...Qb4 22.Bf6 Nd7
Again interesting was 22...d4!
23.Ba1 Qd6
The best chance was 23...Nc5. Taking
pawn would be dangerous: 23...Qa5?
24.Qg4! Nice geometry. White creates the
threat of Rc6 and same time activates his
queen (24.Qb3 was recommended by
Andrei Sokolov, but Black could hold
position in the natural way 24...Qb6! with
the same idea to push d4.) 24...Qd8 25.f5.
Queen turned to be aiming to go to d4.
24.Qb3 d4 25.Bc6 Rc6 26.Rc6 Qc6
27.Bd4 h5 28.h4 Re2 29.Qb4 Nf8 30.Re1
Qc2 31.Re2 Qe2 32.Qd6 +-

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And after White finally coordinated his
pieces, black is really bad. The dark
squares are too weak.
32...Qe6 33.Qd8 Qc6 34.Bb2! Qe6 35.Be5
f5 36.Bd6 Qf7 37.Qc8 Kg7 38.Qa6 Ne6

39.Qb6 b4 40.a6 b3 1:0.

Short : Zilber
Hastings 1979

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14 year old Nigel Short successively
implemented strategy of weakening dark
squares for his bishop c3.
20.Qd3!
At first the youngster makes pawn
structure around the black king more
friable. Impatient 20.d5 won’t work:
20...cd5 21.Rd1 Ne7.
20...f5
Even worse is 20...g6 21.d5 cd5 (21...Bf5
22.Qd4 Bc2 23.Qf6 Kf8 24.Bd2!! not
allowing to escape from the sinking ship.)
22.Qd4 Qd8 23.cd5 Bd5 24.Rd1 Nb6
25.Ba5.
21.g4 Ne7 22.Bb4!
Pushing his opponent to do further
weakening.
22...g6 23.Bc3!
The Moor has done his duty.
23...f6

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24.g5! fg5

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

3

Density of Black’s KS pawns is totally
destroyed and it’s time to set mate.
25.d5! Nd5
Black has to sacrifice the knight out of
necessity. 25...cd5 26.Qd4 and mate is
inevitable.
26.cd5 Qd5 27.Qe3!
Precise realization of advantage! White
doesn’t want to make a bad bargain by
prematurely trading his initiative for
comfortable endgame.
27...f4 28.Qb6 c5 29.Re1 Qc6 30.Qc6 bc6
Black finally persuaded his opponent to
trade queens, but endgame is hopeless for
him now.
31.Bf6 g4 32.Bg5 f3 33.gf3 gf3 34.Re3
Bf7 35.Re8 Be8 36.Be7 Bf7 37.Bc5 Bd5
38.Kh2 Kg7 39.Kg3 Kf6 40.Bd4 Kg5
41.b4 h5 42.Be3 Kf6 43.Kh4 Bf7 44.Bd4
Ke7 45.Be4 Be8 46.Bf3 Kd6 47.Kg5 Ke6
48.Be4 Kd6 49.f4 1:0.

Daniliuk : Odesskij
Pardubice 1994

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White is hinting directly on KS attack. It
seems unreal to talk about bishop pair
advantage now looking at light square
bishop of Black. But the famous chess
journalist found absolutely right strategy
by choosing unobvious counter play on
light squares.
19...c5! 20.Kh2?
Too slow. It was important to develop his
king side attack without delay. But even in
that case computer prefers Black’s position
after 20.f4 b6 21.f5 Bb7.

20...b6!
Black continues to create successively the
battery on the long diagonal.
21.f4 Bb7 22.f5 d4

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Do you see advantage of bishop pair? No!
It’s advantage of the bishop!
23.Bf4 Qd5 24.g5
Possibly it was better to transfer into
endgame - 24.Qe4!?
24...d3 25.Qd2 c4 26.Ne4 a5
With idea Bb4.
27.Nc3 Qc6 28.a4 Rad8 29.f6 Bb4
30.fg7?
After this mistake position is lost, but it’s
hard to give for White any advice here.
30...Rd4 31.Rg1 Re4 32.Rae1 Re1 33.Re1
Re7 34.g6 Qg6 35.Rg1 Qc6 36.Qf2 Rg7
37.Be3 Rg1 38.Qg1 Qg6 39.Qf2 Be7
40.Bb6

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40...Bg5!
With unstoppable threat of Bf4 0:1.

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

4

Kramnik : Gelfand
Belgrade 1997

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23.Qc1!!
Excellent maneuver with which Kramnik
coordinates his pieces. The bishop which
was passive on f3 is transferred to diagonal
a2-g8, where together with his mate they
create massive battery. The queen gives
way for him out of courtesy.
23...Qc4
It’s impossible to prevent setting up battery
with 23...Nc4?, because of losing
exchange: 24.Bd1+-.
24.Bd1 Qc1 25.Rc1 Rfc8 26.Bb3 Kh7
27.Ne6
Probably better was 27.Na6, preventing
counter play with a5 and thus restricting
more opponent’s pieces.
27...a5!
Right counter play. Black tries to chase
Bb3 from strong positions and thus
increase space for activity of his pieces.

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28.Ng7!?
It is funny to lecture Kramnik about
unjustified exchange of strong Knight for
poor bishop. If White won, everybody
would praise Vladimir for his concrete
approach to position, rejection of
stereotypes, etc. The square e6 is needed
for the bishop, so White’s decision of
exchange is right.
28...Kg7 29.Be6 Nbd7 30.Red1 Ra7
31.Bb2 Rcc7
More active way of defense was 31...Rb8!
32.Ba1 Rb6 33.Rd6 Rab7 …c5.
32.f3 Kf8?! 33.Rd6 Rab7 34.Ba3 c5
35.Bd7 Nd7 36.Rg6 Kf7 37.Rh6 c4
And Gelfand managed to hold draw after
tough defense passing through lost
position:
38.g3 fg3 39.hg3 c3 40.Rc2 Nf8 41.Bd6
Rb1 42.Kf2 Rb2 43.Bc7 Rc2 44.Ke3 Ra2
45.Be5 c2 46.Rc6 Ra3 47.Ke2 Ra2
48.Kd2 Ne6 49.f4 c1Q 50.Kc1 Ra4
51.Kd2 Re4 52.Bc3 Ke7 53.Kd3 Ra4
54.f5 Nd8 55.Ra6 Nf7 56.Ra7 Ke8
57.Ra8 Ke7 58.Ra7 Ke8 59.Ra5 Rg4
60.Be1 Ke7 61.Bf2 Ng5 62.Ra6 Kf7
63.Ke2 Ne4 64.Ra5 Rg5 65.Kf3 Nf2
66.Kf2 Kf6 ½.

Salem : Hrabinska
Dubai 2011

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The main problem of White is his poor
bishop on b2. White was ready to meet any
normal move like Be6 or Nd7 with c4,
opening up his dark square bishop, who
would afterwards cause many troubles to

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

5

Black. She could have traded on d4, but
the woman I love reasonable sacrificed
pawn for blockade.
17...c4! 18.Nc5?!
If sacrifice is accepted (18.Qc4), then after
18...Be6 19.Qe2 b5 Black has enough
compensation for the pawn because of
squares c4 and d5 and the awful bishop on
b2.
18...b5?!
Myroslava sacrifices pawn with her second
consecutive move, but this time she had
even better opportunity. Though it doesn’t
look human - 18...Na5!, but computer
insists that it’s very strong, as after it
protects pawn a6 with Bc8 and prepares
very unpleasant for the knight move b6
which brings good advantage for Black:
19.a4 Bc8.
19.Na6 Qb6
Again it’s human move but not the
strongest one. Black could obtain
advantage after 19...Qc8! with the idea
after 20.Nc5 to play 20...Rd5! and now
Black pieces are looking in the direction of
white’s king, with unambiguous threat to
take on h3.
20.Nc5 Nd7 21.Nd7 Rd7 22.Bb1 Ne7
It’s quite clear where Knight is aiming.

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23.f4
It was the high time to reanimate bishops
23.a4! ba4 24.Ba3!
23...f6?!
Black passively defends against g4 threat.
Better was 23...Qg6 with idea h5 24.g4 h5.
24.g4 Bg6 25.a4

25.f5! Bf7 26.Rf4!! (26.Be4? Nd5)
26...Nd5 27.Re4! Re4 28.Be4.
25...Nd5 26.ab5 Qb5 27.Ba2 Rc7 28.Ra1
Bf7 29.Qd2

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The talented Emirati GM is giving away
his pawn not out of want but out of
necessity. It’s little pleasure to struggle
after 29.Rfb1 Qc6 and it’s an amazing bo
of white pieces in the corner 30.Qd2 f5!
31.gf5 Ne7.
29...Ne3 30.Qe3 Qb2 31.Rfb1 Qc2
32.Re1
Threatening Bb1.
32...Qb2
More precise was the prophylactic
32...Qa4! and White still has to fight for
equality.
33.Reb1 Qc2 34.Re1 Qb2 ½.

Nikolic P. : Short
Belgrade 1987

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Predrag Nikolic found an unexpected way

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

6

how to transform his bishop e3 to the main
piece in the position.
24.Qd2!!
This double attack doesn’t seem dangerous
at first sight. After all taking the rook pawn
on a5 and trading it for own central pawn
on e5, which improves Black’s knight on
f7 and also opens his rook on a8, doesn’t
look like advantageous for White.
24...Bc6 25.Qa5 Ne5 26.Qc3 Qf6

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27.Bc1!
Here is the main point. It turns out that
pawn e5 was on the way of own bishop, so
the darksquare bishop is going to dominate
now.
27...Nd7 28.Qf6 Rf6 29.Bb2 e5 30.Nd5
Rf7 31.f4 e4

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32.Bh3
Also possible was the immediate 32.g4 fg4
33.Be4.
32...Re8 33.Ne3 Ref8
33...g6 34.g4. A nice picture with ideal set

up of white pieces.
34.Rd6 Nc7 35.Rfd1 Ne8 36.Rc6! +– bc6
37.Bf5 Nef6 38.Be6 Rb8 39.Be5!
The pair of bishops is all their best!
39...Re8
It’s not good to take 39...Rb3, because
40.Bf6 gf6 41.Rd7.
40.Rd6 Kf8 41.Bf7 Kf7 42.Rc6 Ne5
43.fe5 Re5 44.a4 Nd7 45.a5 Re8 46.a6
Ra8 47.Nd5 Ne5 48.Rb6 e3 49.Ne3 1:0.

Melkumyan : Caruana
Moscow 2008

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17.h4!
With his next move Black wanted to chase
the bishop away after move g6. So white
plays prophylactic h4 to vacate the square
h3 for his bishop from which he keeps
controlling important square c8.Conceptual
opening center with pair of bishops (17.e4)
wouldn’t bring any advantage.
17...Rfe8
On the first sight it seems that Black can
occupy the outpost c4 with 17...e4 18.Qe2
g6 19.Bh3 Nb6, but knight can’t reach c4
because of permanent threat of Nd5. 20.a4
Kg7 (20...Nc4? 21.Nd5!) 21.a5 Nc4
22.Be1, with threat Nd5 again.
18.Rc2 a6?!
Multifunctional but not the strongest move.
Fabiano Caruana planned to attack d4 with
the bishop from a7, also he covered the b5
square from knight intrusion. It would be
better to move knight to e6: 18...e4 19.Qe2
Nf8 20.a4 Ne6 and restrict the white’s
bishop in this way.

FIDE Surveys – Vladimir Grabinsky

7

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19.Na4! e4
19...Ba7 20.Nc5.
20.Qe2 Nb6?
After this exchange there’s nobody left to
oppose the white’s light-square bishop.
21.Nb6 Qb6

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22.a4!
White easily develops his initiative on the
queenside now.
22...Re7 23.a5 Qd6 24.b5 Rc7 25.Rb2!?
ab5 26.Rfb1 Ne8 27.Rb5 Qc6 28.Bb4
Qa6 29.Bc5 g6 30.Bh3 Nd6 31.Bd6 Rd6
32.Qa2 Kg7 33.Bf1! Qc6 34.Qb3
With the winning position for Hrant
Melkumyan.
34...Rd8 35.Rb7 Rb7 36.Qb7 Qc3 37.a6
Qa3 38.Rb5 Qa2 39.Qe7 Rf8 40.Rb8 1:0.