Merijn van Delft: Practical chess strategy: The Bishop

When it comes to strategy, one of the key things that chess professionals understand much better than amateur players is the role of the bishop. Why do two bishops (‘the bishop pair’) complement each other to such an extent that they are a major long term force? How is being a long-range piece an essential trademark of the bishop? Why do strong players regularly tuck their bishop away on its initial square? Questions like these will be examined on this strategy video course.

One of the most persistent misunderstandings among chess fans is that positions with opposite-coloured bishops are drawish. In fact, opposite-coloured bishops tend to make the position sharper and are a favourite and often winning weapon of World Champion Magnus Carlsen. The way the bishop moves is much easier to grasp for beginners than the way the knight moves, but, paradoxically, its ways turn out to be more mysterious. Sometimes a seemingly bad bishop turns out to be a good bishop.

Experienced trainer IM Merijn van Delft from the Netherlands has carefully selected 12 instructive games. Most of these games are from absolute elite players, while some are from his own tournament practice, and thus contain first hand explanations. The games are thoroughly analysed and played through with the interactive Chessbase video software. Every one of these games will provide you with a serious training session. Good luck and enjoy!

• Video running time: 6 hours
• With interactive training including video feedback
• More than 100 questions in video format
• 12 instructive games explained

Merijn van Delft is an International Master from the Netherlands who lived in Hamburg for many years and is currently based in Amsterdam. After scoring a GM norm in 2017 he is eager for more. His ChessBase show on Wednesday evenings has been running for over ten years now. Merijn’s activities as a full-time chess professional include training both top juniors and ambitious amateurs, coaching at tournaments, writing articles and books, doing live commentary, organizing tournaments and other chess events.