Clash of Bishops

A clash of bishops
By Malcolm Pein
Last Updated: 12:01am
GMT 16/01/2008

The curse of the opposite coloured bishops struck in the third round of Group A at the Corus Wijk aan Zee Chess Festival. All seven games were drawn and four ended in endgames with opposite coloured bishops and there was no point continuing.

Opposite bishops produce drawish endgames because the bishops can easily blockade enemy passed pawns as the opposing bishop cannot lend support. They can also defend their own pawns easily and be of little offensive use if the opponent’s pawns are on the opposite coloured square. Even if one side is a pawn or sometimes two pawns to the good the game cannot be won and there are even some positions with three extra pawns where a blockade can be set up.

There was only one very long game as Teimour Radjabov had to cling on for 85 moves against Vladimir Kramnik’s trainer Loek van Wely in a Semi Slav Defence. One of the reasons Van Wely has been hired by Kramnik is his detailed knowledge of the Semi Slav which both Kramnik and Anand play so to an extent this game was war by proxy.

Radjabov upset Anand in this opening in round one but found Van Wely made of sterner stuff. The Dutchman whipped out twenty moves in five minutes but then missed a win and Radjabov staved off defeat in a position with rook and a pawn on a5 vs bishop and a pawn on a4.

Here is the full article.