Bester Alan. Bishops on the Attack

Chessable, Courses, Chess Tactics, Nov 13, 2018.A course devoted to the Bishop and its devastating attacks.This is the second course in the series of attacking pieces. While the first course explored the Knight and the powerful fork attack as one of it's main weapons, this course explores the attacking bishop. The bishop can attack from close or afar. It often attacks without even moving with discovered attacks and mates, and it often supports other pieces in their attack.There are a combination of capture and mating patterns. On the former, remember the LPDO (Loose pieces drop off) coined by John Nunn in “Secrets of Practical Chess”. The loose piece is the inadequately defended piece that is always vulnerable to tactics, and in this course, especially so the pin, skewer, double attack, discovered attack, and the power of double bishops.In the first chapter, find the bishop move(s). This chapter introduces the patterns with the theory that if you drill the patterns enough times you will begin to recognise them in your own games. This chapter is ideally suited for beginners.In the second chapter, Setting up the Bishop - Part 1, find a pre-Bishop-move that will allow the Bishop to make a crucial move or to support a powerful attack. All the patterns in this chapter are repeated from the first chapter, but with a few pre-moves needed to set up the Bishop for the attack.The third chapter, Setting up the Bishop - Part 2 follows on from part 1, but the final Bishop move(s) are NOT repeated from the Bishop Moves chapter. The theme follows the patterns, but each position is unique to the course. The aim is to find the pre-move to set up the Bishop's attack.