your opponents don't know The Bishop's opening yet but they're about to learn it the hard way what's up guys I'm Grandmaster Igor spov and today I'm going to walk you through my favorite Bishop's opening now this is far less common compared to the mainstream move Knight F3 but at the same time The Bishop's opening is solid it is aggressive we are targeting the weakest point of your opponent's position plus we catch your opponent's off guard and there are a number of tricks all along the way on top of that you're going to know everything that
you need about The Bishop's opening today unlike your opponents now after Bishop C4 the two most common moves by far that your opponents are going to be choosing either Knight F6 or Knight to C6 and we'll talk about them both starting from the most popular Knight F6 they're trying to attack your Pawn but here they're about to experience the very first surprise instead of defending this Pawn anyhow we Counter Strike in the center with this Bo move Pawn to D4 now at this point your opponent is at the Crossroad they can either capture this Pawn
or this one and one of these two moves is a pretty significant mistake which already puts them in a very dangerous spot can you guess which move is right if it's not obvious that's great because it means that your opponents will have a hard time figuring out the right one Now spoiler the right one is capturing this Pawn on T4 however certainly many of them will decide to pick this one as they attacked it on their previous move and now it seems logical to just continue with this capture in this case we're going to capture
right here on E5 and this is the problem that your opponents did not expect this KN on e4 is actually kind of shaky and we're about to attack it moreover our Pawn from E5 cuts off these squares where the Knight could possibly Retreat to making the position very vulnerable to our attacks another nice fact about this position is that although you already have pretty decent Advantage but the three most common moves of black are losing the game on this Pawn like Bishop C5 Pawn to D5 and Knight to C6 are three of the most popular
moves and they all lose basically right there within the next two moves again that just goes to show you that The Bishop's opening although unknown but is much trickier than most of your opponents think now let's begin with Bishop to C5 looks like a tempting option as they team up against this p on F2 and once again they expect you to try to defend it somehow but instead we still Counterattack and the move is Queen to D5 in fact that was your major threat prior to them playing Bishop to C5 just overlook this idea overall
and by putting the bishop to C5 they rather reinforced your own threat now the point behind Queen to D5 is that we line up against this Pawn on F7 threatening something like Scholar's Checkmate on top of that we're also attacking this Knight on e4 with with our Queen and now they were gen gentle enough to put the bishop to add the third piece for our attack and which makes it completely defenseless for black they can have this final check but that doesn't change the situation to too much is after the king moves they are still
facing the very same problem they need to guard this Pawn as well as the Knight and now the bishop on F2 is also hanging now of course primarily they need to guard the king therefore they canastel and now we pick up this KN on e4 and we are up a piece plus this bishop on F2 is attacked they'll usually drop it back and at this point it feels like they may have a little compensation because your king was exposed but the reality is actually the opposite not only you're up a piece but you are the
one attacking like you have more space more activity your pieces can easily jump out and start attacking him anyhow the bishop can go here and attack you have more space and more activity basically I'll show an example line of course you don't have to remember it it just goes to show how you can finish it off from here C6 is the most popular move I'm not really sure why I guess they're trying to prepare Pawn D5 break but it's not going to happen after this you can already Play Bishop D3 and threaten check maate on
H7 forcing them to weaken their King but now all all these dark squares around their King are terribly weak and we can now play Bishop G5 basically finishing it off straight away the queen has to move and now we can play Queen H4 trying to put together this simple Checkmate but black is defenseless anyways after they go D5 you play Bishop to F6 trying to play Queen H6 to G7 and if they go Pawn to H5 let this be our puzzle of the day by the way of course white is winning here easily and probably
there are multiple ways to do that but there is only one checkm in four moves and your task is to find it and to write it down in comments below the second most common move by black here is a surprisingly popular blunder Pawn to D5 they are hoping to push your Bishop away but they're just overlooking the fact that besides the bishop you've got this queen standing right here from D1 and also targeting this Pawn therefore that is just a straightforward blunder you can grab the pawn and attack the Knight Force need to go moreover
after the Knight goes there is one more unpleasant surprise for black you now play Bishop takes F7 completely destroying their position and winning the queen they have to move the king away but after that we're about to win the queen but they're defenseless even if they try to hold on to the queen we just add another Bishop to our attack and thanks to the Cure we finish it off and we win the game there is also one more common tactical motive for example if they go Knight to C6 you could play Queen to D5 compar
similar to the main line but on top of that there is also this bishop takes F7 check another thing which your opponents overlooked this is a temporary sacrifice cuz in the next move we continue with Queen D5 therefore we're going to get our piece back with interest now we're up a Pawn Plus we want this really important Pawn on F7 that used to cover their King moreover their King had to move back and forth meaning it lost the right of Castle it cannot Castle King side or queen side in this game it's going to stay
right there in the middle of the board and after that you just keep continue your development and you have a Total Domination that goes to show that Knight takes E4 was wrong and in most cases you're going to win within the next couple moves the correct move by black is Pawn takes D4 and now there is an important Nuance we're not going to get this Pawn back straight away because then they can develop their Knight and gain a Tempo attacking our queen that is why instead we'll do something smarter we're going to develop this Knight
to F3 and at this point most of your PS will be tempted to capture this Pawn on e4 first of all because it looks like a free pawn and secondly because they're annoyed by the fact that otherwise you can push the pawn forward and kick their Knight away therefore they now capture this Pawn E4 and they hope that now they're having a great position they dream about playing D5 shutting down your Bishop solidifying the Knight they think Life's good but this is the moment when you play Queen takes D4 and now there is a difference
they can't play Knight C6 anymore hitting your queen because now they have to guard this St on e4 the KN is hanging and therefore they have to move it back they're going to usually move it back either to D6 or to F6 notice that they can't play D5 because once again we attack the square twice therefore that would just be a blunder of a pawn therefore they need to retreat the Knight either to D6 or to F6 we'll talk about both these options starting from Knight to D6 where they try to gain a Tempo attacking
your Bishop however this is already a decisive mistake and there is a really beautiful way to punish them for this before we dive into this just a quick announcement recently I've created my Twitter account and there I'll be posting content that is not in the format of YouTube because YouTube is just for videos therefore if you use Twitter we can now be friends there feel free to find the link below this video in the description and get connected your opponent that this point was hoping to slow down your attack by attacking this bishop on C4
but we ignore that and we just Castle their King is very exposed here on the E file moreover he can't really do anything he can't develop this bishop trying to Castle because that would drop this Pawn on G7 therefore that's not really an option and if they instead play something like Knight takes C4 or basically any other move we then go Rook E1 we don't even need to recapture the Knight because we're almost about to Checkmate him and after the bishop covers the king it no longer guards this Pawn on G7 therefore we can pick
it up and attack The Rook in the corner The Rook must move and after this we have the beautiful way to finalize our attack Bishop to H6 and now we've got this nasty threat of Queen takes f8 and black is surprisingly defenseless even though it is their turn and although it looks like the bishop guards The Rook but it's not really the case as the bishop is pinned to the king therefore if they play some random move then Queen takes f8 would actually be a Checkmate and even if they provide this Escape path of Queen
takes we actually check the K has to move and now they're completely devastated you're out material you're attacking the Knight obviously their K is dead exposed and hopefully you're going to win this within a couple moves it is much better for black to retreat this Knight to F6 and after that computer tells you that the position is equal but in reality it's really fragile and it's an uphill battle for black the thing is this playful Pony was horsing around and wasted a lot of time playing back and forth during this time you got leading development
and you have great attacking opportunities black needs to be super precise to avoid a quick disaster for example Knight C6 is the move they're probably going to play then you slide over to the king side with Queen to H4 it is putting pressure down this diagonal as we're also going to put our Bishop there and also down the line we're putting pressure along the H file as we expect him to Castle there they are naturally playing Bishop E7 hoping to create some sort of this cowed attacks along this diagonal but it's not going to happen
cuz you play Bishop G5 only reinforcing the pressure by the way H6 is not an issue because that's not even a threat the pawn is pinned down to the rook and therefore he can safely ignore it and just Castle Queen side instead black will usually castle and now he can Castle queenside not only you're putting your king to safety but also putting this Rook to a very active position putting pressure now they're going to go Pawn to D6 trying to develop if they ever play H6 we're going to sack our Bishop right there and finish
them off quickly we'll talk about that in a moment moment after D6 which is the most commonly played move you will actually force them to play H6 by going Bishop D3 yourself and this way we're teaming up against this Pawn on H7 therefore the threat would be to eliminate this Defender by playing Bishop takes the Knight and after that Queen takes H7 mate which forces them to do something against this move now H6 is the move they are going to play hoping for you to trade right here if instead they play Pawn G6 although that
does not lose the game straight away but still they're under under this massive pressure and G6 also weakens all these dark squares you can add The Rook to the attack threatening to capture this bishop and then to capture this KN on F6 and it's actually going to be really tough for them but also G6 just does not look too good again because it creates all these holes around their King H6 looks more natural they hope for you to capture here on F6 and they would indeed have a great position after that but instead you play
Bishop takes H6 you destroy their King and after this it's quite easy to see that it's not going to last long for you to you know finish the game now Queen H7 is not an option straight away because they've got a knight covering that square however you can go Knight G5 and then play Bishop H7 and black is defenseless for example Knight B4 is what they play in most cases you still play Knight to G5 threatening Bishop to H7 check and after they trade on D3 they eliminated one of your attacking pieces but in a
way they made it even worse because now your Rook is about to be brought to the attack and to Checkmate them that that way if they try to block with the bishop you don't have to remember this line I mean from here it's pretty easy to finish it off I'm just showing you an example variation right but when the is so exposed you've got her Queen nearby it's natural that you're going to find a way to finish your attack for example Bishop G6 they're desperately trying to cover and probably there are a number of ways
to finish the game Knight E6 is the quickest one we're attacking the queen we're threatening Queen to G7 Checkmate therefore they have to take it but then Queen Queen takes G6 and now it's all over our battery delivers this Checkmate and we can Checkmate in multiple ways again for example Queen 2 G7 just a quick recap because I understand that there are a lot of variations and it may feel confusing at first but don't forget that your opponents know nothing at all and therefore if you just remember even something you're already far ahead of your
opponents now so at this point after they inaccurately play Pawn to E5 you then hit him hard by the bishop Bishop C4 now OG's know that 3 years a go I recorded my first video about The Bishop's opening and it is up to this day one of the most popular videos on the Channel with millions of views because The Bishop's opening works so effectively now after Bishop to C4 we're talking about the fact that Knight F6 is the most common move they're trying to develop getting ready to Castle later and they attack your Pawn however
you stay cool and you play D4 counterattacking we want to Counterattack of course we do not want to defend our position is great and why would we chicken out and try to guard something now after deep 4 we know that Knight takes C4 is a major mistake by black here putting the Knight to this vulnerable spot that you can utilize later for example by going Queen to D5 therefore Pawn takes D4 here is the only right move for black and now you play Knight to F3 giv them the option to actually go ahead and capture
this second PA on e4 but overeating is bad for their health and that is why it's not a good move instead Knight to C6 is a better alternative just playing like really really solid after that I recommend that you simply Castle getting ready to play Rook E1 if necessary on one of the next moves now here the most common move by black is Bishop C5 because they see that this Pawn is about to be recaptured and they want to guard it as well as to prepare their cting now of course we can't analyze everything this
is actually the scotch Gambit it's another opening I've got another video about that I'll drop a link below in case you want to dive deeper into this but for now I'll just show you one variation that you can use already to win games in this line here you play Pawn to E5 attacking the Knight and after the Knight goes there are different ways to go about this the most aggressive one is Bishop takes F7 calling the king out it's not even a sacrifice because on the next move we've got Knight to G5 check which also
opens up this discovered attack to their Knight meaning you are going to get your piece back on the next move they usually go King to G8 then you grab this Knight back now you're uh about to continue your attack against this King they see that this Pawn on E5 is undefended they capture it hitting your queen you then slide to the middle and attack the Knight and after they guard it all of a sudden they're lost but the variation is kind of unusual you play Queen D5 check the king must move and now Pawn to
F4 your idea is you want to make them move the side away to then play Queen to F7 check mate the fun fact is the most commonly played move in this position is Pawn to C6 they hope for Queen to move away but once again we Counter Strike with Pawn takes E5 they tried to attack your queen but you say hey I'm attacking the king and the king must move now leading to Queen to F7 Checkmate all right now we're approaching the final move that you need to know so far we were talking about KN
of six their most aggressive option putting pressure to your pawn and now we're moving on to the other alternative Knight to C6 but I promise this one is going to be a lot easier here there's just one variation and it gives you simple crushing attack after Knight to C6 we can't play D4 anymore because their pawn and Knight are controlling this square and therefore we're going to switch it over to something that I like calling an improved version of the king's gamut and I'll tell you what that is in a second we then play Pawn
to D3 and after Knight F6 we also just develop and notice that we don't play this move Knight to F3 and we'll see why in a second they then play Bishop to C5 again they play their standard opening moves just like they do in the Italian game but that is the moment where you turn it into kind of an improved version of the Kings Gambit or the a Gambit and why am I saying that this is an improved version well since you launch this attack on the king side with a four you're about to have
some really nice attacking opportunities but unlike the king's Gambit it's not even a Gambit because in the king's Gambit when you play Pawn to F4 right on the second move you're actually gambiing this pawn and then it's not that easy to get it back but here it's not even a Gambit because you've got the bishop guarding the pawn therefore if they take on F4 you thank them you recapture with the bishop they only helped you to develop your Bishop plus they abandon the center and you have a nice game instead they'll usually play Pawn to
D6 now you can play Pawn to F5 shutting down the position you shut down the bishop making it hard for them to develop it anyhow down this diagonal plus you see space on the king side having great opportunities for your future kingside attack also Bishop G5 is on the way and it's not easy for black to deal with it now this is one of those deceptive positions where sish tells your opponents that the situation is equal the reality is they're about to lose the game within the next couple moves in most cases I mean un
last your opponent is like super GM because it's just very hard for black to find proper moves for example if they ever try to go Pawn G6 trying to get rid of this annoying pawn and unblock their Bishop you can ignore that and go Bishop G5 because now this Knight on F6 is even more vulnerable their most common move is Pawn takes F5 but now after Knight to D5 it is time for them to resign and try it again because now the Knight is pinned and you're about to capture it on the next move they
may try something else in most cases they're going to Simply cancel but now after Bishop G5 they're left with all the same problems and again I think that realistically we can claim already that it is winning for white here now Bishop G5 pins the Knight you're about to go Knight to D5 trade off the Knight and expose their King if they try H6 you can be completely brutal and play Pawn H4 it's just a nice thing here and by the way it's not even a trap because it's actually a good move because they have no
way out of this thing now you're still about to go Knight D5 and then destroy their Pawn shield around their King and attack but if they ever capture right here then it makes situation even worse for them because now also you've got this file for your rook and you are attacking the Knight right here if the Knight go somewhere by the way notice that our Queen controls this square that I can't go forward but if it goes backward you then play Queen H5 and that is what you actually aim to achieve with this fishing ball
trap along the H file when I put up this battery and now there is like Queen H7 or queen h8 depending on what they do it's game over they can't make this Escape Square for their King with by moving their F Pawn because it is pined so it's completely over and what can they do if they move the Knight there is like Queen to h8 Checkmate I just thought about one more quick quiz for you what if the black tries to prepare this Escape for their King by going Rook to E8 it is actually checkm
in three moves and your task is to find it and to write it down in comments below and I know what you may be think Igor it's all cool but I'm going to forget all these variations very quickly even if that's the case of course you can review the this video later but also let's not forget that the goal is not to know everything is just to know a little more than your opponent and trust me your opponents probably know nothing about The Bishop's opening at all also I've got a free Master Class where I
teach how to find proper moves in any openings and you can access it by clicking the link Down Below in the description or somewhere on the screen apart from that if you want to know how it went from 1,600 to 226 rating in one year then check out this video