But look at the following position, which was reached in round seven, where I was Black against Bernard Logie (1822).
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| Black has just played 6...Qd8-b6 |
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The position occurs 40 times in ChessBase's 2026 Mega database, and in 22 of those games White continued 7.Bxc6+!?, which was also my opponent's choice, and is the top choice of Stockfish18 and Dragon1. The engines reckon the move gives White a slight edge (Stockfish18) or even the upper hand (Dragon1).
I recaptured with the pawn, which is the main line in Mega26, but the engines reckon recapturing with the queen is better.
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| Position after 7...Qxc6!? |
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There is no doubt White has given up the bishop-pair, and not just on a short-term basis in the confident expectation of quickly swopping off one of Black's bishops.
There is also no doubt White has given up his better bishop, as the dark-square remainder is restricted by the pawn-chain b2-e5.
White's one advantage in the position, as it seems to me, is having extra space in the centre, which must be why the engines reckon White is better.
A good way to try to understand such a position, I believe, is to let the engines play it out against each other, so here goes.
8.dxc5!?
All seven games to reach the position in Mega26 saw 8.0-0, but the text is Stokcfish18's top choice and Dragon1's second choice (behind 8.h3).
The text makes White's dark-square bishop less bad, but also slightly opens the position, which normally favours the bishop-pair, and weakens e5.
8...Bg4!? 9.Nbd2!? e6
Not 9...Bxe5? 10.Nxe5! Bxd1 11.Nxc6, when White has won a piece.
10.b4
The engines fluctuate between 10.b4, 10.0-0 and 10.Qb3, but come to more-or-less settle on the text.
10...b6!? 11.h3 Bxf3 12.Nxf3 bxc5
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| The bishop-pair has gone, but Black has recaptured the pawn lost at move eight |
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13.0-0
The engines cannot agree on which continuation is best, but this is the only move that makes both engines' top two.
13...Ne7 14.Bg5 Qc7 15.Qa4+ Nc6!?
The only move that makes both engines' top two.
16.Be3!? Qd7
Again the engines are unsure what to play, and this is the only move that makes both engines' top two.
18.Bxc5 Nxe5 19.Qd1 Nc4 20.Rc1 Rc8
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| I am going to leave it here as we have come a long way from the initial decision to swop bishop for knight |
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The final position looks unclear to me, with lots of imbalances that would make for a tricky middlegame, but the engines give White a slight edge (Stockfish18) or the upper hand (Dragon1).
LESSON: there is no doubt having the bishop-pair is usually advantageous, and giving up a good bishop when you have a bad one is usually disadvantageous, but what really counts is what happens appen next, and it seems most people who have reached the position in the first diagram as White have understood what was going on rather better than I managed.
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