The bishop is a powerful piece that moves diagonally across the board. It can move any number of squares along these diagonal paths, making it excellent for long-range attacks and controlling large sections of the board.

Watch as the white bishop demonstrates its movement pattern. Notice how it can move along both light and dark diagonal lines, but cannot jump over other pieces. In this position, some of the bishop's paths are blocked by the black pawns.

An interesting characteristic of bishops is that they are bound to squares of a single color - a bishop that starts on a light square will always remain on light squares, and vice versa. This is why chess players typically try to keep both of their bishops alive, as they complement each other by controlling different colored squares.