Bishop’s Opening: Complete Guide

The Bishop’s Opening is White’s reply 2. Bc4 to 1. e4 e5. The light-squared bishop leaves home before either knight and settles on the a2-g8 diagonal, where it points at f7, the one pawn in Black’s position that only the king protects. Among lichess players rated roughly 1000 to 1600, about one White player in nine picks it after 1. e4 e5, and it scores just as well there as the far more popular 2. Nf3. Its appeal lies in what it postpones: with no knight on f3 the Petrov Defense never appears, the f-pawn is still free to advance, and White can choose later whether the game turns into a d4 gambit or a patient build with Nc3 and d3.

This trainer turns that flexibility into one complete White repertoire of 34 lines in six chapters. Against 2...Nf6, Black’s most frequent answer at about one game in three, it plays the Urusov Gambit, 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3. Only about one White player in twenty chooses 3. d4 at this level, yet it scores 54 percent, the best result of any common third move in that position. Against 2...Nc6, a little more than one game in four, the course develops with 3. Nc3 and 4. d3 and then picks between the Bg5 pin, a knight jump to d5 and the f4 push. The Lewis Gambit answers 2...Bc5, a Bxf7+ sacrifice punishes the slow 2...d6 and ...h6 setup, and a full chapter handles six odd second moves (2...c6, 2...Qf6, 2...Qh4, 2...d5, 2...Nh6, 2...f6) that together turn up in roughly one game in twelve.

Open with 1. e4 and, when Black mirrors with 1...e5, put the bishop on c4 straight away. Black’s second move then decides which chapter you are in. The knight to f6 is the big one and is met by 3. d4. If Black captures with 3...exd4, which happens in nearly half of those games, 4. Nf3 gives up the pawn for speed and leads to the Urusov lines. If Black grabs the other pawn with 3...Nxe4, about one reply in five, 4. dxe5 follows and White scores about 60 percent at this level. The knight to c6 is met by 3. Nc3, and half the time Black continues 3...Nf6, bringing 4. d3 and the quieter Vienna-style chapter. Many games never go through 2. Bc4 at all: 1. e4 e5 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4 and 1. e4 Nc6 2. Nc3 e5 3. Bc4 reach the same position, and a large share of our own players arrive in this repertoire through exactly that Vienna move order. In a sample of about 4,700 of their games that entered these lines, the opponent left the course before its final move roughly once in ten games.

Facing the Bishop’s Opening as Black, most of the danger comes from moves that win a pawn and lose the king’s protection. Against 3. d4 after 2...Nf6, taking the pawn with 3...Nxe4 is among the replies White scores best against at club level, because of the Qd5 fork on e4 and f7. Recapturing 3...exd4 is better. After 4. Nf3, the reply that holds is 4...Nc6 5. e5 d5, where White’s score drops to about four in ten. What loses there is taking e5 twice with the knights while the e-file opens toward your king. Against the 3. Nc3 system, bring the king knight to f6 before the bishop goes to c5, or Qg4 hits g7 immediately. Against 2...Bc5 3. d4, taking back with the bishop avoids the Bxf7+ and Qh5+ fork. The slow ...d6 and ...h6 setup is the clearest warning: after 2...d6 3. Nf3 h6 4. d4 exd4 5. c3, taking a second pawn with 5...dxc3 lets 6. Bxf7+ drag the king out, and the game ends in mate or a lost queen. Develop pieces before spending more moves on pawns.

The Bishop’s Opening is among the earliest openings to appear in print. It was already examined in Lucena’s chess book of about 1497 and in Ruy López’s treatise of 1561, and in the eighteenth century Philidor preferred 2. Bc4 to 2. Nf3 because it leaves the f-pawn free to advance. Several of the lines in this course carry nineteenth-century names: the Urusov Gambit after the Russian player Prince Sergey Urusov, and the Lewis Gambit after the English author William Lewis, while the mate after ...Bxd1 and Nd5 is named for Légal, who is credited with it in a game from around 1750. Philidor’s reason still holds in this course: with no knight on f3, the f-pawn can go to f4, which is exactly how the 2...Nc6 chapter meets ...h6 and ...d6.

What is the Bishop’s Opening in chess?

It is the sequence 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4. White develops the light-squared bishop before either knight and aims it at f7, the pawn that only Black’s king defends. Because no knight goes to f3, Black cannot answer with the Petrov Defense, and White keeps the choice between an early d4 gambit and a slower plan with Nc3 and d3. At the 1000 to 1600 level about one White player in nine uses it after 1. e4 e5.

Should a beginner play the Bishop’s Opening?

Sixteen of the 34 lines in this course end on a trap, and each one grows out of the same easy idea, pressure on f7. The traps are common in real club games: the Qd5 fork after 3...Nxe4, the Re1 pin after the double knight capture on e5, and the Bxf7+ sacrifice against 2...d6 and ...h6. The honest caveat is that the Urusov Gambit costs a pawn, so you need to keep developing quickly rather than hoping for a trap every game.

What is the main line of the Bishop’s Opening?

Black’s most common reply is 2...Nf6, about one game in three, which attacks e4. This course answers with the Urusov Gambit, 3. d4 exd4 4. Nf3, and it is the best-scoring common third move at club level. From there Black usually takes on e4, develops with 4...Nc6, or plays 4...Bc5, and the trainer has a line for each. Against 2...Nc6, the second most common reply, the course plays 3. Nc3 and 4. d3.

How do you play against the Bishop’s Opening?

Start with 2...Nf6, and after 3. d4 recapture with ...exd4 rather than grabbing e4 with the knight, because 3...Nxe4 4. dxe5 Bc5 5. Qd5 costs a piece. After 4. Nf3, the steady 4...Nc6 5. e5 d5 6. Bb5 gives an equal game, and White scores only about half there at club level. Against 2...Nc6 3. Nc3, bring the knight to f6 before the bishop goes to c5, so that Qg4 has nothing to hit on g7.

What are the best traps in the Bishop’s Opening?

Four come up again and again at club level. Against 3...Nxe4, the queen lands on d5 and forks the knight and f7. In the Urusov, when Black takes on e5 with both knights, Re1 pins the last one and f4 wins it. Against 2...Nc6 3. Nc3 d6 4. Nf3 Bg4, Légal’s Mate wins the game after Black takes the queen. Against 2...d6 3. Nf3 h6, the pawn sacrifices on d4 and c3 set up a bishop sacrifice on f7 that ends in mate or wins the queen. The course trains all four, plus a dozen more.

Is the Bishop’s Opening the same as the Vienna Game?

They overlap. After 1. e4 e5 2. Bc4 Nc6 3. Nc3, the position is identical to the Vienna Game line 2. Nc3 Nc6 3. Bc4, and the plans with d3, Bg5, Nd5 and f4 are the same. The difference is against 2...Nf6: the Bishop’s Opening lets White answer with 3. d4 and the Urusov Gambit, an option the 2. Nc3 move order does not offer. Many of our own players reach this course through the Vienna move order.