The Bishop-pair:
Part of the Advanced Beginner's Chess Guide (Section 1)

The Bishop-pair

  • Point Count Chess: Bishop-pair [+];
Both armies start the game with two Bishops (Diagram 1) - a pair of Bishops, hence the "Bishop-pair" term.
Bishop-pair, Image 1, Advanced Beginners Chess Guide
Diagram 1: Both Army's Bishop-pair
However, this is only counted as a plus point when one army loses at least one of their Bishops (Diagram 2).
Bishop-pair, Image 2, Advanced Beginners Chess Guide
Diagram 2: White Loses Bishop-pair;
Black gets the Plus point.
You see, if you award one point to each army, while they both have two Bishops, then each point cancels out the other, so neither army has any advantage, here. So, we don't count while both armies are in possession of a Bishop-pair.

You could count a plus 1 when one side has two Bishops, while the other has Bishop and Knight, or two Knights. Otherwise it is a zero for this element.
Further Reading

Point Count Chess (Horowitz & Mott-Smith, 1960)
  • Minor Pieces, (p199)
  • The Bishop-Pair, (p205)
  • The Ruy Lopez Question, (p208)
  • Minor Pieces SUMMARY, (p212)
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