Quote:
Originally Posted by PartyGirlUK
Thanks. Is it best to put pawns on the same colour as your opponent's bishop? Putting them on the opposite colour is intuitive to protect them from capture.
It depends. In that position you have opposite colored bishops. You are a pawn down and trying to draw. In that case, putting all the pawns on dark squares makes sense. It's only dangerous here because there are also rooks on, and your king can get in trouble. 1.g3 loses to:
So 1.h4 h5 2.Bc5 controls d4 preventing the pawn advance, and protects f2. g2-g3 can be played later if rooks are exchanged, or if you can get your king centralized so that it won't get mated as in the spoiler. Another danger is black getting his bishop to f3 or e4 and renewing the back rank threats. With B on f3, h4 and g3 played by white, Rb1+ Kh2 Rh1+ is mate.
In other kinds of positions you don't always want to put your pawns on the same color squares as your own bishop, because it might restrict your bishops mobility. Also, there are times where you can use your pawns to control squares of one color, and use your bishop to control the other color squares. If you had put all the pawns on the same color as your own bishop, there would be nothing to control the other color squares and maybe the opponent could invade on those squares with the king or other pieces.