Bishop Endings

by Jon Edwards

This is the second Chess is Fun endgame book. The first on King and Pawn Endgames provides a basic introduction to endgame theory. More than two decades ago, I wrote an endgame e-book for ChessBase University. I have here adapted those instructional positions for this series, adding much more material and many annotated games to challenge the reader and to reinforce the instructional material. I have used these positions in my chess teaching for more than three decades. Few players enjoy learning these important endgames, but know that they are all fundamentally important for chess improvement. A firm foundation in the endgame will greatly simplify your decision making in the late middlegame and early endgame. When confronted with possible exchanges and simplifications, you will have a much better idea of whether the exchanges are a good idea and how to proceed to convert a material or positional advantage to a full point. This e-book starts simply with a look at the simplest bishop endgames, and moves to much more important positions, how to win with a pawn up with bishops of the same color, working with bishops of opposite color, how to win with just the advantage of a single pawn, and how to prevent your opponent from sacrificing a bishop for the remaining pawn. I have also added an instructional example showing how, from an early endgame, to convert a single pawn majority with pawns on the other wing to a full point.

Genres: Chess

171 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 25, 2012

Reviews

[Manny]

White to play and win.

This position appeared in yesterday's Guardian chess column - I think I've seen it before, but I'm not 100% certain. It is extraordinary that you can compose such a witty problem with so few pieces, it almost rivals the immortal Réti study with king and pawn versus king and pawn! If you can't figure it out:

1 Bf2+ Kh5 2 g4+ Kh6 3 Kf6 Kh7 (3 ... Bh7 4 Be3 mate) 4 g5 Kh8 5 Bd4 Kh7 (5 ... Bh7 6 Kf7 mate) 6 Ba1 Kh8 7 g6 fg 8 Kg6 mate
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[Update, Jan 3 2021]



This apparently trivial position, which I noticed earlier today on the Lichess puzzle page, has one of the highest difficulty ratings I've ever come across. The solution is completely logical, but for some reason it's hard to see!

1... Bc5

Obviously the only move.

2. g4

White must try to support the f-pawn.

... hg

If Black allows White two connected passed pawns, he can never win.

3. Kg3

And now ... e4 looks like the obvious continuation, but it doesn't work! After 4. h4! e3 5. Kf3, Black won't be able to capture either of the kingside pawns and has only a draw. Instead, he must play

3... Kg7!
4. Kf3 Kf6
5. Ke4 Ba7
6. h4 Bc5

and White has run out of moves. If 7. h5, Black plays ... Kg5 and picks up the pawns.

Full details here.