Queen vs Bishop Pawn: The Wrong-Side Win

Black to play and win

Play

Same bishop pawn, but the defending king stands on the wrong side of it, and that changes the whole map. Now the winning zone is huge: your king only needs to be two steps from d7 or from g6. And the finish is a mate worth knowing by name, the queen on d7 with her own king as the guard.

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Bishop Pawn: The King on the Wrong Side

Black to play and win · Win against perfect defense

Waking the engine…

The theory

Wrong side, wider zone. Put the defending king on the wrong side of a seventh-rank bishop pawn, away from the promotion corner, and the winning zone grows, wider even than against a rook pawn. Your king only has to be two steps from one of two key squares, here d7 and g6.

Fence first, then walk. The method has two phases. First use checks to stop the enemy king from crossing to the safe side of the pawn: rush your own king up one move too early and he escapes, and the win is gone. Only once he is boxed on the wrong side do you bring your king forward.

In this drill the promotion is harmless. The queen settles on d7, guarded by her own king, and the mate is clean. Learn the d7 pattern and the wrong-side zone becomes easy points.

Keep going

All 18 queen endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)