Blockade the Connected Passers
Black to play and draw
PlayTwo connected passed pawns and a bishop, yet you hold the draw. With opposite-colored bishops each side rules only one color, and a single well-placed blockade freezes both pawns forever.
No signup needed. The opponent never gives up, and every mistake gets explained.
Blockade the Connected Passers
Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
Endings with opposite-colored bishops are the most drawish material in chess. Because each bishop is locked to a single color complex, the defender only has to control one color and the attacker's extra pawns can be worth nothing.
The blockade. Against two connected passers, set the king in front of them on the color your opponent's bishop cannot reach, and use your own bishop to guard the one remaining advance square. The pawns become statues.
Why it holds. To break a blockade the attacker needs to attack the blockading squares, but his bishop is the wrong color to ever hit them. His king alone cannot dislodge both a king and a bishop that are correctly placed.
In this drill you defend against a tablebase-perfect attacker who will probe for any loose moment. Keep your two pieces coordinated in front of the pawns and the half-point is yours.