One Bishop, Two Pawns to Stop

White to play and draw

Play

Down two connected passers, you still draw with an opposite-colored bishop. The pawns sit close enough that a single diagonal holds them both.

No signup needed. The opponent never gives up, and every mistake gets explained.

One Bishop, Two Pawns to Stop

Hold the draw against perfect play

Waking the engine…

The theory

Being two pawns down sounds hopeless, but opposite-colored bishops rescue the defender again and again. If the passers are close together, one bishop on the correct diagonal stops both.

The blockade diagonal. Place your bishop where it covers the squares the pawns must advance to. The attacker's bishop is locked to the opposite color and can never evict yours, so the blockade is permanent.

Divide the labor. Let the bishop watch the advance squares of its own color and use the king to cover the other color. With both defenders assigned, neither pawn can move to a safe square.

In this drill you defend against a tablebase-perfect attacker who will test every push. Keep the bishop on its diagonal, hold the blockade with the king, and the extra pawns come to nothing.

Keep going

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