Knight and Pawn vs Bishop Endgame

Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.

Knight and pawn versus a lone bishop is often only a draw: the bishop blockades the pawn on its own colour, or sacrifices itself for it. It takes special circumstances to win, and they come down to how short the bishop's diagonals are.

Two roads to d8. The bishop stops the pawn by watching its promotion square, and it can do that from two diagonals: h4, g5, f6, e7 on one side, a5, b6, c7 on the other. Both are short, so both can be cut. Ne7 cuts the first on a square the king protects. Nf6+ cuts it too, but f6 is unguarded and Bxf6 ends the game.

The king takes the second. Bg3+ tries to switch to the other diagonal, and from g3 the only square of it within reach is c7. Kc6 guards c7, and before the bishop can go round through e1 to a5, the pawn has queened. Kc5 or Ke6 lets Bc7 in, and the draw is back.

The general rule. Unless a tactic wins the bishop, knight and pawn beat it only when its stopping diagonals are short. Given a long diagonal in front of the pawn, the bishop shuttles along it or gives itself for the pawn and draws; on a short one the knight and king can take its squares away, and then everything turns on whether the defending king arrives in time.

In this drill you convert. Play Ne7, answer the check with Kc6 and promote to a queen: every other first move, d8=Q and Nf6+ included, only draws.