Knight and Pawn vs Bishop: Winning by a Tempo
White to play and win
PlaySame position as the drawn version, except that the black king starts on c1, one tempo farther away. Ask the same question: can the defending king come to its bishop's help in time? Here it cannot, and in the end the knight cuts the bishop's diagonal. The pawn queens.
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One Tempo Turns the Draw into a Win
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
First, the king march that was tried in the drawn version: Kd5. Here it fails too, because Kd2 brings the black king back in time. Only Ke7 and Nd4 win.
The line between a draw and a win in knight and pawn versus bishop can be a single tempo. When the defending king is one step too slow, the fortress cracks.
Reassign the guard. Ke7 covers d8 with the king, which frees the knight from guard duty. Only Ke7 and Nd4 keep the win alive.
Hunt the bishop. Once the bishop has been driven onto a5, the knight goes Nd4-e6-c5-b7. From b7 it attacks a5 and d8 together, so the a5-d8 diagonal, the bishop's only home, collapses. The king follows with Kd6-c6.
Tempo is everything. In the drawn version the black king starts on b2 and gets back in time. From c1 it does not. Waste a move and you have handed the draw back.
In this drill precision matters on every move. Keep the enemy king locked out and convert.
Keep going
Pawn on the Seventh: Zugzwang, Not a Chase
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Good Bishop vs Bad Knight
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When the Bishop's Diagonal Is Too Short
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All 15 bishop vs knight positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)