Bishop and Pawn vs Knight: Pawn on the Seventh Wins
White to play and win
PlayYour pawn is one step from queening, and Black guards d8 twice, with the king and the knight. The rule with the pawn on the seventh: first take away the knight's checks, then wait. The defender runs out of safe moves.
Updated
New to this ending? Learn the method first: How to Checkmate With Bishop and Knight
No signup needed. The opponent never gives up, and every mistake gets explained.
Pawn on the Seventh: Zugzwang, Not a Chase
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.
Queening at once fails too. After d8=Q+ Nxd8 the pawn is gone, and a bishop alone cannot win.
When the pawn has reached the seventh rank, bishop and pawn beat a knight almost every time, and always for the same reason: the defender is one tempo short and gets caught in zugzwang.
Two drawing tries, and how they fail. The knight has only two resources: a perpetual check, or a stalemate when the pawn is a rook pawn. Here neither survives. A hasty attack on the knight with Bd5 hands Black the perpetual, Nd6+ and Ne8+ forever, because the king can never leave the pawn to chase it.
Take the checks away first. Bc6 covers the b5 and e8 checking squares before the knight can use them, and Nd6+ fails to Kc7 Ne8+ dxe8=Q+. Every move Black has left loses ground, but do not promote the moment his king steps aside: d8=Q+ Nxd8 is only a draw. Wait with the bishop first.
In this drill the defender will look for a knight check on every move. Refuse the natural capture, control the checks with the bishop, and let zugzwang finish the job.
Keep going
Good Bishop vs Bad Knight
White to play and win
When the Bishop's Diagonal Is Too Short
White to play and win
The Rook Pawn: A Draw in the Corner
White to play and draw
All 15 bishop vs knight positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)