Rook and Pawn vs Bishop Endgame

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

Rook and pawn against a bishop is a win, but as with the knight, the danger is a trade: bare rook versus bishop is a draw, so the pawn must queen.

The method. King in front of the pawn, rook cutting off the defending king and guarding the promotion path. Advance steadily; the bishop cannot both blockade and stay safe from the rook.

The trap. A bishop that gives itself for the pawn reaches a drawn rook-versus-bishop. Keep the pawn's route covered so that sacrifice loses the bishop for nothing.

The exception. A rook with a rook's pawn or a bishop's pawn stuck on its sixth rank cannot win if the defending bishop reaches the diagonal that guards the promotion square, near the corner the bishop can defend: the pawn queens, the bishop takes it, and bare rook against bishop is a draw. So push the king ahead of the pawn early, before it is stranded on the sixth. With the pawn on the fourth rank or further back, or a central pawn, the win is there.

In this drill you convert the extra exchange and pawn. Lead with the king; the bishop will try to give itself up at the right moment.