Rook vs Bishop: Holding the Safe Corner

The safe corner is the one opposite in colour to your own bishop, and reaching it is the whole plan. Knowing that is not enough, because the corner is not a chair.

You cannot just sit there. In this position, with the white king on h6 and the rook on the seventh, Ra8 is mate. Only 1...Kg8 saves the game. Every bishop move loses.

Berger's method: step out, come back. The king leaves the corner under check (2.Rg7+ Kf8) and returns to g8 once the rook lets go of the g-file. Wandering is fatal, but a short circuit out and back is the defence.

The bishop guards a diagonal. From b1 to h7 it covers g6 and h7, so the white king cannot come closer. When it is attacked, retreat it along that diagonal to c2 or b1 instead of stepping in front of the rook.

Check the pawn first. One rule decides this whole family. With your king in the safe corner, a rook pawn on its fifth or sixth rank wins nothing, and the defence you are drilling holds. The pawn only beats the safe corner while it is still in its own half of the board. Read its rank and you know the verdict before you calculate a move.

In this drill the rook checks and probes for the moment you stand still. Step out, keep the diagonal, come back.