Bishop vs Knight and Rook Pawn: The Corner Draw

White to play and draw

Black wants to close the only diagonal that leads to h1, and then the h-pawn queens. The hidden drawing resource: drive the pawn to h2, give your bishop up on h1, and keep his king in the corner. The rule for your king: keep it on the knight's colour.

Updated September 25, 2026

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The Rook Pawn: A Draw in the Corner

White to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play

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The theory

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

Checking at once loses. After Bc6+ Kg1 Bd5 Ng2+ the knight has closed the diagonal, and the pawn queens.

Rook pawns give the defender the most trouble in bishop-versus-knight endings, because one of the bishop's stopping diagonals shrinks near the edge, or vanishes entirely once the pawn reaches the seventh rank.

The hidden resource. When the diagonal is gone, do not fight the pawn from afar and do not wait either. Attack it so that it has to advance to the seventh, then give the bishop back for it. What remains is king and knight against a lone king, which cannot win.

The knight cannot lose a tempo. With the enemy king boxed in the corner, its knight is helpless to free it, because a knight always changes the colour of its square and can never simply pass. Park your king on a square of the knight's own colour: the knight may check it but can never occupy the square it stands on.

In this drill the defender will try to promote or to prise your king off its square. Give back the bishop at the right moment, keep to the knight's colour, and hold the draw.

Keep going

The Knight Blockade vs Bishop and Pawn

Black to play and draw

The Bishop's Long Diagonal vs Knight and Pawn

Black to play and draw

Knight & Pawn vs Bishop: Two Diagonals

White to play and win

All 15 bishop vs knight positions Follow the full curriculum (free)