Bishop and Rook Pawn: The Wrong Bishop Draw
Black to play and draw
PlayWhite has a bishop and a rook pawn, yet this is a draw if you play it right. The rule: when the bishop cannot control the rook pawn's promotion corner, a king that gets into that corner can never be driven out. Your job is to reach h8, then step between g8 and h8.
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The Wrong Bishop Draw
Black to play and draw · Hold the draw against perfect play
Waking the engine…
The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
Your king has only two moves, Kg8 and Ke7. Ke7 walks away from the corner: after h7 the pawn queens and you lose.
Bishop and pawn versus a lone king is normally trivial, with one glaring exception that every player must know.
The wrong bishop. When the pawn is a rook pawn, the queening square sits in the corner. If the bishop cannot control the color of that corner, it can never dislodge a defending king that has reached it.
The draw is not automatic. You still have to get in. From f8 only Kg8 draws. The only alternative, Ke7, loses to h7! and the pawn queens. The cutoff Bh7, which covers g8 and locks the corner, wins only when the white king is close enough to support the pawn, from d2 and not from c2.
In this drill you defend. Take the corner immediately and hold it, and the half point is yours.
Keep going
The Bishop Cutoff: the Defender Holds
Black to play and draw
Cutting the King Off With the Bishop
White to play and win
The Buried Bishop: the Defender Holds
Black to play and draw
All 24 bishop endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)