Bishop and Rook Pawn: The Wrong Bishop Draw
Black to play and draw
PlayA bishop and a rook pawn can look like a clean win, but this is the famous draw. The promotion square is h8, a dark square, and the light-squared bishop can never control it. There is one job for you: get your king into the corner, and only one move does it.
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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.
First, compare the promotion square with the bishop. h8 is dark, and the bishop lives on light squares, so it can never control h8. That is the wrong bishop, and the corner is your safe square.
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 Cutoff That Arrives One Tempo Late
White to play and draw
Cutting the King Off With the Bishop
White to play and win
The Bishop Buried on h7
White to play and draw
All 24 bishop endgames positionsFollow the full curriculum (free)