Bishop and Knight Mate: The W-Maneuver Explained
White to play and win
PlayHis king hides in h8, a dark corner. Your bishop runs on light squares, so it can never mate him there. Drive him to a8, the light corner. The rule on the back rank: your bishop guards the light squares, and your knight covers the dark ones. The knight's route traces a W: f7, e5, d7, c5, b7.
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Two Minor Pieces: The W-Maneuver
White to play and win · Win against perfect defense
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The theory
Watch the method: press play to see the winning idea run, or step through it move by move.
The trickiest phase of the bishop and knight mate is the wrong corner. The king dives into a corner the bishop cannot reach, and you must relocate it without ever letting it break free.
Why it is hard. The method mates in a corner of the bishop's color. If the king sits in a corner of the wrong color, the method cannot mate it there, so you have to march it across the edge.
The W-maneuver. The knight zigzags in a W pattern, controlling the squares just ahead of the king while the bishop and king form a moving cage that shepherds the defender toward the correct corner.
In this drill the defender clings to the safe corner and squirms toward the center at every chance. When it does break loose, do not chase it with checks: one knight move and one bishop move rebuild the barrier and pin it back on the edge, and the W resumes. Execute it cleanly and the win is guaranteed inside the fifty-move limit.