Bishop and Knight vs.

Two Bishops

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Home > Chess > Instruction > Endgame Study > Orlov On the Endgame > Bishop and knight vs two bishops Endings

bishop and Knight vs. two bishops

by Georgi Orlov

The so-called advantage of two Bishops is a rather well known positional factor. There are
many situations where pieces of similar stature perform differently. The Bishop is a long-
range piece and its advantage over Knights is mostly seen in open and sometimes semi-open
positions. In the endgame, the Bishop pair is particularly superior in positions with pawns on
both sides of the board. Placed in the center of a board, a Bishop can simply cover more
squares than a Knight can. A Bishop may perform both attacking and defending functions,
while being far away from a target. A Knight, due to its limited mobility, simply cant
compare. Lets take a look at the following game, played by the future World Champion.

Arnason Kasparov
Dortmund, 1980

BLACK TO PLAY

At first sight, this position looks even. In reality, however, Black has an edge even though he
has no material advantage. Why is that? As mentioned above, a pair of Bishops is very strong
in open positions with pawns on both sides of the board. Black also has a pawn majority on
the kingside, and Bishops are great supporters of pawn advances since they can attack the
squares in front of the pawns, making defense difficult. White has no outpost for his Knight
and his King is relatively far from the battlefield. Generally, Black must push his kingside
pawns forward (gaining space and restricting the enemy army). In order to do that, he will
move his King forward, while possibly repositioning his light Bishop to a more useful square,
e6 for instance. White, in turn, should seek trades and possibly exchange a pair of Bishops.
Kasparov wastes no time.

31f5 32.g3

White stops f5-f4, since in that case Black could quickly obtain a passed pawn in the
center. He hopes to stall his opponents advance on the kingside, while moving his own
pawns on the queenside.

32Kf6

Naturally, in order to advance, g6-g5 is needed. Therefore the King protects its f5-pawn.

33.h4 Bc8!?

Black follows the plan outlined above. In some positions White could play h4-h5,
undermining the f5-pawn, and Ba4-d7, attacking f5 again. The text makes Ba4-d7 impossible,
and h4-h5 would cost White a pawn. Also, Blacks Bishop on e6 would further restrict his
opponents Knight.

34.Bd1 h6?!

White insists on preparing h4-h5 and Kasparov moves his h-pawn forward. Its not clear
however, how this move helps Black. Kasparov in his notes considered this move a waste of
time, recommending immediate Kf6-e5.

35.Be2 a5 36.Bb5!?

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Bishop and Knight vs. Two Bishops

Here Whites Bishop has access to both the kingside and queenside. In case of 36g5, White
may play 37.hxg5+ hxg5 38.g4! and, if 39fxg4, then 40.Bc6 Ke5 41.Be8 Bf5 42.Kg2 and it
is not clear how Black makes further progress from here. In case of 39f4 40.Nf5 Bxf5 41.
gxf5 Kxf5 42.Bd7+, White keeps good chances for a draw. Kasparov decides to advance his
King.

36Ke5 37.Nc4+ Kd5 38.Ne3+ Kc5?!

According to Mikhail Shereshevsky, Black gives his opponent a chance to draw with this
move. For one, White can easily exchange opponents a-pawn at any time with b2-b4+.

39.Be8!

This move forces further pawn exchanges. Black must be very careful now, since it would
not be possible to win an ending B+B versus a single Bishop.

39g5 40.hxg5 hxg5 41.Bg6 f4 42.gxf4 gxf4

43.Ng2

As pointed out by Reshevsky, 43.b4+ axb4 44.axb4+ meets 44Kd4. Blacks King holds a
strong position in the center, but there are very few pieces on board. After 45.Ng2 Bc7 46.
Be8, intending b4-b5 and Bd7-c6, it would be very hard for Black to win.

After the text move, it looks like Whites defense prevailed. Really, Black now must defend
two pawns and 43f3 44.Ne3 Bb7 does not look terribly promising, since further progress is
very hard to make.

43Kc4!

This is the key point behind Kasparovs maneuver. The R-pawns are always hard to stop! Of
course, here 44.b4? is powerfully met by 44a4!

44.Nxf4

Shereshevsky mentions that 44.Bf7+ Kd3 45.Nxf4+ Kc2 46.b3 Kxc3 would allow Black to
retain his e-pawn. Since White would have a weakness on b3, Black would keep some
winning chances.

44Kb3 45.Bxe4 Kxb2 46.Bc6

Its possible White thought he could somehow keep the extra pawn, but 46.c4 a4 47.c5 Ba6
looks rather dangerous, due to a possible blocking of the a2-g8 diagonal by Blacks light
Bishop. With the text, White hopes to win some time and bring his King over, but it does not
work.

46Kxc3 47.Kf1 Kd2!

This is the best chance. Whites King is kept away from the center and Black hopes to
activate his Bishops.

48.Bb5?!

This is a first misstep. Kasparov recommends 48.Nd5! here, preparing advance of the f-pawn.
He thinks White has a good chance for a draw after 48Ba6+ 49.Kg2 Bc4 50.f4! threatening
f4-f5-f6.

48Bf5!

Now in case of a Knight move Black plays Bf5-d3+, exchanging Bishops and taking
advantage of the Knights inability to fight the R-pawn. White, however, walks right into it,
perhaps as a result of miscalculation.

49.Nd5? Bd3+ 50.Bxd3 Kxd3 51.Ke1 a4 52.Kd1 a3 53.Kc1

This is what White had in mind, but he missed a simple maneuver.

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Bishop and Knight vs. Two Bishops

53Kc4! 54.Ne3+ Kb3

Now the Knight is kept at bay, while Blacks a-pawn is unstoppable. White sets up one last
trap.

55.f4 Bc7 56.Kb1!? a2+ 57.Ka1 Ba5!

Kasparov avoids a nave 57Bxf4?? 58.Nc4!! and suddenly game is drawn, since there is no
defense against Nc4-d2-b1-d2, etc.

58.Nd5 Bd2, 0-1.

The pair of Bishops is even more effective when Rooks are present. A famous German
player, Zigbert Tarrasch, even said that a Rook supported by a pair of Bishops is better than
two Rooks and a Knight. While its unclear whether he was serious at that point, the strength
of R+B+B is undeniable.

Ivkov Hort
Varna, 1962

WHITE TO PLAY

While material is even, this cant be said about the position itself. White has his Rook on the
seventh rank and Blacks queenside pawns are very weak. Whites winning plan should look
like this:

* Neutralize the opponents Bishop, keeping it from re-entering the game.

* Attack weak pawns on the queenside with Rd7-b7 and a2-a4.

30.g5!!

Grandmaster Borislav Ivkov makes a very powerful move. Black wanted to play f7-f6 and
Bg6-e8, getting his Bishop back into the game. Now 30f6 31.gxf6 gxf6 32.Bh6! would
give White a winning advantage. Also, 30Rd8 31.Rc7 Nb8 32.Kg3 seems very unattractive
for Black.

30Bh5 31.Kg3 Kg8

Black protects f7, perhaps hoping for Bh5-e2 at some point.

32.f3!

Now Blacks Bishop looks more like a pawn and White has the queenside all to himself.

32Kf8 33.Rb7 Ke8 34.a4!

34Rb8

Not much better was 34bxa4 35.Bxa4, with Rb7-b6 to follow.

35.Rc7 Nd8 36.Ra7! b4 37.a5!

A nice final touch! Here 37.Rxa6 bxc3 38.bxc3 Rb2 would allow Black back in the game.
Now 37bxc3 38.bxc3 Rb2 meets 39.Ba4+ Kf8 40.Bc5+, winning.

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Bishop and Knight vs. Two Bishops

37b3 38.Bd1, 1-0.

Copyright 2005 Georgi Orlov

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