More on Rooks vs. Minor Pieces

     I recently did a post on this subject where Tahl’s R defeated Botvinnik’s minor pieces as a follow up to the post Two Minor Pieces vs. Rook and Pawn….which to choose? where I gave some general guidelines on playing these positions. I mentioned in that post that GM Arthur Bisguier once said that against a weaker opponent he could win with either side and maybe that’s the best rule concerning this situation…be the stronger player!
     I recently came across the game by Bisguier where he made that comment. In the game his opponent, John Donaldson, came up with a nice combination early on that won a N and B for a R and P. Donaldson managed to outplay Bisguier in the opening and middlegame, but after they traded down to a position where Donaldson had a B,N and 5 P’s vs. Bisguier’s R and 5 P’s they had a position where theoretically Donaldson should have won. He failed to win though because, being the stronger player, Bisguier understood the position better.