Bishop Of The Wrong Color

     In How To Reassess Your Chess Jeremy Silman wrote that most average players don’t understand the true purpose of the opening, have no knowledge of planning and the thinking process, no understanding of elementary endings and how all three phases of the game are connected. 

     In fact, the first thing he did in the book was look at basic endings. Only then does he take up his teaching on the middlegame. Regarding endgames he had this to say: ”EVERYONE needs to know the basics of endgame play…I am only giving basic endgame material that I think you simply must know.” 

     The importance of having even a rudimentary knowledge of endings was illustrated in the following blitz game I recently played online.

     The wrong Bishop is a situation in the endgame where if the a Bishop was on the other color,  it would win the game instead of drawing or losing. This most commonly occurs with a Bishop when the queening square of either the a- or h-Pawn is opposite the color of the square the Bishop is on. In that case, if the opposing King can reach the queening square then it is impossible for the B to force it away. The result is that the King blocks the Pawn so it can't queen. 

     Had my opponent known this simple rule he would not have resigned in a dead drawn position. 

 

* For further reading: Wrong Bishop-Chessbase article 

* If you want to play around with any 6-man ending you can do so at Shredder's online tablebase HERE.

Tartajubow - Guest

Result: 1-0

Site: Online, Game 5+2 seconds

Date: 2021

[...] 47.♔f2

47.a3 ♔b3 48.♔f2 ♔xa3 This is a draw with either side to move. Naturally, there are a number of moves that either side can play, but they all lead to a draw. Here is just one line. 49.♔e2 ♔b3 50.♔d2 a3 (50...♔b2 loses to 51.c4+ ♔b3 52.cxb5) 51.♔c1 a2 52.c4 ♔xc4 53.♔b2

47...b4

47...a3 also leads to a draw, but in any case the c- and b-Pawns will disappear. 48.♔e3 b4 49.♔d2 bxc3+ 50.♗xc3 This, too, is a draw with either side to move. For example: 50...♔c5 51.♔c2 ♔c4 52.♗d2 ♔b5 53.♔b3 wins the P, but it's still a draw.

48.cxb4 ♔xb4 49.♗b2 a3 50.♗a1 ♔c4 51.♔e3 ♔c5 52.♔d3 ♔b4 53.♔d4 ♔b5 54.♔c3 ♔a4 55.♔c4 ♔a5 56.♔b3 ♔b5 57.♔xa3 ♔a5 58.♗c3+ ♔b5 59.♔b3 Black resigned! But the game is a draw. To wit: 59...♔c5 60.a4 ♔b6 61.♔b4 ♔a6 62.♔c5 ♔b7 63.♔b5 ♔a7 64.♗d4+ ♔b7 65.a5 ♔a8 66.♔b6 ♔b8 67.a6 ♔a8 68.♔c6 ♔b8 and black's K cannot be chased out of the corner.

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