Bishops of Opposite Colour – Training Positions – Part 2

Bishop Endgames: Do Opposites Attract? (Practical Endgames) is now available as a paperback; here are some sample training exercises that illustrate the play in typical endgames with bishops of opposite colour. Scroll down to see the solutions.



Csulits, Anton - Horvath, Miklos, 1989

White's turn

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Hladik, Josef - Balaz, Peter, 1990.11.11

White's turn

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Horvath, Gyula - Juhasz, Jozsef, 1990

White's turn

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Naumkin, Igor - Ward, Christopher, 1990

White's turn

Solutions:

Csulits, Anton - Horvath, Miklos, Szekszard op, 1989

24. Bd5+

White noticed that winning the 'f5' is much more important than the 'c' pawn.

( The check is better than capturing on c6. 24. Bxc6 Kf8 )

24. ... Kh8 25. Be6 Rc7 26. Bxf5

Black's pawns now are disconnected and White has an advantage which he converted into a full point.

26. ... c5 27. Kg2 Rc6 28. Be4 Rc7 29. Bd5 Bf6 30. f4 Kg7 31. Kf3 e5 32. e3 Kf8 33. Ke4 exf4 34. gxf4 Ke7 35. Kf5 Kd6 36. e4 Bd4 37. Ra4 1-0

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Hladik, Josef - Balaz, Peter, CSR-chT 9091, 1990.11.11

39. Rxc6

White wins another couple of pawns, so the bishop endgame is winning.

39. ... Ke7 40. Rc7+ Rd7 41. Rxd7+ Kxd7 42. Bxd5 Kd6 43. Bg8 h6 44. Kg3 g5 45. f5

45. ... Be5+ 46. Kf3 Bf4 47. Ke4 Bc1 48. b3 Bb2 49. Kd3 Ba3 50. c4 Kc5 51. cxb5 Kxb5 52. Ke4 Kc6 53. Ke5 Kd7 54. Be6+ Ke7 55. f6+ Kf8 56. Kd5 Bb2 57. f7 Ba3 58. Kc4 Ke7 59. b4 1-0

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Horvath, Gyula - Juhasz, Jozsef, Budapest Spring op 06th, 1990

40. Bxb7

( 40. Bxb7 Rxb7 41. c6 and the pawns supported by the rook win the game. )

1-0

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Naumkin, Igor - Ward, Christopher, Lloyds Bank op 14th, 1990

30. Rd5

Forces Black's king to block the pawn.

30. ... Kd7 31. Rb5 Kc6 32. Rb6+

Another sacrifice - the rook again cannot be captured because of d6-d7-d8.

32. ... Kc5 33. d7 Bh5

Black is setting up the last trap.

34. Bd6+!

Blocking the 'd' file with yet another check.

( 34. d8=Q?? would allow Black to bounce back 34. ... Rd1+ )

1-0