Classic Bishop Endgame by Botvinnik - video

This game is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite color.
http://www.amazon.com/Bishop-Endgames...
The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

In this game Botvinnik aimed for having 2 distant passed pawns that his opponent's bishop could not block from the same diagonal. At the same time he was not concerned about giving opponent passed pawns - as long as his own bishop could stay on the same diagonal while guarding them.
Modern computer engines have a hard time correctly understanding the position and finding Botvinnik's moves. A lot of his play is very conceptual and requires calculation deeper than 10 moves ahead, but can be described verbally by a human.

Rooks and Bishops – Find the best move

Matnadze, Ana - Gagunashvili, Merab
GEO-ch I Liga  2002.04.27  

White to move


Wirig, Anthony - Loetscher, Roland
Mitropa Cup 22nd  2003.05.19  

White to move

These positions are taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite colour:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

I think ebooks are a very promising media for chess content, and would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Bishop Endgame – Find the Best move

Kiviharju – Ehrnrooth, Finland  1982  

 Black to move (Solution will be posted tomorrow)

This position is taken from my E-book about endgames with bishops of opposite color:

The book is formatted for electronic readers and can be read on devices of various sizes, from tablets to phones. The free sample includes 3 thoroughly annotated games and the full book comes with dozens of training positions to help develop a good sense for positions with bishops of opposite colour.

I think ebooks are a very promising media for chess content, and would be very interested to hear what you think about it.

Endgame with opposite colour bishops

Change He Li – Howard Wu, Keres Memorial 2009

Black to move. Can he win this endgame?

I enjoy poking at random endgame positions and try to understand if they are winning or not. While looking at this endgame for a few seconds during my own game - I wondered if Black can win this position. It seemed that because he can get two connected passed pawns on the kingside - his chances should be very high. The correct plan should have started with a move like f6, followed by g5:

In analysis, I can’t see how White can prevent a position like this, so this confirms my quick evaluation:

(Analysis position) After 50… g3+ , the pawn structure favours Black

The key is, of course, to advance pawns on dark squares, to prevent a typical blockade. Notice how White’s disconnected pawns on the queenside are blocked and useless. The game, however, went quite differently: Black played f7-f5, so White was able to advance h4-h5, and effectively separate Black’s pawns (a draw was soon agreed):

(Game continuation) After 42. h5 – this pawn structure allows White to make a draw.

If you can see a way for White to make a draw in the initial position with best play from both sides - please leave your comments! Here is some more extensive analysis in the viewer:

Bishop endgame (Wright-Jiganchine, 1999)

10 years ago I lost an instructive endgame to a BC chess master Stephen Wright:



Black has a passed pawn on c5, so it may seem he is playing with an extra pawn, but that is just an illusion. He is in fact worse since his king is always tied down to the a6 pawn. I exchanged pawns on g4 which was a mistake, and since White got a passed pawn on the kingside, I quickly went down. For all these years since then I thought that by playing f7-f6 or f7-f5 I could have held this position. Now I realized that things are not so simple. Not to bore you with crazy analysis, please have a look at this possible position and tell me if my general reasoning is way off:



Black has to keep king on b7 or a7 to protect a6, and bishop on f7 to cover c4 and protect h5. When the Black king is on a7, White can play Bc4 and take over the diagonal (pawn endgame is bad for black). There is probably a way for White to break through this 'fortress'. f5 is an additional weakness that the black bishop can be forced to defend. I think White wins here

Alex Davies - Hee Seid, BC Closed 2001

Replay Game

Alex Davies - Hee Seid

BC Closed/Vancouver (3.2) 2001

81. Rh6 In this position White is desperately looking for his last chance of counterplay and attacked the b6 pawn. Black recorded the move 81.Rg3 and having announced "check" played 81... Rg2 of course, the intended 81... Rg3+ would have given Black great winning chances, with one of the reasons being the fact that White had less than 2 minutes on the clock (SD), and Black - 1.5 hour. 82. Ke2 (82. Kd2 Be3+) (82. Ke4 Kc3 83. Bd1 Re3+ 84. Kd5 Kd2 (84... Rd3) 85. Rh1) 82... Kc3 83. Bd1 ( or 83. Bf5 Rg2+ 84. Kf3 Rf2+ 85. Kg4 Kxb3 86. Rxb6+ Kxc4) 83... Re3+ 84. Kf1 Kd2 82. Rxb6+ Ka3

83. Rb5? 83. Bd1 83... Kb2? yet another 'moment of truth' in this tragicomic endgame 83... e4+! 84. Kxe4 Rxc2 85. Kd5 Rc3 86. Rxa5+ Kxb3 87. Rb5+ Kc2 and Black is easily winning 84. Bd1 Rg3+ 85. Ke4 Re3+ 86. Kd5 Rd3 87. Be2 Rd2 88. Bf3 Rd3 89. Be4 Rd2 90. Bf3 Bc3+ 91. Kxc5 Bb4+ 92. Rxb4! axb4

93. Kxb4 Now despite his horrible time pressure White heroically manages to save this ending 93... Rd3 93... Rd4!? preventing c4-c5 and preparing e5-e4, was interesting 94. Bg4 Rxb3+ 95. Kc5 Rd3 96. Kb5 Kc3 97. c5 Rd4 98. Be2 Rb4+ 99. Kc6 Kd4 100. Kd6 Rb2 101. Bh5 Rh2 102. Bg4 e4 103. c6 Rc2 104. c7 1/2-1/2 [Roman Jiganchine]