Hi guys,

sorry if this has been asked here already, but I'm a newbie and I couldn't find the answer here on anywhere on the internet.

My question is: Is it always possible to mate king+rook vs king+bishop(no pawns)? If yes, are there any guides, how to mate?

Thanks

depends on where the king is what color bishop. say you have a king on a8 and a dark bishop if you can get your bishop to b8 or a7 its a draw

thanks for your reply, however I still dont get it :D

In a following position, how can I decide whether it's a draw or a win? In general, what are the conditions for a white to win?

in the position you give black will get his king to a1 or h8 since the white rook cuts blacks king off from h8 then a1 is his best chance but black can also hold off mate in center by keeping king on dark square and bishop dance around keeping whites like off light square that would mate  here is a line i think is best

A general rule on when white can win can be hard to say. If the position is such that white can combine mate threats with threats against the bishop and black can not get around that then you have a winning condition. But normally king+rook vs. king+bishop is a draw.

Here is a white win position I found on the net, a difficult one I would say, it is a mate in 29: http://www.gilith.com/chess/endgames/kr_kb.html

You can check out specific positions here: http://www.k4it.de/index.php?topic=egtb&lang=en

It is not an easy end game I would say.

If you are the one with the rook you can try out and see if you can win the bishop (or check mate) before 50 moves are up, or you can decide to not bother and offer a draw, I think that in most cases it would be a drawn position anyway. Before you offer a draw you might want to at least play out some moves just to look for tactics and get some idea of the possibilities.

If you are the one with the bishop you would of course go for the draw, so resigning is not an option unless you end up in a position with no rescue. Look for tactics, especially look for possibilities to pin the opponent's rook to his king with your bishop.

thanks for a help!

You are welcome!

There is a type of position where the player with the rook has a winning position, so it is a good idea to know that one (I just had a look in one of my chess books). So if you have the rook you would want that position, if you have the bishop you would avoid it. It is a position where the defending king is on the edge and the other king opposing it, and regarding the other pieces ... well it is easier to show a diagram, so I will do that.

Note in the diagram below that black has to keep his bishop on either the same file as the kings or on one of the adjacent files. So in this case black needs to keep the bishop on the e, f or g file.

It's usually a draw. It's a draw if the black king can reach a corner of the colour opposite to his bishop's. It can be won if the defender is forced to the back rank and cut from the saving corner (like in the example above.)

However, this endgame very seldom arises in practical play (there are often a couple of pawns left).