Opposite Colored Bishop Endgame

Hi everyone! Today I am going to explain about a mystery that we rarely solve, the opposite colored Bishops endgame.

So, what is an opposite colored bishop's endgame?

It is an endgame position where there is a pawn advantage either to white or to black, and there are bishops on both sides. But the bishops are not on the same colored square. For example:

Here it is an easy draw because The white bishop is on the dark squares. The black bishop is on the light squares, and the promoting square of the pawn is on the light square a8. So, as long as black maintains the bishop on the h1-a8 diagonal, it is a draw. You can see that through the moves, white cannot make any progress. If white promotes, black takes the piece and it is a draw.

However, opposite colored bishop's endgame always are not draws. It depends on how many pawns you have as well. And also how active is your king and the black king. It also depends on how far the pawn has pushed. If the king is in the pawn square, then it is a draw. Take this position and analyze it:

but in this position, it is a win for white as black's king is so far away and the pawn has been pushed:

As you can see in this diagram, the extra pawn helps white to win. With the a pawn distracting the bishop, the h pawn can promote easily. 

Thanks for viewing this blog. Please tell me if I should post any more blogs like this.

Regards,

@GM-NiruMalVij