The Easiest Way To Do The 2-Bishop Checkmate.
The 2-bishop checkmate is one of the hardest checkmates in chess during the endgame phase. If you have to trade down to this endgame it is helpful to know how to get the extra half-point. This method isn't the one you see in tutorials and it is actually recommended by stockfish. It is easy to premove the checkmate because it is like an algorithm.
Getting To The Back Rank
The first step is to get your bishops next to each other along with your king. This traps the opposing king (black in this case) to a confined space.
I have highlighted the areas the black king can go to in blue and the places he can't move to in red.
The second step is to get your king into a spot where the black king can't take a bishop when you move it forwards. If you can already do this without the possibility of the bishop getting captured, do it.
In this position, we would go Kf5 and then our goal is to go Be6 which he can avoid by going Kd7. Now we march our king up to flank the black king by going Kf6. They have to surrender the 7th rank and go to the eighth. Now you can go either Bd6 or Be6, it doesn't really matter which one because with either one, you will move the other bishop to e6 or d6, depending on which bishop you moved before.
Moving Towards Checkmate
Doing this pattern will eventually get their king to the back rank. The only thing to avoid is this position
This position is a stalemate and is really easy to get to if you do the strategy slightly wrong. There are also variations of it that are also stalemates which training your endgames on chess.com can fix.
Moving Towards Checkmate
This stage of moving towards the checkmate is actually quite simple.
This can take a little bit to master but it is really easy to find areas to premove to the checkmate.
Once you get the black king to A8 in this case, you can begin the checkmating pattern.
The chackmating pattern.
The checkmate with the 2 bishops can be difficult but easy to perfect.
Doing this entire sequence of moves will get their king to checkmate.
Practicing it.
Practicing this sequence of moves can be difficult but can still be done.
If you have done all of these puzzles, Congratulations! You have learned to 2-bishop checkmate.
Thank You For Reading!
