This piece endgame becomes very different to a pawn endgame. Like a knight endgame, sometimes even an extra pawn is not enough to win but also the chances of zugzwangs happening become extremely rare as unlike the knight, the Bishop is able to waste a move. And of course, being the elephant in the room, the Bishop cannot attack the opposite colour complex.
The key to these endgames is slightly different to the usual:
USE THE KING
Put pawns on the opposite colour to your Bishop
Try to create passed pawns and assist them
USE THE KING
(The example for this will be shown after the next key aspect)
Of course, I have said this many times but here the King is especially important. In fact, it is often considered that the King is the strongest piece in Minor piece endgames because of how flexible it is and also because it can attack both colour complexes. For instance, the position below is winning for white because they can
Well, it was a very complex example, but was decided by white using their King
Put pawns on the opposite colour to your Bishop
This on first thoughts (especially for those without a lot of experience in closed positions or Bishop endgames) it seems weird to do because of the idea that you no longer will have a Bishop to protect your pawns. However, by doing this, it means that your Bishop will not be blocked by pawns, which makes your Bishop a good Bishop which may attack enemy pawns. In opposite coloured Bishop endgames it gets trickier, but this concept still remains the same.
In the position below, black is down a pawn, and yet is completely winning! Because all the pawns are on dark squares for white, it means that black can attack them while white can't attack a single one of black's pawns:
Try to create passed pawns
This applies for all endgames, and can be seen in even the very first example. And, as with almost all endgames, if there are no passed pawns attempted to being made, neither side may win. For instance, below was the position I had reached against someone with 2000 fide rating:
White is up a clean pawn (and it is their turn to move). But they cannot win this endgame because of how difficult it is to create an outside passed pawn. Also, again, my pawns are all on the opposite colour to my Bishop, and I managed to draw this endgame with ease.
So if you are uncertain next time about what the result of your Bishop endgame is, keep in mind these 3 factors. Unlike a knight, a Bishop is a long ranged piece so can be very irritating to deal with, but these endgames will be much easier to handle if you keep these concepts in mind (especially using your king).
This piece endgame becomes very different to a pawn endgame. Like a knight endgame, sometimes even an extra pawn is not enough to win but also the chances of zugzwangs happening become extremely rare as unlike the knight, the Bishop is able to waste a move. And of course, being the elephant in the room, the Bishop cannot attack the opposite colour complex.
The key to these endgames is slightly different to the usual:
USE THE KING
(The example for this will be shown after the next key aspect)
Of course, I have said this many times but here the King is especially important. In fact, it is often considered that the King is the strongest piece in Minor piece endgames because of how flexible it is and also because it can attack both colour complexes. For instance, the position below is winning for white because they can
Well, it was a very complex example, but was decided by white using their King
Put pawns on the opposite colour to your Bishop
This on first thoughts (especially for those without a lot of experience in closed positions or Bishop endgames) it seems weird to do because of the idea that you no longer will have a Bishop to protect your pawns. However, by doing this, it means that your Bishop will not be blocked by pawns, which makes your Bishop a good Bishop which may attack enemy pawns. In opposite coloured Bishop endgames it gets trickier, but this concept still remains the same.
In the position below, black is down a pawn, and yet is completely winning! Because all the pawns are on dark squares for white, it means that black can attack them while white can't attack a single one of black's pawns:
Try to create passed pawns
This applies for all endgames, and can be seen in even the very first example. And, as with almost all endgames, if there are no passed pawns attempted to being made, neither side may win. For instance, below was the position I had reached against someone with 2000 fide rating:
White is up a clean pawn (and it is their turn to move). But they cannot win this endgame because of how difficult it is to create an outside passed pawn. Also, again, my pawns are all on the opposite colour to my Bishop, and I managed to draw this endgame with ease.
So if you are uncertain next time about what the result of your Bishop endgame is, keep in mind these 3 factors. Unlike a knight, a Bishop is a long ranged piece so can be very irritating to deal with, but these endgames will be much easier to handle if you keep these concepts in mind (especially using your king).