Bishop Knight Mate Complications

Hi, 

I am trying to master the bishop knight mate but the issue is that the computer always makes the "best" moves, and I find that the mate pattern is very easy to execute if the computer is helping me by putting itself in the corner, however a human will probably not play like this, and I find the "non optimal" moves to be much more challenging to deal with. Corralling the king into the corner is the hardest part, once it's there though, it's rather simple.

In this position (white or black to move), if black just willingly runs to the a8 corner, life is good. But if the king tries to stay on e8, I don't know how to make progress without giving the black king a chance to escape the back rank. In this position how can i force the king to go to the a1 corner (so that i can do the W pattern to mate on h8) if the king tries to do everything it can to stay near e8.

Also, are there any tips in general on corralling the king to the edge and then corner of the board? I feel like I am always helped when the computer just goes to the corner for me. I feel like I could do this mate over and over against the strongest computer, but draw by 50 move rule to any human player.  

I've experienced this too, stockfish seems to head toward the edge very fast when practicing this checkmate. Unsure why. It does make it easier even if not faster.

In the above position, I would play 1. Kd6.

If black plays Kf8. then Bd4 and the king is already trapped.

If black plays Kd8. then Bb6+ and let him choose where he wants to die. If he stays near e8, as you say: 2. - Ke8 3. Ke6 Kf8 4. Bd4 Ke8 5. Nf7 Kf8 5. Nd6 Kg8 6. Kf6

You are talking to a spambot.

It took your old comment and mixed up the words, making it nonsense,

How to do the bishop and knight mate:

You have to drive the king to the corner matching your bishop and this is some of the most stockfish moves

This example is when the white king, bishop and knight is on their starting square and the black king is on the middle of the board

While my automatic BN mater in my mind says 1. Kd6 Kd8 (1...Kf8 2. Bd4! Ke8 3. Bf6 and you have a pattern that appears in the W-maneuver technique) 2. Bb6+ Kc8 (2...Ke8 3. Ke6 should be even easier) 3. Bc7 and moving the knight to either b6 or c7, there is actually a method to handle these kinds of things without worrying much about keeping the black king on the first rank, and this btw was discovered by Capablanca (if I remember correctly). Remember, the ultimate goal is to drive the king to the "right corner", so if your opponent tries to hang around the center and close to a right corner, you might just be able to set up an inescapable triangle with the right corner as one of its corners, then slowly contract that triangle until the king gets mated. There is no need to set up a W-maneuver case. And in your position, it is true. Black's king is close to the h8 square, so the best thing to do is to lock it within the b8-h2-h8 triangle with the bishop and contract it. Here's how it can be done in that example

An example starting from a more general position:

Whatever you choose though, both methods work, and you should never accidentally get a draw if you do either correctly.

PS: Don't waste your time on practicing this endgame too much (not saying don't study it btw; but just don't focus on it); it is very unlikely to happen in a real game (e.g., not counting the times where I deliberately promoted a B and a N like an *ssh*le, this has only genuinely happened 1 time in my OTB games, where my opponent, who was a piece down, instead of resigning, gave me trouble and managed to get into an endgame where I only had one pawn and he could trade his remaining piece with it.). And don't deliberately get that endgame; that's not very sportsmanlike.