2 bishops vs 2 rooks end game, it is terrifying.

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valeoman
Wow
EllisHoward
11
thegreatchessplayerrzz

I think the trick is to pin the bishops to the defending king.

thegreatchessplayerrzz

Here is how you win with 2 rooks vs 2 bishops with no pawns:

EndgameEnthusiast2357

According to tablebases, 2 bishops vs 2 rooks is shockingly very hard to win for the 2 rooks. It is important to note that both the bishop and rook control almost the same amount of squares from the center of the board (13 vs 14) so in open endgame positions, the bishops value increases. Unlike the knight, bishops are long range like the rook, making it even harder to trap them. Bishops can also pin and skewer in addition to forking, whereas the knight can only fork. Another way to think of it is that a queen has alot of trouble beating 2 bishops in an endgame, and a queen is roughly equivalent to 2 rooks, so why should 2 rooks be that much easier?

Arisktotle
EndgameEnthusiast2357 wrote:

According to tablebases, 2 bishops vs 2 rooks is shockingly very hard to win for the 2 rooks. ....

Then again, it is shockingly unlikely that one would land in such an endgame without pawns on the board. Then you can almost always give a rook for a bishop and leave an easily winning R vs B position. With pawns of course!

It follows the method of win conversions. Don't sit on your perceived advantage but trade it for another to simplify and exploit the opponents new weakness - here the squares of the eliminated bishop. Also, what you "trade" doesn't matter, only what is left behind!