Could Black draw from this point?

Can Black draw from this position?

How about this position?

Unfortunately it's the same game...I need to stop procrastinating and work on endgames.  I'll check out what Chess Mentor has for that.

If the 1st position turned into the 2nd one, then Black blundered.

Assuming that white is moving down the board, I see the easiest way to draw from the 1st position as king on e5 and Bishop on e3. Black can shuffle the bishop so that it doesn't get taken, and white can only look to support either pawn push with the king. When the king gets close enough to support the pawn push, make sure the bishop shuffles along that diagonal.

I believe the rule of thumb in opposite colored bishop endings is that the pawns need to be separated by 2+ files, with no special cases. A special case would be if one was a wrong-colored rook pawn - then it's a draw for sure.

Please clear up for me, if the separation is 2+ files, then the pawns win?

I never knew that.

[edit] maybe I misunderstood, I put some positions into Nalimov, and find almost no positions B+2p vs opposite Bishop which can be won.

The exceptions are when both pawns threaten to promote, or the bishop can be captured on the move.

Yes, that is what I meant. But Wikipedia apparently has a more descriptive answer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opposite-colored_bishops_endgame

If the two pawns are bishop pawns then it is usually a win. In other cases it is usually a draw. -- Wikipedia

That's interesting, I love knowing stuff like this.

Again, I ran to Nalimov. Even with 2 Bishop pawns, some positions dont win, if the pawns are not advanced. It seems that when both pawns reach the 4th rank, the win is forced.

Even though I "know" this already (though clearly I didn't know it as much as I thought), the ending has never been relevant to me. It pales in comparison to rook endings, which might be the single most important category of endgame.

Well, objectively you are correct of course.

But subjectively I have this weakness for useless information. It's genetic, I think

yeah, I blundered it.  He did a full circle around the pieces with his King...and I was rolling my eyes instead of being careful.

Sorry, I think I flipped the board in one of the diagrams...I think i got my answer though.  thanks.

Yeah, that confused me. I was looking at that first diagram wondering how anybody could think it was a draw before it dawned on me.

!st one is easily drawn,as black has a good blockade and the pawns can't do anything, 2nd is easily won, as white can waste moves with the bishop and advance the pawn to 7th rank without checking, therefore winning.