K + B + N vs K

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share that today I mastered the technique for delivering checkmate with the Bishop and Knight versus lone King. (using the triangle method: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_and_knight_checkmate#Deletang.27s_triangle_method)

Now I know all the "basic" checkmates!

practice: http://www.chessvideos.tv/endgame-training/bishop-knight-checkmate.php

I learnt it, and by fluke had to mate with it the next 4 games in a row 

@Andrew_Bates. Thanks, I understand it's extremely rare that I encounter it OTB; but I do find it useful to understanding how the Bishop and Knight work together.

@Scottrf. I hope I have to use it in *my* next four games

EDIT: The diagrams will not post in the ORDER that I made them, so I'm fixing them now. EDIT 2: I give up on making them post in order.

EDIT 3: I made a game instead and annotated the pivotal positions.

I'm only a 1500-1600 player and I mastered that checkmate too. It's very useful to learn, because it:

1) Teaches you how to creates zones of denial with just a bishop and knight, that can be useful in ANY endgame.

2) It makes you much more willing to sac a rook for two of his minor pieces, knowing you'll be able to pull it off if you exchange your other rook for his rook and somehow manage to win his other rook for the remainder of your pawns.

Because I know it, it too has happened twice since, mainly because I'm not afraid to jump into it, or make moves that lead to it, but yes it's pretty rare.

Also it's pretty damn cool to show people at chess club when they say "You can't do it" just because they are 2000 rated players and thye don't know it :)

Well done, agreed. I've got this cracked once or twice, and then got to practise it so seldom that I forgot it again. It's probably worth two or three half-points in your career, tops, but as you say, it teaches piece coordination very well.

The one reason why this checkmate is so hard though, is because although it can be done in 33 "perfect moves," you actually need to know EVERY single frame of those 33 moves, because if the opponent DOES NOT play perfectly to avoid checkmate, you need to know when to fast forward to a future frame, otherwise he will escape. For instance, in the game I posted above, Rybka DID NOT played perfectly, I failed to realize this for a few moves, so it ended in 38 moves instead of 33.

You also need to know how to mentally recognize it eight different ways:

Light square bishop has four variations, checkmate from a1 dark corner to a8 light corner, checkmate from h8 dark corner to a1, checkmate from a8 corner to h1 corner, checkmate from h8 corner to h1 corner.

Dark Square bishop has the mirror variations, from a8 to a1, h1 to a1, a8 to h8, h1 to h8.

In all the other checkmates you can choose your preferred corner. However, in the Knight Bishop checkmate, your opponent gets to choose which corner he dies in. And also, like I said, if he plays imperfectly, and you miss it, you'll end up in a 50 move draw, I once took out Rybka in 17 moves because of imperfect play.

this video helped me learn it. its a very simple system.. although it takes longer:  http://youtu.be/PWZ7h2yrJME