King vs. King and two Bishops

(I don't particularly care about the exact position shown here. Just thought it would be nice to throw in a diagram.)

i think its verry tuff

You need to use your bishops to cut off adjacent diagonals.  Take squares away from the enemy with your king, pushing him toward a corner of the board.  When your king alone can't cut off all escape squares, bring one of your bishops closer so it can cut off the diagonal and take away other escape squares simultaneously.  You should slowly maneuver your bishops to shrink the space he has left.  Here is a sequence from a book I have on endgames:

A few games ago I had B+N+P vs B; my opponent missed his chance to force a B+N endgame and instead we ended up in a N+P endgame. I've played out a 2 bishops ending. As you say, they don't occur very often, but studying these endings doesn't take very long and it helps you learn to better coordinate your minor pieces even in the middlegame.

Awhile back I played out and annotated a 2 Bishops vs 4 Pawns endgame (as a learning exercise), which of course includes a 2 Bishops checkmate.

One of the keys in the 2 bishops or B & N endgames is to use your king aggressively. Get the opposition against the opponent's king, with your minor pieces keeping the king from going very far sideways, and you can push him against the edge of the board. For some reasons, books explaining these endgames always talk about using the minor pieces to cut off squares for the enemy king, but they never focus on the fact that getting the opposition with your king is the most important part.

--Fromper 

Yes, I know. I totally blew that lesson.

It's also jst obligatory to know since it shows patterns that often occur(e.g. minimalizing your opponent's king's space is used in very much situations)

Karsten mueller's dvd 1 endgames covers the basics excellently.]

It's one of those dreaded endgames that you hope your opponent will resign in out of principle. But you still ought to know how to do it. Diagram above is helpful--it seems your King is the best tool you have for directing the opponent's King.

Knight + Bishop seems even more difficult.

The two Bishop mate really isn't that difficult.

:)

ThomasK wrote:

Has anyone won using a bishop and knight?  Or, come to think of it the two bishops.  In all the years I've played the game I have never had to in either case.

Mating with N and B is not really that difficult if tou know the teqnique

My dear Villard, mating with two B can be learned easily,

but with B and N is diferent story. Do you know so coled W manouvre?

I did try to learn it, but I give up.

Two Bishops on adjacent diagonals create an impenetrable wall that the opposing King cannot cross, much in the same way that a single Rook creates the same wall. Just shuffle the Bishops around, squeezing the King further to the edge with the aid of your King. This is the same procedure you use with the Rook. I just think of my two Bishops, working in tandem, as if it was a Rook. You do not have to be particularly efficient with this method as a slow, methodical approach will get you there well under 50 moves. You can just work your Bishops, side-by-side, until the opposing King is pinned to the side of the board. Two Bishops, side-by-side, are immune as the King cannot attack them. Once the opposing King is on the side of the board, side-by-side Bishops limit the King to only two squares without any help from your King. Maneuver your King to the short side of the board and slow deny squares until the King is checkmated in the corner. Be careful; because you can accidentally get a stalemate. There are times you have to mark time. 

Checkmate with the two bishops in indeed not to hard. In fact you have the opponent king in a triangle and you only have to make it smaller till you got the king at the egde of the board. Then you drive it in the corner taking squares from the side and checkmate him.