Unless someone flubs it. Thats a draw.
opposite colored bishops
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Dec 18, 2020
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#4
I played against computer and had black win, but it was a bad coumputer.
35 ... Bg4 would have given White more of a chance to go wrong. The idea is for Black to get Kg4-Kh5-h6-g5-(White hg)-hg and then force the white king to come to the king-side to stop the passed g-pawn. That allows Black to play Bxc2 and be two pawns up.
That said, White simply puts the king on g1 and the bishop on b4. No matter what Black does White can shuffle one of his two pieces forever.
Before White covers b4 with the bishop Black does have a threat of 35 ... b4 and either ab gives the threat of a difficult-to-intercept a-pawn queening the keeps the White king on the queen side or cb gives the threat of the Black king winning the a-pawn while the Black bishop watches the White b-pawn. I haven't bothered to check all the 35 ... b4 lines but Black's move 35 was the last chance to complicate things.
In the given position White plays 35 Bc5 and moves the White king to h2 (playing Bf7 if Black threatens the h-pawn with the king) and moves the White king to h2 or (preferably) g3. There is no pushing past White.
jimmyjetset wrote:
I played black. My opponent timed out and I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted to learn more about opposite colored bishops. My plan was to tie the white king to the c2 pawn and invade with my king.
Is this position a draw? Nothing black can do?
White to move
Hi.
The final position is drawn, and it is very easy to hold for white.
Instead of 32... f5, I think 32... f6 (with the idea of 33... g5) forces White to defend carefully, but I think it is still drawn.
Avoiding some rook exchanges before would have been advisable, but White's rook was very active.
jetoba wrote:
35 ... Bg4 would have given White more of a chance to go wrong. The idea is for Black to get Kg4-Kh5-h6-g5-(White hg)-hg and then force the white king to come to the king-side to stop the passed g-pawn. That allows Black to play Bxc2 and be two pawns up.
That said, White simply puts the king on g1 and the bishop on b4. No matter what Black does White can shuffle one of his two pieces forever.
Before White covers b4 with the bishop Black does have a threat of 35 ... b4 and either ab gives the threat of a difficult-to-intercept a-pawn queening the keeps the White king on the queen side or cb gives the threat of the Black king winning the a-pawn while the Black bishop watches the White b-pawn. I haven't bothered to check all the 35 ... b4 lines but Black's move 35 was the last chance to complicate things.
In the given position White plays 35 Bc5 and moves the White king to h2 (playing Bf7 if Black threatens the h-pawn with the king) and moves the White king to h2 or (preferably) g3. There is no pushing past White.
It is very easy to defend against that plan.
White simply puts his Bishop on the g5-d8 diagonal, and Black will never be able to successfully play g5.
peepchuy wrote:
jetoba wrote:
35 ... Bg4 would have given White more of a chance to go wrong. The idea is for Black to get Kg4-Kh5-h6-g5-(White hg)-hg and then force the white king to come to the king-side to stop the passed g-pawn. That allows Black to play Bxc2 and be two pawns up.
That said, White simply puts the king on g1 and the bishop on b4. No matter what Black does White can shuffle one of his two pieces forever.
Before White covers b4 with the bishop Black does have a threat of 35 ... b4 and either ab gives the threat of a difficult-to-intercept a-pawn queening the keeps the White king on the queen side or cb gives the threat of the Black king winning the a-pawn while the Black bishop watches the White b-pawn. I haven't bothered to check all the 35 ... b4 lines but Black's move 35 was the last chance to complicate things.
In the given position White plays 35 Bc5 and moves the White king to h2 (playing Bf7 if Black threatens the h-pawn with the king) and moves the White king to h2 or (preferably) g3. There is no pushing past White.
It is very easy to defend against that plan.
White simply puts his Bishop on the g5-d8 diagonal, and Black will never be able to successfully play g5.
Once the Black pawn is on h5 the defense is easy. If we back up a couple of moves to when the Black pawn was still on h7 (and h6 can be played to support g5) the defense requires greater care. but if the White bishop covers b4 and the White king abandons the c2 pawn and gets to g3 while still having the h4 pawn then the defense still is easy. If white tries to hang on to the c2 pawn then the White bishop has to defend the king side and there can be problems, though with careful play I think White should still be able to draw even after getting two pawns down. The threats on both sides of the board and the need to split up the White bishop and king to meet them is how to try to win an opposite-colored-squares bishop ending. Those endings are still very drawish but they can be made difficult to defend and there are occasionally times when they are winnable even against best defense (I once offered to trade rooks against a player with very little time left in the first time control because I wanted to get to a K+B+6P vs K+B+6P opposite colored ending that was decisively in my favor and I knew he didn't have enough time to realize that his best chances to draw involved keeping the rooks on the board).
hello
I played black. My opponent timed out and I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted to learn more about opposite colored bishops. My plan was to tie the white king to the c2 pawn and invade with my king.
Is this position a draw? Nothing black can do?
White to move