Odom8385 wrote:
Can you force mate with just two bishops and if so please explain how? Thank you!
Yes you can.
https://www.chess.com/lessons/endgame-patterns/two-bishop-checkmate
https://www.chess.com/drills/practice/two-bishops-mate
Can you force mate with just two bishops
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Sep 23, 2019
0
#3
Yes, you can. Any endings book should have details, or you can search the Internet. Here is a link I found (there are many others): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvFLNvQ93bQ
EDIT: Or see Martin's link above . . .
In the unlikely scenario you promoted a pawn to a bishop and now all you have are two dark square bishops or two light square bishops you can't....
But your starting bishops????
it is possible with two bishops and i believe it is possible with a bishop and knight. With two knights, only with a pawn, i believe.
Martin_Stahl wrote:
Odom8385 wrote:
Can you force mate with just two bishops and if so please explain how? Thank you!
Yes you can.
https://www.chess.com/lessons/endgame-patterns/two-bishop-checkmate
Any descent book on endings will show you.
ArtilleryFox wrote:
And you are a condescending anal aperture. We all have to learn.
Are you kidding ? This is elementary mate , Sonny . I have nothing to say more than contempt
Sep 23, 2019
0
#8
With just two bishops and no "assistance" from any other pieces, I'd say no. The closest I'd say would be if the king was in a corner, say h8, in this case, the dark square bishop would have to be the one delivering checkmate but the king could escape to the other square the light square bishop isnt guarding, either h7 or g8... but if for example black is being checkmated with the king in the corner, if his own pawn was on h7 and the light square bishop was guarding g8 on the diagonal (say from a2), then the dark squared white bishop could mate him and he couldnt move to h7 because of his own pawn being there, in the chess.com example posted here, the white king still assists
I agree with mattm. The answer is no. You cannot force checkmate with just two bishops. It always requires assistance from some other piece, either yours or the opponents.
Sep 23, 2019
0
#11
lfPatriotGames wrote:
I agree with mattm. The answer is no. You cannot force checkmate with just two bishops. It always requires assistance from some other piece, either yours or the opponents.
Mate can be forced with two bishops (not of the same color). If you don't know how to do it, it will either take more than 50 moves, the position will repeat three times, or you'll get lucky.
Sep 23, 2019
0
#12
mattm1972 wrote:
With just two bishops and no "assistance" from any other pieces, I'd say no. The closest I'd say would be if the king was in a corner, say h8, in this case, the dark square bishop would have to be the one delivering checkmate but the king could escape to the other square the light square bishop isnt guarding, either h7 or g8... but if for example black is being checkmated with the king in the corner, if his own pawn was on h7 and the light square bishop was guarding g8 on the diagonal (say from a2), then the dark squared white bishop could mate him and he couldnt move to h7 because of his own pawn being there, in the chess.com example posted here, the white king still assists
You're taking the question too literally.
who whants to mate with two biships, dueds... that's to wierd, man/
As long as "both Bishops" are not on the same color, it's clear sailing to checkmate. 
Sep 23, 2019
0
#15
In a Blitz game I'd probably just save a minute of my life and offer a draw if I got to an ending with 2 bishops vs a king 
Time is a valuable resource and life is too short to remember or waste time working out how to mate with minimal material!
Yes, but only when they are opposite-coloured and the King is still there to help the pair.
Sep 23, 2019
0
#17
It’s not hard. I’ve never actually had it occur naturally in a game though I don’t believe, but it’s not a difficult checkmate to figure out on the spot, especially compared to the knight and bishop vs. king which you have a zero percent chance of converting unless you’ve seen it before or are playing a daily game
Sep 23, 2019
0
#18
I don't remember ever having it occur in a game I've played. I don't doubt it isn't difficult to work out, I just doubt if I could really be bothered!
Sep 23, 2019
0
#19
JamesColeman wrote:
mattm1972 wrote:
With just two bishops and no "assistance" from any other pieces, I'd say no. The closest I'd say would be if the king was in a corner, say h8, in this case, the dark square bishop would have to be the one delivering checkmate but the king could escape to the other square the light square bishop isnt guarding, either h7 or g8... but if for example black is being checkmated with the king in the corner, if his own pawn was on h7 and the light square bishop was guarding g8 on the diagonal (say from a2), then the dark squared white bishop could mate him and he couldnt move to h7 because of his own pawn being there, in the chess.com example posted here, the white king still assists
You're taking the question too literally.
You may very well be right! Maybe the person just want to know what they would need in a endgame against a lone king, his or her own king of course being a given...on the other hand, maybe the person really wants to know if you can checkmate with just two bishops, for practical reasons or just hypothetically...one practical reason I could think of is an endgame where your king is guarding against a pawn (being guarded by another pawn) wanting to promote so it can't help attack the enemy king, could I checkmate then with just my two bishops if there are no other pieces in the game? I started wondering what would I need in that scenario also
Can you force mate with just two bishops and if so please explain how? Thank you!