Bishop checkmate: 2 Bishops vs King

I'm just posting this for those of you who don't know it.

Sorry for the mes-up. This one is correct.

Wow, that's pretty involved lol

When I was learning the tricky elementary checkmates (bishops and knight and bishop) I could only get it witht he aid you youtube videos where someone explained the how and why and showed it. A simple query 'how to mate with knight and bishop' brings several result videos and then after you watch it a couple times try with a chess computer to hone your technique until you got it. There are also a couple ways to do it, and the way I picked up is the simplest, so watch a few videos. The Kind of variation showing games there didn't help me to get it, as I didn't get the key concepts of how the opposition is used and cutting off key squares when they try to get away from reviewing variation like demonstrations. Maybe I'm dense though, but I needed it actually explained move by move, lol.

Have you tried accomplishing this checkmate in fewer moves? Your method is systematic and easy, but seems a little too slow. From your starting position I was able to checkmate Stockfish 3 in 14 moves. Took about a minute.

At one point, I thought the engine moved to the edge too willingly, so I checked that aftewards. I would have mated in 16 moves had it made the move that I preferred. 

Well I guess you haven't heard but as long as it is made in 50 moves it is a win. Its too bad they didn't teach you this in chess club. 

I taught myself how to checkmate with two bishops and it works in under 50 moves. I didn't learn a special method from a chess coach.

I've heard that. Seems its in the rule book that way, too. Sometimes, however, when you only have 25 seconds on the clock, it's hard to get play more moves. But, the less thought that is needed for such moves, often the faster they can be played.

There's virtue in knowing cold a method that works, that you can play fast. There's also virtue in finding the most efficient method, the fewest moves.

I just wanted to know whether you had spent any time attempting the latter. When I test students on this skill, I ask them to try to do it in under 35 moves, but I lose count when they are showing systematic progress that works. Your method would pass. But, I still think that you can do better.

I could do it in 26 seconds. I do not deny there are quicker and more efficient methods but I don't care a whole lot cuz I get the general concept. Thanks though. You should post a topic on the correct way to do it and send me the link. If its not too much trouble. Thanks.

A quick check of the tablebase reveals that it is mate in 15. Hence, when Stockfish let me win in 14 moves, it had to err. The mate in 16 in the variation can be improved by one move. There's more for me to learn.

I learned this checkmate from a book when I was a teenager in the 1970s. For the past ten years or so, I've practiced it against engines to refine my technique (a couple of times a year). When I started teaching it to children, I searched GM and IM games in my database. I found one instance where an IM failed to execute the checkmate and got a draw. Later, I had a chance to discuss that game with the player who had the lone king, Dean Ippolito. He said that his opponent was down to very few seconds when he missed the mate in four. It had been a complex and difficult game. A win in that game would have given the IM his final GM norm. He earned it several months later.

It turns out that 2.Bb4+ would have been an improvement in my method. I rejected that move not due to calculation, but because I eschew checks in these elementary checkmates.

Years of watching unnecessary draws in youth chess tournaments has given me the conviction that teaching young players to control the enemy king without checks will nurture the necessary skills. With two bishops, one check before checkmate is necessary, but only one.

That's my technique. It may not be best, but it is reasonably efficient.