The Bishop's Show: Wrap-Up - Chess.com
The Bishop's Show: Wrap-Up
Last week
we analyzed bishop endgames where a king played a major role. We
studied a pattern where the bishop sacrifice cleared the way for the
king. Today we will continue with the topic of king activity in bishop
endgames but will look at different ideas. We will not be able to cover
all of the ideas associated with king activity but concentrate on a few
important ones. The first two examples will feature bishop sacrifice
from a defensive point of view. The other examples will include the
themes of pawn breakthrough and king's entrance into the opponent's
position through the squares of the same and opposite color of the
bishop.
The strategy explained in the next two
examples works for positions where there is a passed pawn on one side
but where the defending side has a majority on the other side. The
defending side can try to stop the passed pawn but it will take time and
resources, where the attacking side can use the deflected defender's
pieces to run with the king to the other flank and collect pawns there.
Or the defending side can sacrifice the bishop for the passed pawn but
come with the king to the other flank where the attacking side has a
pawn minority.
In the first example, the b5-pawn looks
impressive, however the d-pawn can potentially move forward and create a
passed e-pawn. Black takes the correct decision and eliminates the
b-pawn right away; in return he gets a passed pawn and active king.
Notice how all the white pawns on the kingside are on the opposite color
squares from the bishop, so when the king comes up to collect them the
bishop can only watch.
Ruck Petit, Monique (1935) vs. Carvajal, N. (1800)
Luzern ol (Women) | Luzern | Round 4| 1982 | ECO: D79 | 1/2-1/2
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Below, the scenario is similar to the
first example. White has the king supporting the passed pawn on the
kingside, while black has the king in the centre and potential passed
d-pawn. The h-pawn is far advanced and black has little choice but
sacrificing the bishop for it. The complications arise when black is
trying to get into white's position with the king. White's bishop and
the c3-pawn cover the entrance squares, so black has to be precise in
his implementation.
Nuber, Blasius (2041) vs. Nolte, Christoph (1823)
GER-ch U14 | Willingen | Round 1| 3 Jun 2006 | ECO: C02 | 1-0
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The defending side should aim to keep
many pieces on the board when the attacking side's king is active. This
is so because with less pieces on the board the significance of the king
activity increases. Take for example, the next position. The knight on
d8 is not the most active piece but it defends the key c6-pawn thus
black must not trade the knight but instead rely on tactics to preserve
it.
Rakhinshteyn, Fima vs. Bellomo, Joe
Toronto op | Toronto | Round 5| 1995 | ECO: A28 | 1-0
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In the next two examples white's active
king invades the black position because the pawn structure is fixed and
black cannot cover all the weak entrance squares. In the first position
black loses the kingside pawns but gets the passed d-pawn. White is
ready to sacrifice the bishop for the pawn and to get three passed pawns
for the bishop. Because the black king is far away, the bishop cannot
stop all three of them. To get to the bishop endgame white had to
exchange the bishop for the knight first - a similar idea from the
previous example.
Szabolcsi, Janos (2340) vs. Glatt, Gabor (2278)
HUN-chT 0607 | Hungary | Round 6| 4 Mar 2007 | ECO: E60 | 1-0
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The last example features an active king
for white and a "bad bishop" for black. The bishop is locked behind the
f6-pawn. First, white improves the king position and then temporarily
sacrifices a pawn (or even two pawns in some variations) to get the king
in. White would not be able to win this endgame without a zugzwang
idea. The bishop on g7 defends the f6-pawn and can do so only from the
g7 or the h8-square. The king has to stay on b7 because it guards the
c6-square. On the other hand, the white bishop can freely move on the
a3-f8 diagonal winning tempos to put black into a zugzwang.
Acebal Muniz, Antonio (2285) vs. Hector, L.
ESP-chTa | Spain | Round 8| 1990 | ECO: A42 | 1-0
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In summary we looked at positions where
king activity plays a key role in bishop endgames. We covered a
combination of ideas including bishop sacrifice from the defensive point
of view, pawn breaks and exchanges that lead to the bishop endgame. On
this note we are wrapping up bishop endgames and moving on to endgames
where many pieces are present.
by GM Eugene Perelshteyn
