Forums

Can someone please share the solution to the Bishop-Knight checkmate drill?

Sort:
Slibbidy

I'm a beginner who is going through all of the training and drills before I try playing other people. I know this is a difficult checkmate, but I also know if I can wrap my head around it, it will help me learn the patterns that pieces have with each other. I've watched YouTube videos on this, I've seen it done, I know about trying to get the knight into a W pattern, that I need to use the same color corner that my bishop is on, that I don't use the knight to do a waiting move, that I need to trap the king in shrinking triangles...but I just can't do it.

I end up chasing the king around the board until eventually I screw up and the king is chasing my pieces, and then stalemate. How do I close off the king so that he can't escape the triangle? I've been doing this drill for 5 straight hours and not once have I even managed to get the king in the corner. It's infuriating! If someone could just post the moves so I can see that pattern in this specific scenario more clearly (i.e. not in notation that I can't follow in my head) I would be forever indebted to you. 

I'm going to go back to trying and cursing again.

notmtwain
Slibbidy wrote:

I'm a beginner who is going through all of the training and drills before I try playing other people. I know this is a difficult checkmate, but I also know if I can wrap my head around it, it will help me learn the patterns that pieces have with each other. I've watched YouTube videos on this, I've seen it done, I know about trying to get the knight into a W pattern, that I need to use the same color corner that my bishop is on, that I don't use the knight to do a waiting move, that I need to trap the king in shrinking triangles...but I just can't do it.

I end up chasing the king around the board until eventually I screw up and the king is chasing my pieces, and then stalemate. How do I close off the king so that he can't escape the triangle? I've been doing this drill for 5 straight hours and not once have I even managed to get the king in the corner. It's infuriating! If someone could just post the moves so I can see that pattern in this specific scenario more clearly (i.e. not in notation that I can't follow in my head) I would be forever indebted to you. 

I'm going to go back to trying and cursing again.

I read that most people can never figure it out. That made me feel a little better about being in that situation.

Enpassant-24

the chance to end in a knight and bishop endgame checkmate is so rare, you should not bother to study it. I had such position only 1 or 2 times in my all time games.

FREETHEME55
I think you should master it. It CAN be done. Just because it’s harder to master with those then a other combinations doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn the process. I’ve seen it plenty of times..
cerebov

There are many videos on youtube and elsewhere that teach the B+N mate.

DerekDHarvey

Best not to go there. I have managed to avoid it for 60 years by not swapping off all the pawns and being careful about the late exchanges. The same goes for R+N v R endings. No thanks!

Made_in_Shoreditch

 

DerekDHarvey

Intellectual masturbation.

Max_Pomeranc

There have been grandmasters who have not been able to do this mate. There was even a woman's world champion (Anna Ushenina), who failed to complete the mate in a tournament game. See below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFF5ibgB6eA

Max_Pomeranc

By the way, I believe Chess.com utilizes the "W" pattern in its drills. There's another way of doing it using constricting triangles. You can google it on Youtube or Wikipedia. I don't think it's any easier, though. 

MegaPro-123

 

MegaPro-123

i want to try it

MegaPro-123

YES I DID IT 

first try

probably not the fastest way though

Bartholomaeus

@ Slibbidy I think if you get stucked with the drill, a simpler way mastering it is to analyse the game with engine help from the starting position until the position where you think you werent able to make further progress. After that try to reflect how the engine would force the king into the corner. It can also be helpful to switch sides letting the engine checkmating you in order to see the technique.

Max_Pomeranc

I remember I studied this over and over and finally mastered it. Then my teacher flipped the board over so I was playing the other side and wham-o!  Clueless.  And then he flipped the board back and all my previous study was for naught. Memorizing what to do from a certain position is one thing, but actually understanding the fundamentals is another. P.S. And if you think this mate is hard, try to mate with two knights and a pawn. Or the three knights mate. 

ShamusMcFlannigan

Ben Finegold has a video on it online.  It's a lot easier (and more common) than a lot of people let on.  If nothing else it gives you insight into how to coordinate a bishop and knight together

pl0mce

Use the technique of constricting Triangles

PM me for more i will share the links to the lessons

Sooooo satisfying when Noam patting you on the back for masterpiece !

Made_in_Shoreditch
Max_Pomeranc wrote:

By the way, I believe Chess.com utilizes the "W" pattern in its drills. There's another way of doing it using constricting triangles. You can google it on Youtube or Wikipedia. I don't think it's any easier, though.

I think you're thinking of the Rueben Fine's KBB vs K elementary checkmate from his 1941 book 'Basic Chess Endings' (now copied everywhere) where the K is cornered by means of ever decreasing triangles

pl0mce

No what I mean is that

pl0mce