Can you checkmate with two bishops and a king

KyleJones Wikipedia is static content. Here, we have the chance to vote and discuss. I think that Chess SE should cover all the basic and be the "to go" resource for basic chess questions as well as advanced ones. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. I always like to explain this in a visual way. Step 1: Push Opponent's King To Edge Rank or File Keeping the bishops together and using the king for support, make the restricted area smaller to push the opponent's king back to an edge rank or file.

Bd2 Ke4 2. Be2 Kd5 3. Kb2 Ke4 4. Kc3 Kd5 5. Bd3 Ke5 6. Be3 Kd5 7. Bd4 Kd6 8. Be4 Ke6 9. Kc4 Kd6 Bd5 Ke7 Be5 Kd7 Be6 Kf8 1. Be2 Kd5 3. Be3 Kd5 7. Be4 Ke6 9. Be5 Step 1 Accomplished! Kd5 Ke8 2. Ke5 Kf8 3. Kf5 Ke8 4. Kg6 Kf8 5. Bd7 Kg8 Now, we can take control over f8 , thereby pushing the opponent's king to the corner. Be7 Kh8 Step 2 Accomplished! Step 3: Checkmate the Cornered King Here, it is important to be careful to avoid a common stalemate that occurs in this position.

And now the mate is easy. Be8 Kg8 2. Bf6 Below, I have included other types of checkmates that can occur if Black play's differently. Bd2 1. Bc3 Ke4 2. Kb2 Kd3 3. Bf3 Ke3 4. Bd5 Kd3 5. Be5 Kd2 Ke3 6. Bd4 Kd3 7. Bc5 Ke2 8.

Kc2 Kf1 9. Kd3 Ke1 Bg2 Kd1 Bf2 Kc1 Kc3 Kd1 Kb3 Ka1 Bd1 Kb1 Bd4 Ke4 2. You do that by using your outer bishop to restrict the monarch. Then you should make way for your king with your light-squared bishop. Notice that Black is stuck on the g8 and h8 squares.

After your king is in position, you are almost ready to deliver the checkmate. Notice that if you make the wrong move, you might give Black the chance to repeat the previous position or, even worse, stalemate the black king. A waiting move forces Black to put his king on g8. You can then proceed to checkmate the king and win the game.

Now that you know how to checkmate with two bishops, it's time to practice your skills. Solve the puzzles below using the technique you've just learned. Puzzle 1: There are many ways to restrict the black king in this position.

How can you do it using the pattern you've learned in this article? Puzzle 2: This is one of the key positions of this mating pattern. Do you remember which bishop move keeps the black king from returning to the center of the board? You now know what the checkmate with two bishops looks like and how you can deliver it. Watch our interactive lesson about this checkmate and then head over to our Drills page to practice this checkmating pattern so you can execute it easily the next time you have a chance.

Checkmate With Two Bishops. One of the possible final positions of checkmate with two bishops. Boden's Mate uses the power of the two bishops.

How To Deliver A Checkmate With Two Bishops The secret to checkmating with two bishops is to use them in conjunction with your king to force the opponent's king to the board's corner.

The two bishops work together to control the light and dark squares and to keep the black king restricted. Here is our starting position: You need to coordinate your pieces to force the king to the edge of the board. It may happen that you stalemate your opponent which occurs when the king is not in check but the player has no legal moves left to continue the game.

So the game ends in a draw. Moreover, another thing that may happen is you ran out of the move. Remember that you have to checkmate your opponent within the 50 moves otherwise it would be a draw.

The 50 move rule says that if within the last 50 moves no pawn movement and no capture has been made then the player can claim a draw. In this article , I discussed more on this so you can check that out for further reference. Now before we discuss how to checkmate with two bishops we should be very clear that is it even worth it to learn this pattern.

I know this kind of question may come to your mind. You might think this pattern is not so common so why should I learn it? Actually, you should learn all the basic checkmating patterns like this whether they occur commonly or not especially if you are a beginner. The idea is to develop your thinking skills. By learning the 2 bishops checkmate pattern, it would be much easier for you to understand how two bishops can coordinate with each other in a game.

You would learn the usage of the king in the endgame. You would also learn to checkmate within the fixed number of moves, that too avoiding the stalemate. Thus knowing all these facts now I think you are excited enough to learn this checkmating pattern.