Dear Readers,
It's with a big sorrow that we publish Viktor Gavrikov's very last article. He sent the materials about it just few days before his death. We hope that his analysis will be useful and instructive for you.
Enjoy reading!
Strong Knight Against Bad Bishop In The Endgame
GM Viktor Gavrikov
Dear Reader,
We are about to start dealing with one of the most important type of endgames - knight against bishop. In this article, I am going to focus on positions in which a strong knight fights against a bad bishop. When the bishop could be weak? According to the classical positional principles, a bishop is weak when it is restricted by it's own pawns. That's why we should avoid putting our pawns on the color of our own bishop.
There are two cases in which a bishop could be dominated by a knight in the endgame:
1) the bishop is restricted by it's own pawns
2) all the pawns are on one wing
Within the framework of the present article, I will explain both cases.
Educational example
The diagram position perfectly illustrates the superiority of the knight over the bishop. All white pawns are on the color of the c1-bishop. In White's camp, there are two important weaknesses - a3 - and g3 - pawns. If it's White to move, he will be in a situation of zugzwang. That's why Black should transmit the move to his opponent. That could be done by means of the triangulation method.
Very ofter, in French Defense, we reach an endgame with a strong white knight againt bad light-squared bishop. The best way of handling this type of endings is perfectly illustrated in the following classical example.
On the diagram position, we have a typical French ending where white knight dominates opponent's bishop. The way in which White managed to convert his advantage is highly instructive. First of all, white king should invade the opponent's camp.
Another typical French endgame was seen in the game Almasi - Zueger played in 1995.
Here is another ending which arised from the French Defense. Given the fact that almost all black pawns are placed on the color of the bishop, White's advantage is out of question. Almasi converts his advantage in a very precise way.
At the end of the article, we are going to examine an endgame which shows how strong the knight could be if all the pawns are on the same wing.
As I have already pointed out, knight is stronger than a bishop in positions in which all the pawns are on the same wing. That's why in this position, Black should first exchange the queenside pawns.