Endgames with Minor Pieces (6)

There is a paradox at the heart of knight endgames. Two knights cannot force mate against a lone king — one of the first facts every player is taught. Yet add a single pawn to the defending side, and the mate can suddenly appear. The pawn that should have saved him is the very thing that dooms him.
That reversal is the whole subject in miniature. Of all the endings, knight endgames sit closest to pure pawn play, and they inherit its unforgiving arithmetic: a single extra pawn is often enough to win, especially with several pawns still on the board, and one imprecise move can erase an advantage built over hours. Where an extra pawn can be meaningless in opposite-colored bishop endgames or even in rook endgames, here it tends to decide.

The saying goes: "opposite-colored bishops draw." Yet GM Felix Blohberger recently won a tournament game from two pawns down in precisely this type of ending. His opponent knew the general rule but missed the specific condition—fortress construction requires exact piece coordination, not just material count. This gap between theoretical knowledge and practical application inspired Blohberger and GM Pier Luigi Basso to create a course built around positional precision rather than abstract principles.

There is a principle in same-colored bishop endgames so deceptively simple that it often goes unspoken in theoretical texts: fix your opponent's pawns on the color of their bishop, and place your own on the opposite color. It sounds almost too general to be useful. And yet, game after game at the highest level, the player who internalizes this asymmetry — not merely knows it, but feels it — is the one who converts or survives when the clock pressure mounts. This is the starting point of Bishop Endgames – Essential Knowledge for the Practical Player, a new course by GM Felix Blohberger and GM Pier Luigi Basso.

Modern Chess is proud to announce the launch of the Grivas Chess Lab series with GM Efstratios Grivas's definitive work: Endgames with Opposite-Coloured Bishops. This meticulously crafted course represents one of the most comprehensive treatments of this notoriously complex endgame theme ever assembled for the serious student.

The December edition of Strategy Wednesday, led by GM Ioannis Papaioannou, is now available as a digital product! This course dives into the fascinating world of endgames with minor pieces, exploring their strategic depth and practical challenges.
Through 4 in-depth lectures, GM Papaioannou provides a systematic approach to mastering these essential endgames, covering key structures and principles. By connecting ideas across the opening, middlegame, and endgame, this course equips you with the tools to navigate these critical positions confidently.

In the second database on Andersson's endgame mastery, GM Mihail Marin deals with the battle of minor pieces. Of course, the author does not limit his survey only to pure minor piece endings. In this database, he also explains how bishops and knights cooperate with major pieces.
The database consists of 15 extensively annotated games and 30 interactive tests.