Endings with Bishops of the Same Color

FM Steve Stoyko gave a wonderful lecture on Bishop Endings at the Kenilworth Chess Club on Thursday, September 22nd, which I have finally written up based on my notes (with additional analysis).  His focus was bishops of the same color, where the superior side often has winning chances.  Though Steve would have liked to have given dozens of other examples, I think the ones he focused on went very far in laying out the principles. I have chosen to focus on only about half of the examples Steve presented, organizing them according to several critical themes: exploiting the short diagonal, needing "two weaknesses" to win, using the more active king, fixing targets on both sides of the board, deflection, and zugzwang.  For those who want even more examples, I have compiled a bibliography of sources, including multiple videos.

Though Steve discussed several pure B v B+P endings, I have chosen to focus only on the classic position analyzed by Nimzovich since all of these endings have been well covered in several YouTube videos (see above).  Pure B v B+P endings are fascinating, but they are nowhere near as stunning as the themes Steve covered in Bishop endings with multiple pawns where one side has a positional advantage.  Here the theme of "two weaknesses" (typically two pawns on the same color as the Bishops, which can become targets) is very much worth remembering as it occurs frequently in practical play.  In all of the positions, an untrained player could easily agree to a draw without recognizing the winning advantage that one side holds.  Meanwhile, a player who knows how to fix his opponent's pawns on the right color square can steer the game toward a winning Bishop ending.

I look forward to Steve's next lecture, when he promises to do something on Rook endings.

Same-Colored Bishop Endings Webliography

Mark Dvoretsky, The Process of Elimination, Part Two (ChessCafe, September 2011)
Dvoretsky's article begins with discussion of a wonderful Bishop ending composition that is practically a tour de force of every Bishop ending theme.

Karsten Müller, The Overgrown Pawn (ChessBase, October 2011)
Examines a position where the defender's Bishop is trapped behind its pawns on the same color.

_______.  The Eternal Hunt (Chess Cafe, June 2011)
Uses several practical examples to illustrate the problem-like theme of the "Bishop hunt," where a Bishop trying to stop a pawn along a short diagonal can be "hunted" by the King to force a draw.

_______.  Capablanca's Concept (Chess Cafe, October 2010)
Discusses Capablanca's principle that you should try to keep your pawns on the opposite color of your Bishop, especially in Bishop endings of the same color.

_______.  Small Advantages in Bishop Endings (Chess Cafe, October 2009)

_______.  Same-colored Bishops (Chess Cafe, May 2009)

_______.  Bishops and Overgrown Pawns (Chess Cafe, September 2004)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part Three (Chess Cafe, September 2002)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part Two (Chess Cafe, August 2002)

_______.  Bishops at Work, Part One (Chess Cafe, July 2002)
Sets forth some useful principles of Bishop endings, which the series goes on to illustrate.

_______.  Ponomariov's Tecnnique, Part One (Chess Cafe, March 2002)
Examines an interesting Bishop ending where Ponomariov used his king position to achieve a draw.

_______.  Brains in Bahrain Game 3 and Brains in Bahrain Game 1 (ChessBase 2002)
Two Bishop endings from the Deep Fritz - Kramnik match.

George Orlov.  Bishop Endings II (Jeremy Silman website)
A very useful overview of Bishop ending themes and principles.

_______.  Bishop Endings I (Jeremy Silman website)

Brooklyn 64.  Bishops of same color endings: Bishop v Bishop+pawn.
A useful quick overview of Bishop ending themes.

Stoyko's KID Lecture #5

FM Steve Stoyko finished his lecture series on the King's Indian this evening with his fifth and final installment devoted to offbeat White tries and to an Old Indian path to the KID that avoids a lot of theory.  The Old Indian path involves playing 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 d6!? and meeting 3.Nf3 with the King's Indian continuation 3...g6, and meeting 3.Nc3 (which leaves open the annoying possibility of a future Saemisch f3 or Four Pawns f4) with either 3...e5 (as in Aganalian - Petrosian, Tiflis 1945, analyzed by Chernev in his 62 Most Instructive Games--that part of which you can view online) or 3...Bf5!? transposing to the Janowski Indian and related lines).  In the regular King's Indian section, Steve went over a number of interesting games, including Zita - Bronstein, Prague 1946 (compare Pachman - Bronstein); Stein - Geller, Moscow 1966 (compare Spassky - Fischer 1992); Seirawan - Ivanchuk 1997; and Stoyko - Volovich, NJ Open 2006.

Stoyko's King's Indian Defense Lecture #4

Steve Stoyko discusses the King's Indian.

I finally made it to the club for FM Steve Stoyko's fourth lecture on the King's Indian.  It was absolutely helpful on many levels.  Though I wish my busy work schedule had permitted me to attend the earlier lectures, I think I picked the perfect one to attend.  We started with a review of some main line Mar del Plata lines, including the Bayonet Attack, and then turned to viable White options without Nf3, including the Four Pawns Attack, Saemisch, Hungarian (with Nge2), and Averbach (with Be2 and Bg5).  I have been playing the KID only when White commits to Nf3 to avoid these lines, but after Steve's lecture I feel confident to play it against everything.  Steve's series of lectures concludes next week with the fifth installment on the Saemisch (which he did not finish covering) and off-beat tries (such as Bd3).  I may post some notes on a particular line that interested me.

The Mar del Plata King's Indian (E97)

FM Steve Stoyko's lecture series on the King's Indian Defense begins Thursday, September 9th at the Kenilworth Chess Club.  In anticipation of his talk, I have been spending some time playing over games and thinking about the opening.  Since Steve will probably begin with the  the Mar del Plata variation (E97), I have focused my attention on that line, which begins 1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 Bg7 4.e4 d6 5.Nf3 O-O 6.Be2 e5 7.O-O Nc6 8.d5 Ne7 and leads to very sharp and complex positions.


The King's Indian Defense has been part of my repertoire since I first started playing, when my repertoire mostly followed Bobby Fischer's.  I was also hooked on the KID by the many fascinating games with the Mar del Plata (such as  Taimanov - Najdorf, Zurich 1953).  It is practically like a trip down memory lane to follow Gligoric's historical introduction in King's Indian Defence: The Mar del Plata Variation and I remember exactly where I was when I first played over some of these classics.  

Though analysis of the Mar del Plata goes very deep, for most amateurs it is sufficient to know ideas and just some critical theory to get started.  I doubt there are too many people who know more than that, especially since KID theory is just so vast.  There are so many great books on the King's Indian, it seems practically an impossible task to list them all.  Many of the best are inevitably "one man's journey" through the King's Indian (by Bologan or Golubev or Gufeld, etc.), and they present a model for how you have to approach the opening.  Among the more useful repertoire books are Joe Gallagher's Play the King's Indian, Graham Burgess's classic The King's Indian for the Attacking Player, and (for reference) Panczyk & Ilczuk's The Classical King's Indian Uncovered.


Here are some useful online resources for those looking to get started or refresh their memories:

• Robert Bellin and Pietro Ponzetto, Mastering the King's Indian Defence.  If you want, you can download a copy of this great book from ebookee or rapidhsare.  This has got to be one of the best introductions to the King's Indian and expecially to "the Mar del Plata Centre" -- since it focuses on pawn structure and the requirements of the position
  
• BabalooMoon.  King's Indian Defence -- Mar del Plata Centre.
  This is a wonderful games collection from Chessgames.com, inspired by Bellin and Ponzetto's excellent book (though BabalooMoon forgets to include the great game Ftacnik - Nunn, Vienna 1986 which is one of their main examples).  I especially like White's counter-plan of attack on the kingside, which no one has ever tried against me in a game but which I would surely use myself if I played the White side.
  
• KingG, The Taimanov 9.Ne1 variation of the KID.
  Another spectacular game collection that includes wonderful historical commentary on the development of this line from White's perspective.
  
• Guillermo Rey, King's Indian Defense: An Eternal Balance
  Close consideration of a Kortchnoi victory against the Mar del Plata.
  
• Andrew Martin, KID Fireworks -- Part 3.
  Nice discussion of a game with the Bayonet Attack.
  
• Jeff Otto, A Patzer's Progress.
  This article inspired me to take up the KID again after long disuse.  I often recommend it to new KID players.
  
• Little Fluffy, How to Play against the Bayonet Attack.
  A very useful collection of games from Chessgames.com.
  
• Josembk, Best Games in King's Indian Defense.
  An inspiring games collection for those who want to consider it for Black.

Steve Stoyko to Lecture on the KID

On Thursday, September 9th, FM Steve Stoyko will begin a four-part lecture series on the King's Indian Defense at the Kenilworth Chess Club.  Admission to each lecture is $5.  Some of Steve's previous lectures at the club have been documented on our site:

• The King's Indian Attack
• The Isolani Lecture
• Lasker's Defense to the Queen's Gambit
• The French Defense

Steve actually gave a series of lectures on the French Defense but most were posted at the now defunct Geocities site.

Marc Esserman Lecture

IM Justin Sarkar in the front row to see his game.

 Esserman simul begins: a pawn down on every board!

NM Mark Kernighan lasted the longest.
But it was an 8-0 wipeout vs. 1830 average opposition.

IM Marc Esserman's lecture on the Smith-Morra Gambit on Thursday night, April 15th, was universally well received by about 20 in attendance.  Those who came to watch included IM Justin Sarkar (who is a good friend of Esserman's despite their sharp contests in the Smith-Morra), FM Steve Stoyko, and Yaacov Norowitz.  After the lecture, Esserman gave a thematic simultaneous exhibition, playing the Smith-Morra as White against eight players.  As Yaacov pointed out, this was a tough exhibition since "he is starting a pawn down on all eight boards!"  Based on my experience (losing in about 20 moves), he could have spotted us all an additional pawn and still won every game.  Though the average ELO was over 1830 (with a master and two experts among the players), Esserman made relatively short work of it, going 8-0 in just over 90 minutes.

Some of the games discussed or mentioned in the lecture were previously annotated online:

• Esserman - Sarkar, Miami Open 2008
• Esserman - Chandran, Eastern Class Championships 2010
• Esserman - Bartell, US Chess League 2009 (see also comments by GOTW judges and Mark Ginsburg)

Several of the other games discussed are not generally known and Esserman has asked that we keep them for our own secret use.  I will be continuing my series on the Smith-Morra (including some games from the simul) in coming weeks.

IM Marc Esserman Lecture, April 15th

Yaacov Norowitz on Color Complexes

Kenilworth Chess Club Champion Yaacov Norowitz lectured on "color complexes" Thursday night at the club, showing two of his own games, including a blitz win over former FIDE world champion Rustam Kasimdzhanov to illustrate his ideas.  The color complex concept seems especially useful in blitz play, where trying to balance control of dark and light squares can yield an instant barometer of how well you stand positionally and can be translated quickly into strategy and action.  

One of the more interesting ideas that Norowitz discussed was that you could value the pieces according to how well they control light and dark squares, in which case the Bishop practically becomes the basic unit of value:

• Bishop: $1,000 of its color -- the two Bishops and an unopposed Bishop (which he called "the Golden Bishop") would be more valuable.
• Knight: $500 of light and $500 of dark, or about $1,000
  
• Rook: $750 of light and $750 of dark, or about $1,500
• Queen: $1,500 of light and $1,500 of dark, or about $3,000
  

It was definitely a fascinating lecture, which introduced a completely different paradigm than most people were used to for looking at chess positions.  

Test yourself with the position below, which could have arisen in one of the games Norowitz discussed as the conclusion of White's light square strategy.

The triumph of light-square strategy
White to play and win