FIDE Surveys – Spyridon Skembris

1

Spyridon Skembris:

Bishops and the Art of Manoeuvring

Same colour bishop endings offer plenty of
material if someone wants to learn the 'art of
manoeuvring'. In such endgames the winning
methods are often connected with zugzwang
motives, but since the bishop is a long-range
piece it is not at all easy to put such plans
into practice. I often use some of my own
games for training with my students. The
reason is that it's easier to explain the
thoughts, ideas and mistakes after having
gone through them myself during the game
and in the analysis. Probably it's also a more
direct experience for my students, especially
when they see that also the trainer makes
mistakes, and more than once they were able
to find improvements to the games as well as
to my analysis.

Skembris : Elgersma
Karlsruhe 2017

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45.h3!?
In general it is sensible to put the pawns onto
the different colour than the bishops,but here
the move has two additional ideas. Firstly to
open the diagonal h2–e5, to be able to attack
the pawn e5 from the other side, and in some
lines to use the g-pawn to go to g5 and take
away the square f6 from the black bishop.
The impatient 45.c5? Kc5 46.Be5 Be7 47.d4

Kc6 would help only Black as White has no
way to penetrate into the position.
45...Bg7
Black has to wait.
46.Bc3 Bf6 47.g4 hg4 48.hg4 Ke6

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49.a4
White should not hurry. After 49.Be1 Be7
50.a4 Bc5 Black is still in the game.
49...Kd6 50.Bb4 Ke6
50...Kc6 would be answered by 51.Bf8! and
now after 51...Kb6 (or 51...Bh8 52.Be7 Bg7
53.c5+–) 52.Bd6 Ka5 53.c5 Ka4 54.c6
White is winning.
51.Be1
Now the Bishop goes to g3 without allowing
the black bishop to come to c5 and d4.
51...Be7 52.Bg3 Bf6

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But how can White make progress now?

FIDE Surveys – Spyridon Skembris

2

The bishop has to stay on its diagonal as
52...Bd6 is met by 53.d4 ed4 54.Bd6 Kd6
55.Kd4+–.
53.Bh2!
This waiting move is the start of a typical
bishop endgame motive. Instead, 53.c5? Be7
54.c6 Kd6 would lead to nothing.
53...Bh8
After 53...Bg7 54.g5 Bh8 55.c5 White wins
as in the game.
54.c5 Bf6 55.c6 Kd6 56.Be5
This typical blow ends the game, as 56.Be5
Be5 57.c7 Kc7 58.Ke5 reaches an easily
won king a pawn endgame. 1:0.

Skembris : Lerch
Selestat 2016

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Here White is a pawn up and has the good
bishop (his pawns are placed on the different
colour whereas the black pawns can be
easily attacked), but it is difficult to make
progress. I was feeling that I was close to
win, which would have secured me the
second place in the tournament. In the game
I didn't find the right way, but actually White
can win in a very instructive fashion.
50.Kd4
As usual in this type of endgames the
question is if White can put his opponent
into zugzwang. Black has to defend against
the entry of the white king to e5, he has to
protect c6 and not to allow the bishop swap.
In order to get to the solution we have to find

positions in which Black would be in
zugzwang. The most important zugzwang
positions are shown in the two next
diagrams. The right way starts with
50.Bg6!? Let's see the Black options. In the
beginning I was thinking that 50...Bh3! was
sufficient to save the day. After
a) 50...Be6 looks logical, to defend the pawn
from the other side. But after 51.Be8 Bd5
52.Bd7

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Black is in zugzwang. Now 52...Ke7 (after
52...Bg2 53.Bg4 Black has no good answer
to the threat Bf3) 53.Bf5 Bf7 54.Be4 Be8
55.Bg6 Bd7 56.f5+– leads to the same
pattern as before;
b) 50...Ke7 is bad because of 51.f5! Kf6
52.Kf4

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and now Black is in zugzwang. 52...Bc8

FIDE Surveys – Spyridon Skembris

3

53.Be8 Bf5 54.Bc6 the white c-pawn is too
strong, e.g. 54...Bd3 55.Be4 Bf1 56.Bf5
Bg2 57.Bd3 Bc6 58.Be4 Bd7 59.c6 etc.
After 51.Be8 Bg2 52.Bd7 Bd5we have a
familiar position. 53.a6 The a-pawn is being
sacrificed, but it is much more important that
Black has to move now. 53...Ke7 (53...Bg2
will be met by 54.Bg4) 54.Bf5 Bf7 (or
54...Kf6 55.Be4) 55.Be4 Be8 56.Bg6 Bd7
(the endgame after 56...Bg6 57.hg6 Kf6
58.Ke4 Kg6 59.Ke5 is winning for White)
57.f5 and we see the same winning pattern
as before, even if the pawn a6 is lost
57...Bc8 58.Ke4 Ba6 59.Ke5 Bc8 60.h6! gh6
61.f6 Kf8 62.Bh5! Bd7 (62...a5 is too late
because of 63.ba5 b4 64.Kd4) 63.Kd6 Be8
64.Be8 Ke8 65.Kc6 h5 66.Kd5 a5 67.c6 and
White is winning.

50...Be8 51.Ke3 Bd7 52.Bg6
And now we are in the variation which we
have already analyzed.
52...Be6?!
As shown above, 52...Bh3! was the toughest
defense.
53.Be8 Bd5 54.Bd7 Ke7
Now it should be easier to find the win for
White.
55.Bg4
With little time on the clock I didn't find the
correct 55.Bf5! which wins in the above
mentioned fashion.
55...Bf7 56.Bf3 Be8 57.Kf2?!
The wrong direction. There is nothing
happening on the kingside.
57...Bd7 58.Kg3 Kf6 59.Kh4 Be8 60.Bg4
Bf7 61.Bd7 Bd5 62.f5?
After that the draw is clear.
62...Ke7 63.Be6 Be6 64.fe6 Ke6 65.Kg5
Kf7 66.Kf5 a6
An important tempo to keep the opposition.
67.Ke5 Ke7 68.Kf5 Kf7 69.Kg5 Ke7
70.Kg6 Kf8 ½.

Skembris : Rickly
Swiss 2015

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25.Bh6
The only possibility to play for an
advantage, but of course White has to
consider what happens if his bishop is closed
in by ...g5.
25...g5 26.f4 f6 27.fg5 fg5 28.Kg2 Be7 Now
...Kh7 is a threat, so the white answer is
forced.
29.h4 gh4
So the whole story has lead to nothing for
White?

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30.g4!
That's the way. The white g-pawn remains
alive and controls the white squares f5 and
h5 for the time being, while the black pawn
h4, which is stuck on the colour of the

FIDE Surveys – Spyridon Skembris

4

bishops, cannot be kept for too long.
30...Kf7 31.Kh3 b5
A pawn swap on the queenside is in Black's
favour.
32.Be3 a5?
But this is a serious mistake. There was no
reason to put a pawn onto a black square.
Better was 32...bc4 33.bc4 Ke6 34.Bf2 Ke5
35.Bh4± and it is not clear if the white
advantage will be sufficient to win.
33.a4!
Of course White fixes the black pawn on the
colour of the bishops.
33...ba4 34.ba4 Ke6 35.Bf2 Ke5 36.Bh4
Bf8

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37.Bd8!
The consequence of Black's 32nd move.
37...Kd4
Black has no time to defend the pawn
because he needs the bishop to stop the
white g-pawn. White would win after
37...Bb4 38.Kh4 Kd4 39.g5 Kc4 40.g6 Bf8
41.Kg5 Kb3 42.Kf6 Ka4 43.Be7 Bh6 44.Kf7
Kb3 45.Bf8+– and the black bishop cannot
stay on the short diagonal.
38.Ba5 Kc4 39.Be1 Bg7?!
In general the pawns should be stopped as
early as possible. So 39...Be7 was more
stubborn, because it wins some time
compared to the game. White should
continue with 40.Bh4! (less clear would be
40.Kg2 Bg5 41.Kf3 Kd5! 42.Bf2 c5 43.a5
Kc6 44.Ke4 Kb5 45.Be1 c4 46.Bc3 Bd8

47.Kd5 Bh4±) 40...Bf8 41.g5 Kb4 42.Kg4
Ka4 43.g6 Bh6 (or 43...c5 44.Be7+–) 44.Be7
Kb5 45.Kf5 c5 46.Bg5 Bg7 47.Bf6 Bh6
48.Ke6 c4 49.Kf7 Ka4 and now White wins
with the typical deflection 50.Bg5! Bg5
51.g7 c3 52.g8Q Bd2 (or 52...c2 53.Qg5)
53.Qg6 Kb3 54.Qb1 etc.
40.g5 c5 41.Kg4 Kd5

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Now White has to find a way to make
progress.
42.Kf3!+–
The clearest way to win. Before White
advances his own pawn he gets the enemy
pawn under control by running with his king
to c2 and putting the bishop to c3.
42...c4 43.Ke2 Kc5 44.Kd1 Kd5
After 44...c3 45.Kc2 Kb4 White has the
pleasant choice between 46.a5+– (and
46.Bc3 Bc3 47.a5 Bd4 48.a6 Kb5 49.Kd3+–
winning in both cases.)
45.Kc2 Kc5 46.Bc3 Bf8 47.Kd2
Now the white king can return to his own
pawn.
47...Kd5 48.Ke3 Bc5 49.Kf3 Bf8
Or 49...Bd4 50.Bd4 Kd4 51.Ke2+–.
50.Kf4 Bd6 51.Kf5 Be7 52.g6 Bf8 53.Kf6
Bh6 54.Kf7
Now White will win again with Bf6
followed by Bg5. 1:0.

FIDE Surveys – Spyridon Skembris

5

Skembris : Bellos
Vrachati 2011

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White's structure is better because all the
black pawns are fixed on the bishops' colour
and therefore the dark squares are defended
only by the black king. But still it is not easy
to find a way inside.
39.Bh3!
39.e4 fe4 40.Be4 Bf5 or 39.c5 Ke6 would
lead to nothing.
39...Be6
The text move blocks the square e6 for the
black king, so the white king can proceed to
e5 now. But Black is in a kind of zugzwang.
All the moves have a disadvantage: 39...Bc8
allows 40.e4 Bd7 41.e5 Kc7 42.Kc5+– and
39...Be8 is also met by 40.e4 fe4 41.c5 Kc7
(or 41...Ke7 42.Bc8+–) 42.Ke4 Bf7 (or
42...Bd7 43.Bd7 Kd7 44.f5 Ke7 45.fg6 Kf6
46.Kf4 Kg6 47.Ke5+–) 43.Ke5+–.
40.c5 Ke7 41.Ke5 Bd5 42.Bf1 Bb3 43.Bd3
Bd5 44.Bc2 Bc4?!
This move helps the White plans. Better was
44...Bg2 after which White still would have
some work in front of him.
45.e4
This will uncover the weakness on g6.
45...fe4 46.Be4 Bf7

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Now we see a classical motive.
47.b5!+–
A typical break-through.
47...ab5
Black cannot save himself by 47...Be8
48.ba6 ba6 49.Bd3+– or 47...cb5!? 48.Bb7
Kd7 49.Ba6 Kc6 50.Kf6 Bd5 51.Kg6 b4
52.f5 b3 53.Bd3 b2 54.f6 Bc4 55.Bb1.
48.Bc6 b4
After 48...bc6 49.a6 the pawn will queen.
49.Bb7 b3 50.a6 b2 51.Be4 Be8 52.a7 Bc6
53.Bg6 Ba8 54.Bb1 1:0.

Conclusion
The above same colour bishop endgames
show why the pawns are usually better on
the other colour than the one of the bishops:
The pawns on squares of the same colour are
easier to attack and sometimes block the
activity of the own bishop. Moreover, the
squares of the other colour are often weak
and need to be defended against the enemy
king. But even with an obvious positional
advantage, and even if the general ideas and
principles are known, it is not always easy to
find the correct way to execute them. A lot
of typical endgame topics like the principle
of two weaknesses are connected with it. In
bishop endgames quite often zugzwang
motives appear, especially when there are
several weaknesses to defend, but sometimes
it needs quite a lot of manoeuvring until we
can make them work.