Examples With An Extra Minor Piece
An extra minor piece on one side with a queen versus queen or rook versus rook endgame is normally a theoretical draw. An endgame with two minor pieces versus one is also drawn, except in the case of two bishops versus a knight. But a rook and two minor pieces versus a rook and one minor piece is different. In these two examples from games, the extra minor piece is enough to win.
R. Blau vs. Unzicker, 1949| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
In this position, if the bishops were on the same color, White might have a chance to exchange bishops and reach an easily-drawn position. (Exchanging rooks would also result in a draw.) Black wins:
- 1... Re3
- 2. Bd4 Re2+
- 3. Kc1 Nb4
- 4. Bg7 Rc2+
- 5. Kd1 Be2+
- 6. resigns, because 6. Ke1 Nd3 is checkmate (Speelman 1981:108–9).
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
| 8 | 8 | ||||||||
| 7 | 7 | ||||||||
| 6 | 6 | ||||||||
| 5 | 5 | ||||||||
| 4 | 4 | ||||||||
| 3 | 3 | ||||||||
| 2 | 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 1 | ||||||||
| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
In this position, if White could exchange bishops (or rooks) he would reach a drawn position. However, Black has a winning attack:
- 1... Rb3+
- 2. Kh2 Bc6
- 3. Rb8 Rc3
- 4. Rb2 Kf5
- 5. Bg3 Be4
- 6. Re2 Bg5
- 7. Rb2 Be4
- 8. Rf2 Rc1
- 9. resigns, (Speelman 1981:109).
Speelman gave these conclusions:
- Rook and two bishops versus rook and bishop - thought to be a win
- Rook, bishop, and knight versus rook and bishop - good winning chances, probably a win if the bishops are on opposite colors
- Rook, bishop, and knight versus rook and knight - thought to be a win (Speelman 1981:170).
Read more about this topic: Pawnless Chess Endgame
Famous quotes containing the words examples, extra, minor and/or piece:
“In the examples that I here bring in of what I have [read], heard, done or said, I have refrained from daring to alter even the smallest and most indifferent circumstances. My conscience falsifies not an iota; for my knowledge I cannot answer.”
—Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592)
“When we leave our child in nursery school for the first time, it won’t be just our child’s feelings about separation that we will have to cope with, but our own feelings as well—from our present and from our past, parents are extra vulnerable to new tremors from old earthquakes.”
—Fred Rogers (20th century)
“There are acacias, a graceful species amusingly devitalized by sentimentality, this kind drooping its leaves with the grace of a young widow bowed in controllable grief, this one obscuring them with a smooth silver as of placid tears. They please, like the minor French novelists of the eighteenth century, by suggesting a universe in which nothing cuts deep.”
—Rebecca West (1892–1983)
“What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)