Minor Pieces Only
Kling & Horowitz, 1851| 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 | ||
| 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 | ||
- Two minor pieces versus one minor piece:
- Two bishops versus a knight: this is a win (except for a few trivial positions where Black can immediately force a draw), but it can take up to 66 moves. (Nunn 1995:267). See Effect of tablebases on endgame theory, fortress (chess)#A semi-fortress and see the example from the Botvinnik versus Tal game below.
- other cases: this is normally a draw in all other cases (Müller & Lamprecht 2001:402), (Hooper 1970:4). Edmar Mednis considered the difficulty of defending these positions:
- Two bishops versus one bishop: The easiest for the defender to draw, unless the king is caught in a corner.
- Two knights versus one bishop: any normal position is an easy draw.
- Two knights versus one knight: an easy draw if the king is not trapped on the edge. However, if the king is trapped on the edge, there may be a win similar to the two knights versus a pawn endgame.
- Bishop and knight versus a bishop on the same color: may be lost if the king is on the edge; otherwise an easy draw.
- Bishop and knight versus a bishop on the opposite color: normally a draw but the defense may be difficult if the defending king is confined near a corner that the attacking bishop controls.
- Bishop and knight versus a knight: best winning chances (other than two bishops versus knight). The difficulty of defense is not clear and the knight can be lost if it is separated from its king (Mednis 1996:36–40).
- Three knights and a king can force checkmate against a lone king within 20 moves (unless the defending king can win one of the knights), but this can only happen if the attacking side has underpromoted a pawn to a knight. (Fine 1941:5–6).
- Three minor pieces versus one minor piece: a win except in some unusual situations involving an underpromotion to a bishop on the same color as a player's existing bishop. More than fifty moves may be required to win (Müller & Lamprecht 2001:403,406).
- Two minor pieces:
- Two bishops is a basic checkmate
- A bishop and knight is a basic checkmate, see bishop and knight checkmate
- Two knights cannot force checkmate, see two knights endgame
- Trivial cases: These are all trivial draws in general: bishop only, knight only, bishop versus knight, bishop versus bishop, knight versus knight.
Read more about this topic: Pawnless Chess Endgame, Miscellaneous Pawnless Endings
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