EndgamesPlay as Black

Rook vs Bishop: The Safe Corner

Hold rook against bishop with your king on the edge — reach the corner your bishop cannot control, block the back-rank check beside the king, and let stalemate do the rest.

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Introduction

♖︎ook against bishop is a draw, but a king driven to the edge must know where to go: to the safe corner, the corner square its own bishop cannot control. There the bishop can block a back-rank check on the square right beside the king, and the pinned bishop leaves you without a legal move — White must loosen the grip or it is stalemate. In the wrong corner, the one of the bishop's own colour, the square beside the king is out of the bishop's reach, and the rook wins. Here your king stands on a8, a light square, and your bishop is dark-squared: the right corner. But White threatens mate on the back rank at once.

Lesson Content

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1. ..♗︎e5

White threatens mate on the back rank. Bring the bishop to the diagonal from which it can block right beside your king.

♗︎e5 puts the bishop on the diagonal that ends on b8, the square beside your king. That is the whole defence: when the rook checks on the eighth rank, the bishop drops back and blocks. On e5 it is attacked by neither white piece, so White gains no time against it. The check ♗︎d4+ draws as well, but it only postpones the same decision.

FortressDefence

Alternative Moves

♔︎b8 — ♔︎b8 steps onto the square the bishop needs and walks into ♖︎f8#: the white king on b6 covers a7, b7 and c7, so the back rank is all your king has, and the rook takes it.

♗︎b4 — ♗︎b4 guards f8 but stands on the wrong diagonal: ♖︎d7 takes d6 away, so the bishop cannot reach the diagonal to b8 in time, and ♖︎d8# follows unless the bishop gives itself up.

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2. ♖︎f8+

♖︎f8+ is the most direct try: a check along the back rank while the white king on b6 covers a7 and b7. Your king cannot move, so everything depends on whether a piece can step between rook and king. This is the moment the safe corner was chosen for.

Active RookThreat

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2. ..♗︎b8

Your king has no square. Meet the check the only way the position allows.

♗︎b8 blocks beside the king, and the picture is complete. The bishop is pinned and your king has no square, so any waiting move by White — a rook move along the eighth rank, or ♔︎a6 — is stalemate. Taking does not help either: ♖︎xb8+ ♔︎xb8 leaves two bare kings. To play on, White has to loosen the grip.

Stalemate TrickFortress

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3. ♔︎c6

♔︎c6 is the retreat that keeps the most pressure. The king gives up a7 but still guards b7, and it can return to b6 in one move. White hopes that your king, let out of the corner, keeps walking — away from a8 there is no stalemate, and a bishop tied to its king can be won.

Cutting Off the KingStalemate Trick

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3. ..♔︎a7

White had to let you out. Only one move is legal — find it, and note which square you will want back.

♔︎a7 is the only legal move — the bishop could not leave b8 and the white king guards b7 — but it does a job as well: the king now protects the bishop, so the rook cannot simply take on b8. Keep in mind where you came from. The stalemate defence exists only with the king on a8, and that is where it must go back.

DefenceKing Safety

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4. ♖︎f7+

♖︎f7+ checks along the seventh rank and gives your king a real choice for the first time: back to a8, or out to a6 and the open board. The rook has also left the eighth rank, so the bishop is no longer pinned. White is betting on the wrong king move.

Active RookThreat

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4. ..♔︎a8

Check on the seventh rank. Choose the king square where the stalemate defence still works.

♔︎a8 goes straight back into the safe corner. It looks passive, but the corner is where your defence lives: with the bishop next to the king, every back-rank check is blocked again, and the stalemate returns with it. The white king can come back to b6, but it finds nothing new there.

FortressKing Safety

Alternative Moves

♔︎a6 — ♔︎a6 leaves the corner, and out there no stalemate saves you: ♖︎f2 threatens mate on the a-file, your king has to run — ♔︎a5 ♖︎a2+ ♔︎b4 ♖︎b2+ — and the rook takes the bishop on b8 behind it.

♗︎c7 — ♗︎c7 blocks the check on a square nothing of yours protects: ♖︎xc7+ takes the bishop with check, and king and rook against a bare king is a routine win for White.

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5. ♔︎b6

♔︎b6 shuts your king in again, this time without a check: a7 and b7 are covered, the king cannot move, and so the bishop must. White is playing for zugzwang. Every square the bishop can go to will be tested for a double attack — on the bishop and on the back rank — and more than half of them fail.

ZugzwangCutting Off the King

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5. ..♗︎h2

Your king is stuck, so the bishop must move. Keep it on its diagonal and out of reach of a double attack.

♗︎h2 keeps the bishop on the diagonal to b8 and as far from the white pieces as the board allows. Distance is the point: the rook wins only by attacking the bishop and threatening mate with one move, and a distant bishop on an open diagonal always has an answer. ♗︎g3 and ♗︎e5 hold as well; the squares close to the kings do not.

Piece ActivityZugzwang

Alternative Moves

♗︎d6 — ♗︎d6 stays on the diagonal but too close: ♖︎a7+ drives your king to b8, the bishop's own blocking square, and then ♖︎d7 attacks the bishop and threatens ♖︎d8# with one move. You cannot meet both.

♗︎a7+ — ♗︎a7+ is a check that gives the bishop away: ♖︎xa7+ takes it, protected by the king on b6, and king and rook against a bare king is a routine win for White.

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6. ♖︎a7+

♖︎a7+ is the sharpest try. The rook is protected by the king on b6, so you cannot take it, and the check pushes your king out of the corner onto b8 — the one square your bishop needs for blocking. For a moment the defence of the back rank is switched off.

Active RookThreat

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6. ..♔︎b8

The rook is protected, so it cannot be taken. Step out of the check.

♔︎b8 is the only legal move. Notice what has changed: your king now stands on the bishop's blocking square, so a check on the eighth rank can no longer be met by the block on b8. This is the one moment of real danger in the safe corner, and it lasts until the king is back on a8.

King SafetyDefence

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7. ♖︎g7

♖︎g7 lifts the check and threatens ♖︎g8#: your king on b8 would have no square, and the bishop on h2 could not block. From g7 the rook also covers g1 and g3, two of the squares the bishop could move to. White needs just one careless bishop move to end the game.

ThreatActive Rook

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7. ..♔︎a8

Mate is threatened on the back rank, and the bishop cannot block while your king stands in its way. Solve both problems with one move.

♔︎a8 returns to the corner and clears b8 for the bishop, so a check on the back rank is harmless again. That is the rule for this ending: whenever the king is driven to b8, it goes back at the first chance. ♔︎c8 also draws here, but it walks toward the open board, where the defence needs calculation instead of a pattern.

FortressKing Safety

Alternative Moves

♗︎e5 — ♗︎e5 even attacks the rook, and still loses on the spot: ♖︎g8# — your king on b8 occupies the only square where the bishop could have blocked.

♗︎g1+ — ♗︎g1+ gives check on a square the rook attacks: ♖︎xg1 wins the bishop, and king and rook against a bare king is a routine win for White.

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8. ♖︎g8+

♖︎g8+ comes back to the first idea, because nothing else is left. White has tried the check, the king retreat, the zugzwang and the chase to b8, and each time your king and bishop found their way back to the same two squares. One more check on the back rank asks the old question.

Active Rook

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8. ..♗︎b8

The same check as at the start. Give the same answer.

♗︎b8 blocks, and you are back in the position that cannot be broken. A rook move along the eighth rank or ♔︎a6 stalemates you, ♖︎xb8+ ♔︎xb8 leaves bare kings, and a king retreat only lets your king step out and return, as before. The lesson stops here because White has no new idea left: from now on the defence is repetition, and the game is a draw.

Stalemate TrickFortress

Key Takeaways

Run to the corner your bishop cannot control: a8 or h1 with a dark-squared bishop, a1 or h8 with a light-squared one
Keep the bishop on the diagonal that ends beside your king, and far from the enemy pieces — close to them it falls to a double attack
Block a back-rank check on the square next to the king: with the bishop pinned and the king cornered, any waiting move is stalemate
If the king is driven out to the square next to the corner, bring it back at the first chance — while it stands there the bishop cannot block

Now play it through

Step through every move on a real board, try the wrong ones, and ask Knighty why they fail.

Practice Interactively

Related Lessons

Rook vs Knight: The Separated Knight

Rook vs Knight: The Knight Holds

Short-Side Defense

Summary

You held rook against bishop from the safe corner. Your king stayed on a8, the corner square your dark-squared bishop cannot control, and the bishop stayed on the diagonal to b8, far from the white pieces. Each back-rank check was blocked on b8, where the pin turns any waiting move into stalemate, and when the king was pushed to b8 it went back at once. In the corner of the bishop's own colour the same attack wins, because the bishop cannot block beside the king.

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Rook and Pawn vs Bishop

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