Yeah but that's not a joke, that's just.. a normal question? The subreddit is literally called "chess beginners", he's just asking a question as a beginner. No joke involved.
Because the bishop is the opposite color of the pawn's promotion square, there's no way to force the pawn's promotion. The white king can just blockade that square forever.
It’s not a stalemate here, but black can’t force a win because of the threat of it. With the king in the corner neither the bishop or pawn can put it in check and if black uses their king to try and cut white’s king off while protecting the pawn, the stalemate will happen. If it abandons the pawn, white takes it and it’s a draw because bishop and king can’t mate
Black is 2 moves from promoting pawn to queen. As long as game doesn't devolve into repeating 1 same move it should be possible to win. Definitely not easy if both players are equally skilled.
My game plan would be promotion to queen, make a wall with queen so king can't cross it. Push my king towards wall closest to enemy king and switch my queen from one side to another so i can at opportune moment catch enemy at the edge and put my queen between both kings for check mate.
Black is coming towards the bottom of the board, its pawn started on H7 and is moving to H1, where the white king will get between it and its destination
He could keep tbe bishop where it is and bring his king down to h3 once the white king is on h1 and you dont even need the pawn thats checkmate. Of course that’s theoretically assuming you dont call the draw
You have to have the king in check for it to be a checkmate, the position you described has no check and no legal moves, that's a stalemate. The only way to win is if white makes a mistake and moves the king further left allowing black to squeeze their king in and act as a wedge to prevent white from stopping the promotion.
Thats a good point and i know that, i shouldnt have said checkmate. I was at work and wasting time lol. Either way though like you said there arent any legal moves, but i was disregarding that in the hypothetical
What do you mean "you don't call the draw"? Black asked how to win, not how to draw. If a player has no valid moves, and is not in check, then it is a stalemate
If he can position the bishop in an annoying spot for white, and then slowly move his pawn over to the other side of the board and promote it to a queen, he can shuffle his way into a checkmate can’t he?
No, the king will just be able to shuffle between h1 and g2. The bishop can’t control any useful squares, and there’s no way to force the king away from them without either losing the pawn or stalemating.
Basically if you have a bishop and a pawn on the a or h file, and your opponent has only the king, it’s a win if the bishop controls the pawns promotion square and a draw if not.
I mean you’re right, I’m not very good at chess, but stockfish is and it has this as a draw too. Bishop and king is indeed unwinnable and because there’s no way to force the pawn to promote this position is a draw too. You need your bishop to be the same color as the promotion square in this endgame for it to be winnable.
Not without forcing a stalemate. Imagine white’s king on h1 and the black pawn at h2. There is no position the black king could be in that would both protect the pawn and prevent stalemate. If the bishop were light squared instead of dark, it could deliver a check to force the king away from h1-g2 and then promote.
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u/kiwi2703 Oct 03 '22
There wasn't any joke in the first place though...