A bishop and a rook pawn are a whole piece and a pawn up, yet it is a draw when the bishop cannot control the queening square and the defending king reaches the corner. The race to the corner is the whole defence.
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White has a bishop and a pawn more, and it is still a draw if you know where to run. The pawn is on h5, the white king on e5, the bishop on e2; your lone king stands on e7 and it is your move. Sixteen moves to hold.
What you will learn
01Why the colour of the queening square decides a bishop and rook pawn ending.
02Which first moves reach the corner in time, and why the others are a move short.
03How to sit in the corner without stepping out of it.
The defence
A rook pawn queens in the corner, here on h8. That square is dark, and the bishop on e2 only ever stands on light squares, so it can never take h8 away from your king. Get your king into the corner and White can do nothing with it: on h8 the king can never be checked, and boxing it in only gives stalemate. The extra piece is worth nothing.
So the whole defence is a race, and from e7 two moves win it: Kf7 and Kf8. Both head for g8 and h8 at once. Every other move is a tempo short: from e8, d7 or d8, either the pawn runs or the white king steps to f6 and shuts your king out of the corner, and then White queens.
Once you are there, move between h8, g8 and h7, whichever squares the pawn leaves you. White can push the pawn and bring the king up, but the best it gets is stalemate. Swap the bishop for a dark-squared one and the same position is lost, because then the bishop takes h8 away and the king is driven out.
How to practise it
Play Black. Your first move is the one to think about: count how many moves your king needs to reach h8 and how many the white king needs to reach f7 or g7. After that, stay in the corner and do not come out to chase the bishop. Sixteen moves with the pawn unpromoted is the draw, and stalemate counts too.
A bishop that does not control the queening square of its own rook pawn. With an a- or h-pawn and the wrong bishop, the defending king in the corner cannot be removed and the game is a draw.
Does the wrong bishop always draw?
Only if the defending king reaches the corner, or the squares next to it, in time. If the attacking king keeps it out, the pawn queens as usual.