In this course you've learned to capture your opponent's pieces, and to defend your own pieces. If you've managed to get a winning material advantage, it is likely you will have to checkmate your opponent in the endgame. In this chapter you can learn and practice to checkmate your opponent with a queen, with a rook, or with two bishops.

In this level you can checkmate the opponent's king with two bishops.

Here are some tips:

What the checkmate looks like

The two bishops are not able to deliver checkmate on their own. As in the previous two levels, your king has to help. The checkmate is usually achieved in the corner of the board like this:

The bishop on the long diagonal delivers checkmate. The king and the other bishop each guard an escape square.

How to get there

One of your bishops moves on the light squares, and the other ne on the dark squares. If you put the bishops on adjacent diagonals, they form a barrier which the king cannot cross:

Once you have set up a barrier to restrict the opponent's king, it is time to bring your own king. With the help of your king, you can push the opponent's king toward the edge of the board, and then into the corner. Always make sure that you do not blunder into a stalemate.

If you put your own king a knight jump away from the corner, it restricts the opponent's king to one edge of the board. Now your bishops can deliver checkmate easily.

Example

With White to move: 1.Be6+ Kb8 2.Bd6+ Ka8 3.Bd5#

With Black to move: 1...Kb8 2.Be6 Ka8 3.Bf5
(avoiding 3.Bd6 with a stalemate)
3...Kb8 4.Bd6+ Ka8 5.Be4#

When playing this level, you can look at the solutions to see the quickest way to deliver checkmate.