Knight v Bishop (part 24)

White has just captured on f3 in Spanton (147) - Justin Baptie (164), British Chess Championships Major (Eastbourne) 1990. Who stands better, and by how much?

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This is a typical minor-piece ending arising from the Exchange Variation of the Spanish. White has the better pawn-majority, but the white queenside pawns are fixed on dark squares and so are potentially vulnerable to the black bishop. Stockfish12 reckons White has a slight edge, while Komodo11.01 gives White the upper hand.

38...b4?

The engines give 38...a4, the point being to prevent White playing a4. A plausible continuation is 39.Ke4 Ke6 40.h5 gxh5 41.gxh5 b4 42.Nh4 bxa3 43.bxa3 Ba5 with good drawing chances.

39.Ke4?!

This may be good enough to win, but much clearer is 39.a4, after which the c4 pawn will fall and Black will have great difficulty getting at White's queenside pawns.

39...Bc7?

Again ...a4 gave the best drawing chances, and if 40.Kd5 then 40...Bc7, eg 41.Nh3 h5 42.gxh5 gxh5 43.Kxc4 bxc3 44.bxc3 Bd6, which the engines reckon is dead-equal. A better try for White is probably 40.f5, but the engines reckon White is, at best, only slightly better.

40.a4

Now the win is simple.

40...Ke6 41.h5 gxh5 42.gxh5 b3 43.Nd1 Bd8 44.Ne3 Bf6 45.Nxc4 Kf7 46.Kd5 1-0