Lessons From Bischofsgrün III

IN my round-three game, where I was Black against Fide master Jochen Bruch (2115), my opponent offered a draw in the following position.

White has just captured on f7

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I am a pawn up and have two passed pawns, so it did not take me long to play 33...Kxf7, confident that, barring a catastrophic mistake, I would either win or have to settle for a draw.

I should have remembered that in rook-and-bishop endings with opposite-colour bishops, what counts more than the odd pawn is the activity of the bishops.

In the diagram, White has a dark-square bishop, anchored on d4 and bearing down on g7, while the black light-square bishop is 'loose', albeit not immediately endangered, and impeded by the black pawn on e4.

If I had seriously considered such matters, I would not have been so surprised after my defeat to discover the position in the diagram is completely equal, according to Stockfish18 and Dragon1.

LESSON: Cecil Purdy put it rather more succinctly, if with a dash of hyperbole: "In endings with bishops of opposite colour, material means NOTHING, position EVERYTHING."