This mating pattern is called the Two Bishops Mate because two Bishops, with the assistance of their King, gradually force the opponent's King into a corner for the final attack.
This pattern is not too difficult to master, but is a rare occurrence in actual chess games. In the example shown in the diagram above, White's Bishops and King have worked together to force the opponent's King into the a8 corner, enabling the light-squared Bishop to deliver the final blow with 1.Be4#.
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When we started adding a playful touch to chess learning, we looked through thousands of videos and hundreds of books to find the best resources out there. Here's our curated selection of the best content we encountered on the Two Bishops Mate. We also included some smaller creators who are growing fast and we believe deserve your attention. Check out these resources if you want to master this checkmate pattern.
Let’s say you know how to mate with 2 Bishops is rather easy. Can you do it with 5 dark-squares Bishops? Have fun with this problem nicely presented by Chess with Suren.
In this series, GM Simon Williams guides you through several checkmate patterns. Here he gives us several examples of the Two Bishops Mate. Don’t skip the interactive Chess.com exercises!
This inexpensive, short book by James Provak is ideal for beginners who want an easy-to-read, highly visual introduction to the most common and well-known mating patterns.
This is another fantastic book by Jeremy Silman. Endgame techniques are presented in a really fun and useful way. The Two Bishops Mate, too. A must-read for beginners and intermediates.
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