Hi MontyMoose,
I have 668 KBN v K. RHP games The Bishop and Knight has won 404 times
so 264 players have failed. One funny point is a few players (I counter 4)
did it but a year or so later forgot how to do it and drew!
Quite a few times players have headed for it. Gone into ending a Bishop up,
swapped off everything and promoted to a Knight...then a few drew!
Also some defending have not counted the moves and have been mated
way past the 50 moves.
A few months back I reading about an experienced 2000+ OTB player who
can do it with ease with v any computer but v humans OTB he struggles.
This is because the computer can see the mate coming and plays moves to
make the mate the longest possible and lad found it easy.
With a clock ticking in an OTB game the human plays awkward moves,
not the best moves (got mated quicker) but the lad found he had to think more
because his opponent wriggled out his patterns.
Only had to do it once in 50 years. Never studied it just knew you had to get the
King into a corner controlled by the Bishop, took it from and did it.
Blackburne was of the opinion learning how to do it was a waste of time.
See this cutting from the Cheltenham Examiner,1st November 1905.
https://www.ecforum.org.uk/download/file.php?id=1295
The one I've found awkward is Queen and King v King and Rook. Had that a few
times and have done it but only due to basic blunders by the Rook player.
With best play I toiled, I tried it v a computer quite a while back and failed.
In that ending the computer plays unhuman moves moving the Rook all
over the board away from the King and you think you can just check check
check and pick it up. You can't!
Maybe I'll make learning that my New Years Resolution....or probably not.
Back to Bishop and Knight v a Lone King.
The often quoted example of this ending getting screwed up is:
Robert Kempinski vs Vladimir Epishin, Germany 2001
Black was awarded the Grandmaster title in 1990 and was one of Karpov seconds
during the Kasparov-Karpov matches. He starts off by chasing the King to the
wrong corner and struggles to dig him out of there.
He misses wins and eventually runs out moves so stalemates.
[FEN "8/8/8/8/4K3/2kn4/5b2/8 w - - 0 127"]
127. Kf3 Bc5 128. Ke4 Kc4 129. Kf5 Kd5 130. Kf6 Bd6 131. Kf7 Ne5+ 132. Ke8 Ke6 133. Kd8 Nf7+ 134. Kc8 Kd5 135. Kb7 Kc5 136. Ka6 Bc7 137. Kb7 Kd6 138. Ka6 Kc6 139. Ka7 Nd6 140. Ka8 Bd8 $2 141. Ka7 Kb5 142. Kb8 Kb6 143. Ka8 Nb7 144. Kb8 Bc7+ 145. Ka8 Kc6 146. Ka7 Nc5 147. Ka8 Nd7 148. Ka7 Nb6 149. Ka6 Bb8 150. Ka5 Kc5 151. Ka6 Bd6 $2 152. Kb7 Kb5 153. Ka7 Kc6 154. Ka6 Bb8 155. Ka5 Nd5 156. Ka6 Bc7 157. Ka7 Bb6+ 158. Kb8 Bc5 159. Ka8 Nc7+ 160. Kb8 Nb5 161. Ka8 Kb6 162. Kb8 Na7 163. Ka8 Ka6 164. Kb8 Bb6 165. Ka8 Nb5 166. Kb8 Nd6 167. Ka8 Kb5 168. Kb8 Kc6 169. Ka8 Bc7 170. Ka7 Nb7 171. Ka8 Nc5 172. Ka7 Bb6+ 173. Ka8 Bc7 174. Ka7 Nd7 175. Ka8 Bd6 176. Ka7 Nb6 177. Ka6 Bb8 178. Ka5 Bc7 179. Ka6 Nc8