The advantage of the two bishops (when facing a bishop and knight or two knights) is a favorite of many masters. When working together, the two bishops can really dominate the chessboard.
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[Event "rated untimed match"]
[Site "?"]
[Date "????.??.??"]
[Round "?"]
[White "White player"]
[Black "Black player"]
[Result "*"]
[BlackElo "0"]
[FEN "8/8/8/1p6/1Pp5/2K3Pk/7P/8 w - - 0 1"]
[SetUp "1"]
[TimeControl "0"]
[WhiteElo "0"]
{ My Kingdom for a Tempo.|We note in this position that the White king must
stay within the square of black's passed pawn.|Black has few options also.
Black must resist the advance of white's connected passers.|White to move
and win, but how? } 1. Kd4 { The white king stays within the square of the
black passer just in case it tries to run, and moves to support the advance
of his own pawns. } 1... Kg4 { Forced. If black attempts to move the c-pawn forward
while white's king can enter its square, then the c-pawn is lost.|If the
c-pawn falls, then white can capture Black's b-pawn at his leisure clearing
the way for the promotion of white's b-pawn. } 2. h4 { So far so good. White
makes progress. } ( { This line wins also: } 2. Ke3 Kf5 3. h4 Kg4 4. Kf2 Kh5 5. Kf3 Kh6 6. g4 Kg6 7. h5+ Kg5 8. Ke3 Kf6 9. Kf4 Kg7 10. g5 Kf7 11. g6+ Kf6 12. Ke3 Kg7 13. Ke4 Kf6 14. Kf4 Kg7 15. Kg5 c3 16. h6+ Kf8 17. Kf6 c2 18. h7 Ke8 19. h8=Q+ { White wins with a large material advantage. } 19... Kd7 20. Qh1 c1=Q 21. Qxc1 ) 2... Kh5 3. Ke3 Kg4 4. Ke4 { White is careful to stay within the square of
black's passer.|White wants to move his king to f3 or f4 to assist the
advance of his own pawns.|Note that white can be patient, but black has
few options. } 4... Kh5 { Black must give ground. } 5. Kf4 Kh6 { Black is compelled to
retire to a different defensive square. } 6. g4 { White's pawns are mobile
again. } 6... Kg6 { Black waits. } 7. h5+ { White takes the opportunity to advance his
most distant pawn while it is protected. } 7... Kh6 { White wants to achieve this
same position, but with black to move. He will do this while moving his king
over a triangle of squares. Ke4-e3-f4. Watch how this is done. } 8. Ke4 Kg5 9. Ke3 Kh6 10. Kf4 { White achieves his goal by use of triangulation. Black's
king must give way allowing white's pawns to become mobile again. } 10... Kg7 11. g5 Kf7 12. g6+ { Why did white advance a pawn to g6 instead of h6?|White knows
that he cannot help his pawns advance any further by moving his king out of
the square of black's passer. This would be suicide. So white advances the
pawn closest to his king with the idea that if the opportunity should arise
to assist one of his pawns to promotion, that pawn should be the one most
easy to reach and advance. The closest pawn will require fewer tempos to
assist its advance. Note that white need not see every move to the end of the
game. Rather white can and should improve his position as long as he is able.
Who knows? Maybe his position will be so good at some point that he may be
able to leave the square of black's pawn. } 12... Kf6 13. Ke3 { Again white begins a
triangulation manuever. } 13... Kg7 14. Ke4 Kf6 15. Kf4 { Again, white achieves the
same position as before, but with black to move. } 15... Kg7 { Up to now white has
made slow and steady progress with his pawns without any risk. However, now
white must see deeply and accurately to make any further progress. A blunder
would be fatal.|Can White force a win? } 16. Kg5 c3 { The c-pawn rushes with
joy in its heart towards promotion. } 17. h6+ { White advances his h-pawn with
check gaining an important tempo. } 17... Kf8 18. Kf6 { White advances to support his
pawns. } 18... c2 { The c-pawn has royal ambitions. } 19. h7 { Black cannot stop the
h-pawn's promotion, and must move to avoid checkmate. } 19... Ke8 20. h8=Q+ { White
promotes his pawn with check gaining an important tempo. } 20... Kd7 21. Qh1 { White
wins with a large material advantage. The c-pawn is so close and yet so far. } *