H. G. Muller wrote on Sat, Jul 22, 2017 12:12 PM UTC:
It seems to me that moving up the a-Pawn two squares so that they cannot be attacked at the same time solves all black's problems. The Bishop then just protects the Pawn that is under attack, and can move on the connecting diagonal to keep it protected, or switch to another Pawn when that gets attacked. But of course this could be remedied by putting a- and c-Pawns head to head.
A single position doesn't prove a thing, though. It is just as easy to set up positions where the Bishop has an easy win. E.g with blocked a- and c-Pawns, put the Bishop on the other shade (just as likely...) Now the Bishop gobbles up the Pawns before the King can get there to protect them. The relative value of Bishop and Commoner would be determined by the statistics of all such end-games.
It seems to me that moving up the a-Pawn two squares so that they cannot be attacked at the same time solves all black's problems. The Bishop then just protects the Pawn that is under attack, and can move on the connecting diagonal to keep it protected, or switch to another Pawn when that gets attacked. But of course this could be remedied by putting a- and c-Pawns head to head.
A single position doesn't prove a thing, though. It is just as easy to set up positions where the Bishop has an easy win. E.g with blocked a- and c-Pawns, put the Bishop on the other shade (just as likely...) Now the Bishop gobbles up the Pawns before the King can get there to protect them. The relative value of Bishop and Commoner would be determined by the statistics of all such end-games.