Bishops of opposite colour are the great drawing weapon: even two extra pawns are often not enough. The defending king blockades the pawn the bishop cannot stop, and the bishop is given up for the other pawn only when the remaining pawn cannot win.
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Two pawns down with bishops of opposite colour, and the position is a draw. White has pawns on a5 and e5, a king on d4 and a dark-squared bishop on c3; you have a king on e6 and a light-squared bishop on h5. Black to move. Each of your pieces has one job, and they must not share it.
What you will learn
01How to tell which pawn the enemy bishop can never help, by the colour of its queening square.
02Why your king goes to that pawn and your bishop to the other one, never both to the same.
03The wrong-coloured rook pawn: the draw waiting at the end of the road.
The plan
The a-pawn queens on a8, a light square. White's bishop lives on dark squares, so a8, b7 and c8 are squares it will never touch, and a king sitting on them cannot be driven away. The a-pawn is therefore your king's job, and the king starts walking at once. The e-pawn is the bishop's job: from h5 it already looks at e8, so the pawn can be pushed but not promoted.
In theory the bishop can even be given up for the e-pawn, because a dark bishop with an a-pawn against your king in the a8 corner is a dead draw. In this drill a lost bishop counts as lost material, so hold the pawn with the bishop instead; the sacrifice is the idea behind the plan, not the move. Where it goes wrong: swapping the jobs. A bishop chasing the a-pawn can delay it but not stop it once White's king arrives.
How to practise it
Play Black. Your first few moves are king moves towards the queen side; the bishop covers the e-pawn from h5 meanwhile. Then keep the bishop on a diagonal that sees e8 and wait. Twenty moves without a pawn promoting or a piece lost is the draw.
Why are opposite-coloured bishop endings so drawish?
Because each bishop controls squares the other can never touch. The defender blockades the pawns on squares the attacking bishop cannot reach, and the attacker often has no way to break the blockade.
What is a wrong-coloured rook pawn?
An a- or h-pawn whose queening square is a colour the attacker's bishop cannot control. With the defending king in that corner the pawn can never promote, and king, bishop and pawn against king is a draw.