Think

It was my hope that after one full week of playing bishop endings against Stockfish on Chess.com, I would be able to report success. I had a completely winning position in the fifth and last exercise in the set yesterday morning when a single hasty move threw away the win. I can blame the distraction that caused me to look away from my iPad, but by now I should know to look at the board before moving when I look back.

This morning, the computer threw me several curves in exercise number three and I failed each time. This was one instance.

White to move

I played 1.a4?? and after 1...Bd8+ 2.Kc6 Bxa4, there was no way to prevent the loss of the g-pawn, too.

Later, I set the position up in the Stockfish app and won easily.

Several times this week, I have played 1.a5 in the position below. The resulting draw is a position that I should recognize by now.

White to move