checkmate with 3 pieces on the board

Hi to everyone who will read this post.

I'm not a expert on chess and i was wondering (i know you cannot checkmate your opponent if he has only his king and I have my knight & king) can you do it with a king & bishop or king and rooke and how long will it take? The reason for asking this is because i've never seen or heard of a match like that or is there?   

Not with king and bishop, but it can be done with king and rook.

it's possible with a rook, yes, but it might be done with a bishop

                                                            -The Awesomeness

                                                                      PersonGuy1

King and rook endings take quite a few moves. Obviously a number can't be given as it all depends upon the position in the game.

if you are willing, you can challenge me for a chess game and find out. I'll go easy on ya.

As you can see black can't move anywhere due to the pawn in the way.

only with own pawn blocking horse can be done

How exactly would you reach that position, LearnChess?

Basically:

K+Q or K+R vs K: forced mate

K+B or K+N vs K: draw (impossible to mate)

K+N+B or K+B+B vs K: forced mate (longer than K+R)

K+N+N vs K: draw (there's a mate, but you need cooperation from the other player that you're unlikely to receive ;-) )

K+N+N vs K+pawn: often, forced mate (you need to reach a position that would be stalemate if it were just K+N+N vs K - the extra pawn avoids stalemate, even if it promotes on the last move)

thanx RandomPrecision! Very informative!!!

You ned to move the king to a corner square, you do this by cutting the board in half.

Not all of that is true. Bishop vs knight(I won't bother mentioning kings) is drawn, but mate is possible for either side. 2 bishops vs bishop and knight is drawn, as it is impossible to dominate both pieces without loss of material. Anyway, rook checkmate(against lone king) can be forced in <= 16 moves. queen=10 moves at most. 2 bishops=19, bishop+knight=33, 2 knights vs pawn=115(sometimes drawn by 50 moves rule), etc. The world record is queen + knight vs rook + bishop + knight checkmate in 517 moves!