On what square color is it better to put my pawns in these two endgame situations?

Hello.

I just wanted to know, on what square color is it better to put my pawns in these two endgame situations :

1. I have a light squared bishop and a dark squared bishop, while my opponent has a light squared bishop and a knight.

2. I have a light squared bishop, while my opponent has a dark squared bishop.

I know that if I have a light squared bishop while my opponent also has a light squared bishop I should put my pawns on dark squares, so that my bishop can move freely while his bishop can't attack anything.

But these two precedent situations are a little more complicated :

In the first situation, if I put my pawns on dark squares my opponent's bishop won't be able to attack them, but if our light squared bishops somehow get exchanged my remaining bishop will be obstructed by my pawns ; and if I put my pawns on light squares and that our light squared bishops get exchanged then my remaining bishop will be free to move, but as long as the exchange doesn't occur his bishop will be able to attack my pawns.

Whereas in the second situation, if I put my pawns on light squares my opponent's bishop won't be able to attack them but my bishop will be obstructed by them ; and if I put my pawns on dark squares my bishop will be free but my opponent's bishop will be able to attack my pawns.

So, well, I really don't know. I just had a game an hour ago with a higher rated opponent which turned into an endgame in which I had the bishop pair while my opponent had a bishop and a knight (and we had 6 healthy pawns each, 3 on each wings). My opponent accepted my draw offer, but if he had refused it I feel I could have lost because I had no idea on what square color I should have put my pawns and I had also a time disadvantage (though Houdini evaluated the position as +0.20 for me).

Well, thanks in advance for helping me out on this one.

Originally posted by Marc Benford
Hello.

I just wanted to know, on what square color is it better to put my pawns in these two endgame situations :

1. I have a light squared bishop and a dark squared bishop, while my opponent has a light squared bishop and a knight.

2. I have a light squared bishop, while my opponent has a dark squared bishop.

I know that if I have a light s ...[text shortened]... he position as +0.20 for me).

Well, thanks in advance for helping me out on this one.

General principles won't do your thinking for you. These highly specific situations have to be broken down case-by-case.

Thats a hard question, it is something that depends on the postion, but as a general rule you should exchange enough pawns to get your bishops active and leave enough to create tension so the position cannot be closed and you still have winning chances. However, youd be better off judging these types of endgames from afar so you dont end up with a poor ending.