How do I defend an endgame with only my bare general and one advisor left against a full attacking force?
These answers restate the rules implemented by our open-source engine, which follows the WXF laws and is regression-tested against the official 110-diagram repetition casebook. Where an answer refers to a specific position, that position lives on the linked reference page, where the build verifies it against the engine before publishing.
Direct answer
This is close to the minimum defensive resource that still gives you any real chance. With only your general and a single advisor left, that advisor's entire job is covering the one palace point that would otherwise turn an attacker's check into checkmate, so protecting it, and the specific point it stands on, matters more than anything else on the board.
Why this position is usually lost but not always hopeless
A single advisor cannot cover every escape point the way a full defensive pair does, so most reasonable attacking material forces mate eventually with correct technique. What still matters is making the attacker earn every step: a general kept on the point the advisor cannot itself reach, and a refusal to let the advisor be traded off for nothing, both slow the attacker down and create room for a mistake.
What to watch for specifically
Any tactic that removes the advisor, a sacrifice, a fork, a pin, ends the defence almost immediately, so treat threats against that one piece as the single most urgent category on the board, above even direct checks in many cases. This is the sharpest possible version of the general principle in defending with advisors and elephants, with no margin left for a second mistake.
Related questions
Is this position ever actually a draw?
Against weak enough attacking material, yes; against a full attacking force such as chariot and cannon, it is generally lost with accurate play.
Should I try to trade the advisor for a piece instead of keeping it?
Only if it removes the attacker's mating resource outright; otherwise keeping the advisor in place is almost always the better choice.
.