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The new position will appear at the
beginning of each new month.
You are invited to solve it. I
will be pleased to
receive feedback
about the positions and the analysis. The solution will be published
the following month with the new position. Some of these positions
will come from actual historical games. Others will be composed
endgame studies, but they will be relevant to the practical game. The
site has over 400 chess endings and endgame studies and and has now reached its 11th year.
Important Announcement: For the time
being I have decided not to add any more endings to the present
collection. There is already plenty of material here to chew over.
The site will remain open for the forseeable future for
study/training and I haven't ruled out adding more endings at a later
date. I would like to thank you for your interest and support over
the years and especially those who have sent me analysis. Special
thanks must go to Antonio Senatore and Ernest Hong whose
contributions have been invaluable.
Russian/Soviet Endgame Composer. One of the founders of the art of modern endgame study composition. His early career in composing started in 1895 but only lasted a couple of years and then his interest waned. Much of his earlier work was full of new ideas but lacked the polish that was to come later. In 1906 he made a triumphant return to chess with his brilliant analysis of the difficult ending of two Knights vs pawn. In 1910 he wrote an important article, published in the St Petersburg paper "Niva" in which he laid down the principles for the composing of studies. He has over 1000 studies to his credit. He wrote: A Selection of Chess Studies (1934). Troitzky died in the siege of Leningrad in 1942.
Although White is material down he can mount a winning attack because of the poor placement of the Black King at the edge of the board. The stair-movement of the new promoted White Queen is worth remembering because it is often a feature of these type of endings.
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I would like to briefly summarise the type of endings found on the site. These are; (a) Basic endings. (b) Practical chess endings. (c) The Endgame study.
(a) Basic Endings. These are theoretical positions in which we know the correct result with optimum play by both sides. They may consist of three pawns or less and also include all the non-pawn and five piece endings which have now been extensively analysed by computer and of which we have tablebases. In the days when we had adjournments some of these endings could be looked up in text books to give us some idea how to play the position. As we no longer can do this, knowledge and memory of these endings has become important in practical play. Fundamental Chess Endings (2001) by Muller and Lamprecht and Basic Endings (1992) by Balashov and Prandstetter and the earlier A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames (1970) by David Hooper are good introductions to these endings.
(b) Practical Endings. These occur in over-the-board play where usually more pawns are present. The above ending is an example of this type. Some of these endings are in the process of being transformed to basic endings but often they finish before this stage is reached. Endgame strategy is very different from the middlegame and has its own set of rules and exceptions. Fine's book Basic Chess Endings (1941,2003) recently revised by Pal Benko and Batsford Chess Endings (1993) by Speelman, Tisdall and Wade are about basic and practical endings and both can be recommended.
(c) Endgame Studies. These are positions which have been composed and will contain elements of one or both of the above types of endings. But there are important differences between these types and the study, such as artistic form and economy of construction. An endgame study has to follow strict rules of composition, especially if it is entered into a composing competition. One of these rules states there should only be one solution. If there is an unintended second solution then the study is unsound and said to be "cooked".
mailto: brigosling@aol.com