PRACTICAL CHESS ENDGAME or BRIAN'S CHESS FOLLY . 17/5/98

The new position will occur each SUNDAY and I will always be pleased to receive POSITIVE feedback about the positions and the analysis and I will try to acknowledge these where relevant.

Although a former international player of the post war period, he will be remembered for his excellent books. His most famous being, "The Oxford Companion of Chess" which he wrote in collaboration with Ken Whyld. He was also an authority on the games of Steinitz and Capablanca ( "Unknown Capablanca" ) and was one of the world’s leading experts on endings.

Recently there has been a number of books on chess endings but forty years ago this area of chess was sadly neglected. Then in the late 1950’s David collaborated with Max Euwe, the former World Champion, to produce, “Guide to Chess Endings.” This was the first major book in the West on endings for twenty years. The book was well received and enhanced David’s reputation as an authority in this area of the game.

He then wrote two more books, " Practical Chess Endings ” which was a Routledge Series Handbook, and “A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames”. The Pocket Guide was popular with club players because it was ideal for taking away to matches and tournaments. It was small but gave a complete coverage of the endings and had a useful glossary.

Today we tend to take endgame theory for granted but there was a time when very little was known about this area of the game. Endgame theory is the accumulated knowledge gained by the work of dedicated individuals which took place over two centuries. David now takes his place alongside those famous analysts from the passed: Phillidor, Kling, Berger, Troitzky, Cheron and Grigoriev.

I was personally acquainted with David and had a number of interesting discussions with him about his writing and the famous players he knew. I was very sad to hear of his death and I wish to acknowledge his contribution to chess both as a player and as a writer on the endgame. I am sure you would join with me in offering our sincere condolences to his family.

 

 This ending is difficult and is a severe test even for a grandmaster.The winning move is far from obvious.

Crafty 12.9 (Unix, no endgame databases) plays 1.Kd5? and can only get a draw!! 1...Kg7 2.Ke6 Kg6 3.h5+ Kg7 4.Kxf5 Kf7 5.Kg5 Kg7 6.h6+ Kf7 7.Kf5 Ke7 8.Ke5 Kf7 9.f5 Ke7= Valentin Alibilo;Update Monday 18/5/98 ;Valentin has reran test and increased time limit to 600 seconds. Crafty discovered Hooper's winning solution nearing end of search at 29 plies.1.Kc5!! etc.

1.Kd4? Kg8!=;

9.h5 Ke7 10.Ke5 Kf7 11.Kd6 h6 12.Ke5 Ke7 13.f5 Kf7 14.f6 Kf8 15.Kf4 White now triangulates to gain access to the critical squares. 15...Kg8 16.Ke4 Kf8 17.Ke5 Kf7 18.Kf5 and White wins.

I used a program developed by Lars Rasmussen of Denmark. I have found it excellent for analysing these type of pawn endings. It uses a graphical interface developed by Chessbase GmbH Hamburg.

The Theory of Corresponding could be used to solve this ending but the method is complicated. Jon Speelman covers this method on page 8 of his superb book "Analysing the Endgame" 1997. It is obvious that a whole series of corresponding squares exists: e5/f7, e6/g6(e8), f6/f8 and d5/g7.

One has to admire David Hooper for working all this out. The study is perfect and deserved its award.

Summer Solving Tournament starting in July and lasting for six weeks. Positions to solve on long holiday journeys or when sunbathing on the beach !!

mailto: brigosling@aol.com