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.
Erich Eliskases (1913- ) International Grandmaster. Shared the Austrian championship at the age of 16 and then in 1932 succeeded in winning a match against Spielmann. After the annexation of Austria, he found himself playing for Germany. He won both the 1938 and 1939 German championships. The outbreak of the Second World War meant the end of his European chess career. After the 1939 Olympiad, like many other players he found himself stranded in Buenos Aries; so he decided to settle in South America and had reasonable success there.
The above position is a classic example of the "bad Bishop" syndrome. Blacks Bishop is limited by his own pawns and cannot attack whites. Because the pawns and the Bishop are of the same colour Black suffers from a "colour weakness" which allows the enemy monarch to operate along the dark squares. In contrast Whites Bishop is strong because it stands on a different colour to its pawns and so they complement each other. Also Black's pawns are all isolated and therefore weaker than the opponents pawns.
A few years later at Semmering-Baden Eliskases obtained a same coloured Bishop ending against the former World Champion Capablanca. The Cuban made a rare mistake in defence and Eliskases played a beautiful ending to take the full point.
Frank Brady in his book "The life and Games of Bobby Fischer " quotes comments by Barden and Kotov comparing the endgame skill of Fischer in the 1962 Stockholm Interzonal to that of Capablanca and adds: "These appreciations of Bobby's endgame technique are rather ironic, since he never studies it. His theoretical preparation - which he regards as about 50% of chess ability - is almost wholly confined to analysis of the openings. Still, at Bled in 1961, he defeated Petrosian, perhaps the contemporary master of endgame strategy and beat him in the endgame!"
After an uninspiring opening Petrosian chooses a line leading to this double edged position. Play went 35. Rb7+ Kc6 36. Kc4 Black Resigns! Frank comments: "Black walks into a mating net. After 35...Kc8 the issue would still be in doubt". Here the term "mating net" is not quite accurate. Black in fact walked into a simple mate.
1. Endgame Solving Tournament 2000. This will consist of 3 events: these will take place at Easter, Summer and Christmas each consisting of 5 positions to solve, 15 in all. Participants have to take part in all three events to be considered for the prize of £100 or equivalent. Present strict rules will apply; no computer analysis.
2. Cumulative 2000. Prizes: 1st £50 or equivalent, 2nd £30, 3rd £20; Entries limited to 20 solvers. This event will run from 2/1/2000 to 30/12/2000. Present CUMULATIVE COMPETITION rules apply but note the prizes will go to those participants who climb the ladder the greatest number of times during the year. The relative position of the solver's name on the ladder will decide the allocation of prizes.
The competitor's 3 highest scores only
will count. The winner will be announced on FEBRUARY 20th . The prize
will be £100 or equivalent. In the case of a tie the prize will
be shared.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|