Welcome to this active site. Each week I am going to present to you an endgame position for you to solve or to workout the best continuation. Computer analysis will also be considered. Some of these positions will come from actual historical games. Others will be composed endgame studies, but all the solutions will be relevant to the practical game. 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.

 

Austrian all-rounder who made his greatest contribution to the endgame. His Theorie und Praxis der Endspiele (1895, 1922) was the top textbook on endgame theory for many years.  

White needs to advance his King to support his passed pawns. If Black could set up a blockade on the dark squares a7 and b6 he could draw but will he have time? White with his first move stops the enemy King reaching these important squares. The advance of the g-pawn is not dangerous because the Bishop can get back in time.

This site is designed to promote the enjoyment of chess endings through competition, and to encourage a growing appreciation of practical endings and composed studies. Although I would like to include more theory about endings, I am limited by the time factor. There is a large pool of books written in recent years by grandmasters and masters about endings, including books for beginners. This was not always so. My aim, therefore, is not to compete with these but to supplement them. I hope to motivate competitors and interested onlookers to use self-help, i.e. to solve the endings and to study books for themselves in order to increase their knowledge. I do not wish to duplicate information that is already available in book form. From time to time I will mention general endgame principles as they crop up in the ending of the week but I do not offer a complete coverage of endgame theory.

1. Cumulative 2002 Prizes: 1st £100 or equivalent, 2nd £50, 3rd £30; 4th £20. (Total Prize Money=£200) Entries limited to 20 solvers. This event will run from 6/1/2002 to 22/12/2002 with a recess in July. 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.

2. Endgame Solving Tournaments 2002. They will be directed at new or intermediate solvers and will not be too difficult. No money prizes but a book prize for the highest placed newcomer. Events will take place at Easter, Summer and Christmas each consisting of 5 positions to solve. Present strict rules will apply; no computer analysis.