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.

The winners of the 2003 cumulative competition will be announced early in the New Year.

I have decided to move away from cash prizes for Cumulative 2004. Instead book prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places. The same rules will apply.

 

World Champion 1948-57, 1958-1960, 1961-63. The 1920s saw unparalleled growth in the interest of chess in the Soviet Union. At this time Botvinnik was still too young to dominate some of his Leningrad colleagues. Two players particularly made a big impact on the young Botvinnik and they were involved in his training. They were Sergei Kaminer (1908-38) and Ilya Rabinovich (1891-1942). Both were students of the endgame. Kaminer, besides being a strong player, was a brilliant endgame composer. Rabinovich was the first Soviet player to be allowed to represent his country abroad and this was at Baden Baden in 1925. He wrote one of the early manuals on the endgame which was later translated into the Dutch language. Soon Botvinnik was to make a big break through in chess by winning the 1931 Soviet Championship. This was the beginning of the Botvinnik era which was to last three decades but his influence would last a lot longer.

 

This is a complicated ending in which Botvinnik as White failed to win. The three united passed pawns give White the advantage but is it enough to get the full point ?  The main line that follows are the moves that he played in the game until move 14...Kg6. After which he felt he made a serious mistake with 15.Ke8? which allowed his opponent to draw.

1. Cumulative 2004 This event will run from 4/1/2004 to 19/12/2004 with a recess in the Summer. Present rules apply but note the book 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.