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.

World Champion 1935-37. Dutch Grandmaster. After losing the World Championship in 1937, Euwe went back to playing chess in his school holidays. For this teacher of mathematics never became a full professional chessplayer although for many years he was ranked among the world's top players. In 1939 he played in a small tournament organised by the Royal Dutch Chess Federation (KNSB) which included the Czech player; Salo Flohr. After his disastrous result in the strong A.V.R.O. tournament Flohr was making a belated comeback. But Euwe seemed to have the measure of him and again he stumbled against the Dutch hero. As his playing strength declined, Euwe turned to important research into opening and endgame theory. In the late 1950’s he collaborated with David Hooper to produce, “Guide to Chess Endings.” This was the first major work on endings in the West for over twenty years.

 

This ending is from a typical last round game in which White had to win in order to catch the leaders. Flohr had played the opening badly and found himself facing Euwe's vigorous kingside attack. He was forced to give up a Bishop for a couple of pawns just to stay in the game. He had compensation for the loss of the Bishop in the form of some very strong passed pawns which would prove difficult to stop if given the opportunity to roll. Euwe is fully committed to the attack on the kingside knowing that if it failed he faced a lost game on the queenside. We follow the moves as played in the game.