Austrian-Jewish Chessmaster and writer. His style was romantic, in the tradition of the 19th century. He rejected the hypermodernism of his contemporaries and was instead always on the lookout for direct attacks against the King. In the latter part of his career he improved his endgame technique and become a member of the worlds elite. His philosophy of play is illustrated in his famous book The Art of Sacrifice in Chess (1935). In 1939 political upheaval forced him to flee to Sweden from where he died in 1942.

 

This is a very instructive ending in which which Black wins by forcing the enemy Rook to occupy an unfavourable blockading square in front of the outside passed g-pawn. The Black King supported by the Rook attacks on the queenside. The main line is the actual moves played in the game.

The British chess scene has been shocked and saddened by the sudden death of Steve Boniface, a highly respected arbiter. Steve had taken early retirement to concentrate on his chess activities. I knew Steve for over 20 years. In the 90s we played in the same county team and I played in many of the tournaments he controlled, particularly those in the west country.

He visited this endgame site and I know he would like to share this ending with you.

Black to play and WIN.

1... b2, 2.Nd1 ... The Knight attacks the pawn so the pawn is forced to advance and to promote. Otherwise the Knight will take the pawn. 2...b1B !! Black has to underpromote to a Bishop ! This is the only way to win. The Queen or Rook promotion will lead to stalemate: 2...b1Q or 2...b1R 3.Nc3+ Bxc3 stalemate. The ending with BNvN after 2...b1N is a draw. Black has a difficult technical win with the BBvN ending.

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I would like to briefly summarise the type of endings found on the site. These are; (a) Basic endings. (b) Practical chess endings. (c) The Endgame study.

(a) Basic Endings. These are theoretical positions in which we know the correct result with optimum play by both sides. They may consist of three pawns or less and also include all the non-pawn and five piece endings which have now been extensively analysed by computer and of which we have tablebases. In the days when we had adjournments some of these endings could be looked up in text books to give us some idea how to play the position. As we no longer can do this, knowledge and memory of these endings has become important in practical play. Fundamental Chess Endings (2001) by Muller and Lamprecht and Basic Endings (1992) by Balashov and Prandstetter and the earlier A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames (1970) by David Hooper are good introductions to these endings.

(b) Practical Endings. These occur in over-the-board play where usually more pawns are present. The above ending is an example of this type. Some of these endings are in the process of being transformed to basic endings but often they finish before this stage is reached. Endgame strategy is very different from the middlegame and has its own set of rules and exceptions. Fine's book Basic Chess Endings (1941,2003) recently revised by Pal Benko and Batsford Chess Endings (1993) by Speelman, Tisdall and Wade are about basic and practical endings and both can be recommended.

(c) Endgame Studies. These are positions which have been composed and will contain elements of one or both of the above types of endings. But there are important differences between these types and the study, such as artistic form and economy of construction. An endgame study has to follow strict rules of composition, especially if it is entered into a composing competition. One of these rules states there should only be one solution. If there is an unintended second solution then the study is unsound and said to be "cooked".