International Grandmaster. Belonged to a group of Russian masters who made their home in France after the Revolution. In his early days he had some impressive results in tournaments and was looked upon as a world class grandmaster. In 1903 he came 2nd in the All-Russian Championship at Kiev and in 1907 shared 1st prize with Rubinstein at Ostend. The previous year he obtained a doctorate in law at Heidelberg and gradually Chess took second place to his professional career where he became a successful financial lawyer. Periodically he would make comebacks to Chess but his best years were behind him although he did have a number of excellent results later in life. In 1933 he drew a training match with Alekhine and even in his 70s he played for France in the Amsterdam Olympiad scoring 50%.

White has a well placed Bishop which cannot be easily displaced and a powerful passed a-pawn. The White King has easy access to the queenside to help in the advance of the pawn. The Black c-pawn is no real threat.

The early editions of PCE'S are available again after many years and include three endings by Capablanca. Checkout the links below. One of these endings is the sensational loss he suffered at the hands of Tarrasch in the 1914 St Petersburg tournament. This is the beginning of a long process of fixing broken links and contructing the early archive.

Black to play and DRAW

Berger considered this position drawn but he gave the wrong analysis. It was Orrin Frink who discovered the correct way to draw in 1927. 1... Na5! 2.Ke4 [2.Ke5 Kc5 3.Rb2 (3.b7 Nc6+=) 3...Nc4+ Black wins the pawn. 4.Ke4 Nxb6=] 2...Nb7! 3.Ke5 Nc5! 4.Kf5 Nd7 5.b7 Kc7 6.Rb1 Nb8! 7.Ke5 Nc6+ 8.Kd5 Nb8= White cannot make any progress.

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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".