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.

Soviet International Grandmaster. World Champion 1957-8. The great surprise of the 1948 World Championship was that Smyslov came second after Botvinnik. His was the first new face on the world chess scene after the Second World War and he was to be a prominent force for several decades. In his endgame play, Smyslov comes close to Capablanca and Rubinstein. To Smyslov both music and chess follow the intangible rules of beauty and harmony. Chess to him was more than a sport or a science but supremely an expression of art.

White has the better placed minor pieces. Black's light squared Bishop is bad and plays no part in the ending. Smyslov gains two powerful passed pawns and his King is well placed to support them. Black's queenside pawn majority poses no problem. The following are the actual moves played in the game

1. Cumulative 2003 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 5/1/2003 to 22/12/2003 with a recess in July. Present 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.