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.

He was born in Birstall, Yorkshire and came under the influence of a schoolmaster, a strong player named Illingworth. After early success in the British Championship he became a professional player at a time when English chess was at a low ebb after the glory days of Blackburne. He kept the torch burning, winning the British championship six times and gaining a reputation as a giant killer in international tournaments; he defeated Alekhine on two occassions and Bogoljubow three times. His 1st victory against Alekhine was in the Hastings tournament of 1922 and is shown below. His 2nd victory was at Carlsbad in 1923 and is possibly one of the greatest games ever played by an Englishman in the first half of this century. He died in tragic circumstances, as a result of a defective gas pipe connection in his bedroom. 

Alekhine had sacrificed the exchange for a winning attack but he failed to follow it up properly. His last move before this position was reached was the attractive 1.Rxf7? with the idea of discovered check. But this was a gross blunder which according to Alekhine changed a win into a loss. Now Yates took his opportunity to inflict a painful loss on the player who was eventually to become tournament winner.

Now Black has a winning pawn ending because he will gain a passed pawn on the queenside. This will act as a decoy to the White monarch which will be forced to give way for the Black passed d-pawn: 10.Kc3 Ke6 11.Kd4 a6 12.a4 b5 13.a5 b4 14.g3 b3 15.Kc3 Kxe5 16.Kxb3 Kd4 17.Kc2 Ke3 18.Kd1 Kd3 White resigned.