Russian grandmaster. Died on February 18th. He was at his best from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. He played in 17 Soviet Chess Championships, sharing first place with Boris Spassky and Leonid Stein in 1963. He won the Capablanca Memorial Tournament held in Havana in 1968.

A complicated Rook and Bishop ending in which both sides have chances. Black has an aggressive Rook at "d3" pinning the enemy Bishop and a protective passed pawn at "c4". At a glance it may seem that Black has an easily won game but the White Rook at "g7" is prepared to start an counter-attack. A pleasant feature of this ending is the infiltration of the other Black Rook via the g-file. This ending was probably affected by the tournament situation in which Bobby Fischer needed a win to come first in the tournament. The following are the actual moves played in the game: 

White to play and WIN

Friedrich Amelung, 1884   1.Bc4+ Kh7 2.Kf7 Nd7 3.Nd3 Nb6 4.Bb3 Nc8 5.Ke6 Nb6 6.Kd6 Nc8+ 7.Kd7 Na7 8.Bc4 Kg6 9.Kc7 Kf5 10.Kb7 WINS.

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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".