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.

International Grandmaster. World Championship Candidate. Born in Latvia but now living in Spain. In 1998 Shirov beat Kramnik (+2-0=7) in a match to find a challenger to Kasparov for the World Chess Council title. The WCC title match was cancelled at the last momemt due to a lack of sponsorship and funding.

This pawn ending turns into a race to see which side promotes first. Both sides are neck and neck but Black has a winning advantage in the emerging Queen ending because of the possiblity of promoting his advanced f-pawn.

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 CUMULATIVE COMPETITION 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.