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 Grandmaster. World Championship Candidate. Tied for 1st in the Soviet Championship in three consecutive years 1967, 1968 and 1969 (He lost to Petrosian in the playoff). In the 1970s he was among the top six players in the world but he could not get past Karpov or Korchnoi in the Candidates.

White has an extra pawn on the kingside and the Black King has only one free square. Can White by the offer of his a-pawn entice the enemy monarch into a mating net ? The following main line shows the 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.