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.

  

Important Message: The next ending plus analysis and cumulative results for the above position will appear on Sunday August 3rd. Have an enjoyable break !!

It would be a great help if regular solvers could send in their answers within the usual weekly deadline. Many thanks.

This position is problem No 80 in Paul Lamford's: 100 Chess Puzzles. (Chameleon Books, 1999). The book includes about thirty endings and it is a good buy for the summer months. It can be enjoyed without the use of a chess set except for a handful of the endings of which No 80 is probably the most difficult and indeed may be unsound.

White is in serious trouble as the c-pawn is near to queening. He has to rely on his own passed pawns for counterplay. The composers solution is as follows:

4...c2 5.e7 Rd6+ 6.Ka7 c1Q 7.e8Q+ Ka3 8.Qb5 Qc7 9.Ka8 Rd8+ 10.b8Q Rxb8+ 11.Qxb8 =;

This is the composer's solution but a serious question mark hangs over this study because of the alternative 1...Nd3 move which gives Black real winning chances:

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.