My favourite studies – 1 December 26, 2002
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I was introduced to chess studies by one person, a world champion, and one book. It was just over twenty years ago, in 1981, when a young Finn named Mika Korhonen came to stay for a week in my home. Mika was part of the Finnish problem solving team that had won the world championship in the helpmate section. He had written one of the world's first problem solving programs, Mika's Mate, for the Apple II computer.

Mika was also an endgame specialist, and he brought with him a book that we read, virtually from cover to cover, while he was there. It was John Roycroft's The Chess Endgame Study. Originally the book had appeared around 1972 and had been called Test Tube Chess, Mika had the latest edition with the new title.

There was another guest staying with us at the time. It was a young boy from England, fifteen years old, tall and lanky, with feminine features and a giant Elo. It was Nigel Short, still an IM and playing in a Hamburg Grandmaster tournament. Every morning, still in his pyjamas, every evening and on his free days he joined in the fun and solved studies with us. Naturally he was much better at it, so Mika had to pull out helpmates and other weird stuff to put the lad in his place. But more about that in a later column.

I still own Roycroft's book, which Mika left behind, unable to bear the traumatic parting scenes that would have inevitably follow. It is well-thumbed, with dog's ears and little slips of paper in it, and pencilled notes on the side of hundreds of positions. These include solving times for Nigel and other GMs who visited me, as well as for early chess computers. Big heavy "X"s mark my favourite studies. My taste has not changed substantially over the years.

15-year-old Nigel Short and Mika Korhonen solving puzzles

In 1983 I started editing a German computer chess magazine (which is still going strong today). In the second issue I wrote an article on chess studies, drawing heavily of course from the Roycroft book. Here are two studies with some of my descriptions from the time.

M. Klyatskin, Schachmat, 1924

White to play and win

Let us start solving this position. 1.Rxa8 is naturally the first move we check, but 1...Nxa8 2.Kxa7 Kxc6 3.Kxa8 Kb5 is an obvious draw. So we check 2.Kb7 Nc7 3.a6 Nxa6, which also only draws.

So let's try 1.axb6 Rxb8 2.bxa7, but again 2...Re8 (for instance) 3.Kb7 Re7+ is a draw (4.Kb8 Rxa7).

What else? Let's try 1.c7. Looks promising, since Black can't take the rook, but after 1...Kxc7 2.Rxa8 Nxa8 we are once again left with a draw.

So how on earth is White to win? Well, even in these instant gratification times we will give you 24 hours to mull over it, before we give you the solution tomorrow (December 27).

Leonid Kubbel, Shakhmatny Listok, 16.9.1922

White to play and win

Okay, Black is going to queen the a-pawn, there seems to be no way to stop that. But let us check: after 1.Bf6 a2 2.c3 Black doesn't save us by taking the pawn but simply queens with check: 2...a1Q+. We can contemplate 2.c4+, but that doesn't solve anything: 2...Kxc4 3.d3+ Kxd3 and Black queens to win. The immediate 1.c4+ doesn't work either. Black simply captures the pawn with his king and we cannot stop the a-pawn from promoting.

So what else is there? How about something crazy like 1.Nc6, which threatens a fork on b4. Black plays 1...Kxc6 (fine, this kind of sacrifice is normal in studies) and we play 2.Bf6. But after 2...Kd5 we are again stuck: 3.c4+ Kxc4 4.d3+ Kxd3 does not prevention the safe promotion of the b-pawn, and 3.c3 a2 loses even quicker.

How about 1.Kb5 a2 2.c4+ Ke4 3.d3+ Kxd3? We still cannot stop the pawn and Black is going to win. Remember, White is not even playing for a draw, he is expected to win.

This is where we leave you for the day. If you want to spoil everything for yourself you will enter these studies into the computer, fire up Fritz and wait patiently for a couple of milliseconds to learn the solution. If on the other hand you want to really enjoy these studies you will get out your chessboard and pieces (they are somewhere in the closet in the dining room, I think), and you will go through the possibilities we have discussed above. Finding the solutions all by yourself on this fine boxing day will give you immense pleasure. A nice glass of Beaujolais goes well with the two studies.

Frederic Friedel

Solutions