Kubbel

Leonid Ivanovich Kubbel, born either at the end of 1891 or the beginning of 1892, was a Russian composer of chess problem and endgame studies. His compositions numbered more than 1500 and many were awarded first prizes in competitions. Kubbel died in 1942 from hunger. Recently, I came across one of his endgame studies in an old copy of 64 magazine. 

This 64 is, of course, the name of the now defunct fortnightly chess magazine from the Soviet Union. The copy I have at hand was the first issue of 1980. Anatoly Karpov was then the world chess champion and having him as the editor gave the magazine an immense prestige. Unfortunately, 64 was all in the Russian language and it was impossible to make head or tail of the chess stories. Luckily, it doesn't take much effort to enjoy the chess games or positions in the magazine. Chess speaks to its adherents in a common, universal language. So let me delve into this chess composition from Kubbel.

This study dated from 1925. Apart from the queens and knights, Black had two pawns on the board and can be considered to be having a great advantage if not for the fact that the next move belonged to White. But for White to win. his next few moves must all be forcing moves that win the game through checkmate or winning overwhelming material. 

The obvious move for White is to reveal the discovered check but where should his knight be placed? If you had chosen 1.Ne3+, then you are correct. Other squares for the knight - h2, f2, e5, f6 and h6 - do not work. After 1. Ne3+, Black is faced with a dilemma of moving his king. 1....Kh4 loses immediately to 2.Qg4 mate, while 1...Kh2 loses to 2.Qf2+ Kh3 3.Qg2+ Kh4 4. Qg4 mate.

Thus the only square remaining for Black is 1,,,Kg3. But then comes 2. Qg4+ Kf2 3. Qf4+ Ke2 4. Qf1+. The white knight is taboo because 4...Kxe3 loses to 5. Qe1+ and the black queen is lost to a skewer. So the only move for Black is 4....Kd2 after which comes 5.Qd1+ with the same recurring theme if the knight is captured. After 5....Kc3 comes 6. Qc2+. Black is forced to play 6....Kb4 because 6....Kd4 loses his queen to the knight fork 7.Nf5+.

After 7.Qb2+, Black has two choices. The first is 7....Ka5 which loses to 8.Nc4+ Ka6 9.Qb6 mate. The second is to block the check with 7....Nb3 but it still fails to a white queen sacrifice 8.Qa3+ Kxa3 and 9.Nc2 mate. Brilliant endgame study, isn't it?