Study (chess)

In a study , the most natural requirement of a game of chess to win or save the game ( draw ) is made for a starting position, usually given in a diagram , regardless of how many moves are required. Therefore the study is the most closely related form of chess composition to the game . As in chess problems, the positions in the diagram are standardized: White has to meet the requirement and begins, unless it is expressly stated under the diagram that it is Black's move, or it can be proven that White did not have a last move in retrospect. The way to realize the demand is called solution of the study. Studies are often associated with endgames , but are not limited to them.

Basics of the study composition

The position and solution of a study are usually the result of an idea pursued by the author; more rarely, games provide the inspiration for the presented idea. Often the content and starting position are changed in the development process of the study in order to better meet artistic criteria or to take technical aspects into account in the solution. This activity is called composing in analogy to the approach in music or other art styles .

As is common nowadays in chess composition, the solution is required to be unique. That was by no means always the case in the past. Richard Réti , for example, preferred positions close to the game in his studies, even if their solution in one place allowed for two equal moves that did not separate the basic idea of ​​the solution.

Any deviation from the author's solution devalues ​​a composition. It is then incorrect. Deviations in the first move are secondary solutions , an ambiguity in the subsequent moves of the solution is called dual . Occasionally, small compromises are made by declaring small duals ( minor duals ) or repetitions of moves that do not advance the solution in profit studies as permissible in secondary variants that are not part of the topic . Another form of incorrectness is the refutation of the author's solution by a continuation of Schwarz that the author ignored.

The term study was coined in 1851 by Bernhard Horwitz and Josef Kling in their book Chess Studies (in German: Schachstudien). In the latest edition of the study collection of Harold van der Heijden ( hhdbiii ) 67,691 studies are counted. Strictly speaking, however, this number is too high, because the collection contains (partly incorrect) modifications to numerous items, plagiarism, multiples are counted individually in each phase, game positions have been added to the collection and finally there are numerous theoretical endgame positions that meet strict standards a modern study is not enough. This number cannot therefore be regarded as the number of studies in the collection. In several articles, Harold van der Heijden has made the assumption that his collection contains 80 to 85 percent of all studies ever published. However, the prerequisites for these estimates cannot be proven (unknown and lost sources from the past and distant regions) so that it does not make sense to propagate such figures.

There are numerous similarities between studies and chess problems on the one hand and studies and games on the other. The demand for a checkmate in a precisely defined number of moves in orthodox tasks often leads to constellations of figures on the board in the composition process that can no longer be viewed as part of the game. The principle of the strictest economy of the means used can then no longer be maintained. In ideal studies, every stone is actively involved in the solution, in the final position of the solution there are neither white nor black uninvolved stones (so-called night watchmen ). One can say that in studies a certain topic is presented in an economically, artistically valuable form. This hardly works in games, since practical aspects such as the calculation of variants often under time pressure and the associated impossibility of an exact assessment of the position usually do not allow the search for an aesthetic winning or drawing path.

For inclusion in the FIDE albums, one study scores 1.67 points while other types of composition score one point. Thus, fewer studies than other compositions are required to obtain a master's degree in composition.

history

Mansuben

Studies with the rules of the time existed more than a millennium ago. Together with chess problems of the time, these are called mansubs . Such positions were first known from the Arab world. Many Mansuben end with matte , but there are also other compositions with victories of robbery. Mansubes, whose position consists only of kings , knights and rooks , are still relevant studies for endgame theory today, as the moves for these pieces have not changed significantly. Well-known authors of the time included al-Adli and ar-Razi , who were also considered the strongest players.

al-Adli
Abd-al-Hamid I
(book from the 9th century)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. tF6-g6 + Kg7-f8
2. T6-h8 + Kf8-e7
3. T8-h7 + Ke7-f8
4 T7-f7 + Kf8-e8
5. tg6 g8 matt

Studies until 1851

Despite the early roots of chess studies, it was only much later that further developments and the establishment of chess studies as an independent art form took place. The predecessors of today's studies were primarily systematic studies of endgame theory, such as that by François-André Danican Philidor in his Analysis of the Chess Game , published in 1749 . It was not until the middle of the 19th century, when schools of chess composition also developed, that the study established itself as an art form, whereby the work by Kling and Horwitz, published in 1851, is considered to be groundbreaking.

After the new rules of chess were introduced, the most important chess books appeared today , in which the authors provided game-like positions with the demand for a win or a draw or analyzed simple endgames. Known plants are about Lucena repetición de amore e arte de axedrez (1497), which is also one of the oldest printed chess books and strong resemblance to the Göttinger handwriting (1500-1505) which Ercole del Rio Sopra il Giuoco degli Scacchi (1750) , Giambattista Lollis Osservazioni Teorico-Pratiche sopra il Giuoco degli Scacchi (1763) and Philipp Stamma's books. Stamma already developed his own style by often making mating threats against the white king, which had to be fended off with sacrifices. Original studies first appeared in a magazine in 1817. These were five compositions by William Lewis in Oriental Chess magazine .

Philipp Stamma
Essai sur le jeu des échecs (1737)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. Rc4 – h4! Qh3xh4
2. Qb3 – g8 + !! Kh8xg8
3. Nc6 – e7 + Kg8 – h8
4. Ne5 – f7 + Rf8xf7
5. Rc1 – c8 + Rf7 – f8
6. Rc8xf8 mate .

Stamma's piece still shows no logical purity that would exist if Rc4 were, for example, on f4 and thus 1. Rf4 – h4 !! the sole purpose of which would be to distract the black queen from c8. In the Stammas version, the diagonal a2 – g8 is also exposed.

Studies after 1851

With the publication of the book Chess Studies, or endings of games by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horwitz , the term “study” was established for this form of chess composition. At first, winning pieces, fighting for the promotion of pawns and stifling mate were popular motifs for studies. In addition to other pieces close to the game with a lot of material input, there were also other theoretical endgames. The first pure study tournament took place in 1862 as part of the London Chess Congress, a game of chess tournament. There were also tournaments for other types of composition. However, it was still some time before magazines organized regular study tournaments.

Johann Jacob Löwenthal
Cambridge Tourney, 1860
Prize

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. Rd6 – a6 + Rb7 – a7 2. Qh2 – g2 + Qb8 – b7 3. Ra6 – c6! Ra7 – a5! 4. Kh1 – h2 !! Ka8 – b8 5. Qg2 – g3 + Kb8 – a8 6. Qg3 – f3! Ka8 – a7! 7. Qf3 – e3 + Ka7 – a8 8. Qe3 – e4! Ka8 – b8 9. Qe4 – f4 + Kb8 – a8 10. Rc6 – c7! Qb7 – b2 + 11. Kh2 – h3 Qb2 – b3 + 12. Kh3 – h4 and win. The original solution started with 12.… Ra5 – b5 13. Rc7 – c8 + Rb5 – b8 14. Rc8 – c4 Rb8 – b5 15. Qf4 – e4 + Ka8 – b8 16. De4 – e8 + Kb8 – a7 17. De8 – d7 + Ka7– a6 18. Rc4 – c6 + Rb5 – b6 19. Rc6 – c8 Ka6 – a5 20. Rc8 – a8 + Rb6 – a6 21. Qd7 – c7 + , but later it turned out that from the 13th move on there were other ways to win.

At the end of the 19th century, the compositional direction of pure art study emerged, the founder of which is Alexei Troitsky . In this direction, the idea of ​​the piece is in the foreground, with the same artistic requirements as for orthodox tasks. In the 1930s, the Soviet school of chess composition emerged based on this, which dealt with problems as well as studies and its representatives in the field of study include Filipp Bondarenko , Genrich Gasparjan and Vladimir Korolkow . However, theorists such as Henri Rinck and André Chéron continued to investigate the finals. Chéron's extensive instructional and manual for the endgames is considered a standard work.

Modern studies

With the composers of the early 20th century such as Henri Rinck , Nikolai Grigoriev and Alexei Troizki , different compositional styles emerged, partly under the influence of the new German school of the chess problem. Troitski tolerated minor duals if their elimination would be uneconomical or unaesthetic. Below are some examples of topics that may appear in studies.

Bohemian themes

As is well known, the Bohemian School mainly cultivates the matte pictures in the three- move . Three sample mats are the norm for sophisticated tasks. This style can be adapted for the study, whereby not only ideal mate, but also stalemate , or even more complex end positions on other topics such as fortress are presented in an economic form.

Jindřich Fritz
Uppsala Nya Tidning, 1951
1st prize

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. Bb8 – a7! Qe8xh5!
2. Rb6 – h6 + Kc5 – b5
3. Nc2 – d4 + Kb5 – a5
4. Rh6xh5 Bb4 – d6 +
5. Kh2xh3 Ne2 – f4 +
6. Kh3 – g4! Nf4xh5
7. Bh1xd5 Nh5 – f6 +
8. Kg4 – f5 Nf6xd5
9. Kf5 – e6 Nd5 – e7!
10. Ke6xd6 Ne7 – c8 +
11. Kd6 – c7 Nc8xa7
12. Kc7xb7 Sa7 – b5
13. Nd4 – c6 with ideal mate .

New German topics

The new German topics are also borrowed from problem chess. They contain, among other steering systems , adjustments and Vorpläne that must be executed before the main program.

Yehuda Hoch
Mandil memorial tournament 1980
1st prize

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

The main plan 1. Rf7xf6 +? Kb6 – a7 2. Qg5 – g7 + Qc4 – c7 3. Rf6 – f7 fails at 3.… Rc3 – c1 + 4. Kg1xg2 Tc1 – c2 + 5. Kg2 – f3 Tc2 – c3 + 6. Kf3 – e4 Tc3 – c4 + 7. Ke4– d5 Rc4 – c5 + 8. Kd5 – e6 Rc5 – c6 + 9. Ke6 – f5 Rc6 – c5 + 10. Kf5 – g6 Rc5 – c6 + 11. Kg6 – h7 Ka7xa6 12. Rf7xc7 Rc6xc7 13. Qg7xc7 stalemate. The stalemate is avoided by the preliminary plan 1. a4 – a5 +.
Solution:
1. a4 – a5 + !! Kb6xa6 2. Rf7xf6 + Ka6 – a7 3. Qg5 – g7 + Qc4 – c7 4. Rf6 – f7 Rc3 – c1 + 5. Kg1xg2 Rc1 – c2 + 6. Kg2 – f3 Rc2 – c3 + 7. Kf3 – e4 Rc3 – c4 + 8th Ke4 – d5 Rc4 – c5 + 9. Kd5 – e6 Rc5 – c6 + 10. Ke6 – f5 Rc6 – c5 + 11. Kf5 – g6 Rc5 – c6 + 12. Kg6 – h7 Ka7 – a8!
Now a stalemate also seems to arise, but White can bring about the same situation as in the preliminary plan, only shifted by one row, after which he has a possibility of moving on move 16 that he would not have had without the preliminary plan.
13. Qg7 – g8 + Qc7 – c8 14. Rf7 – f8 Rc6 – c7 + 15. Kh7 – h8 Ka8 – a7! 16. Qg8 – g1 +! with profit

Geometric subjects

With the modern understanding of the study as an art form , composers created more aesthetically demanding themes in which certain positional features repeat themselves shifted, as in the above study by Hoch, or in which figures performed geometric maneuvers. These included the jumper wheel, where a jumper has to run across the entire board, and zigzag courses through figures (as in the example below).

Mark Saweljewitsch Liburkin
All-Union Team Championship of the Soviet Union 1949
1st prize

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. e6 – e7 b4 – b3 + 2. Ka2 – b1 + Ka4 – b4 3. Ta1 – a4 + Kb4 – c5 4. Ta8 – c8 + Sa6 – c7 !! 5. Rc8xc7 + Kc5 – b6 6. c4 – c5 + Kb6xc7 7. c5xd6 + Kc7xd6 8. e7 – e8S + !! Kd6 – d7
Now the knight begins to execute the zigzag course as a geometric maneuver.
9. Ne8 – f6 + Kd7 – e7 10. Nf6 – g8 + Ke7 – f7 11. Ng8 – h6 + Kf7 – g7 12. Nh6 – f5 + Kg7 – g6
After the black king, the black rook takes part in the maneuver.
13. Nf5 – g3 Rh2 – g2 14. Ng3 – f1 Rg2 – f2 15. Nf1 – e3 Rf2 – e2 16. Ne3 – d1 Re2 – d2 17. Nd1 – c3 with a win, since the threat of mate with 18.Rd4 or 18. Kc1 is blocked.

Database studies

The availability of the endgame databases of Eugene Nalimov and Ken Thompson , in which all possible positions (so far with up to 6 stones) are listed, also made it possible to carry out studies that base their analyzes on these databases or even largely consist of database positions. John Roycroft rejects pure database studies, but more and more studies become impossible as more databases become available. Database studies are, however, quite controversial, so many composers are of the opinion that studies generated from databases are okay if a certain creative height is reached.

John Nunn has presented study-like endgames in his books. In contrast to a real study, however, several ways to win are allowed in a theoretical endgame. The following example is a computer-generated endgame that could also be considered a fully-fledged study, since other variants would only lead to repetitions of moves and the endgame contains a study-like motif due to the two deduction chess rules.

John Nunn
Secrets of Pawnless Endings (1992)

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

White to move wins

Solution:

1. Nf4 – d5! Qc7 – h7 2. Nd5 – e7! Qh7 – b1 3rd Ke8 – f7 +! Kh8 – h7 4. Qa8 – d5! Qb1 – f1 + 5. Ne7 – f5 Qf1 – b1 6. Qd5 – d7 Qb1 – b6! 7. Nf5 – d6! Qb6 – f2 + 8. Kf7 – e8 +! Kh7 – h8 9. Qd7 – g4 + Kg6 – h7 10. Nd6 – f5 Qf2 – a7 11. Qg4 – h5 + Kh7 – g8 12. Nf5 – e7 + with a win. One of the numerous other variants would be 2.… Qh7 – h5 + 3. Ke8 – f8 Kh8 – h7 4. Qa6 – e4 + Kh7 – h6 5. De4 – e6 + Kh6 – g5 6. Qe6 – f5 + with a win, since 6.… Kg5– h6 7. Ne7 – g8 mate and 6.… Kg5 – h4 7. Ne7 – g6 + win quickly.

Organizations

Various organizations have been set up that deal exclusively with studies. The best known is ARVES . However, the study composition is also supported by more general organizations for chess composition (for example in Germany Die Schwalbe ).

See also

• Examples of studies with other articles on studies

literature

• Bernhard Horwitz, Josef Kling: Chess Studies, or Endings of Games . Skeet, London 1851 ( digitized in Google book search).

Individual references and sources

1. ↑ http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/codex.htm
2. ↑ http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/fa.htm
3. ↑ ^{a b c} The development of the chess study. In: Karl-Heinz Siehndel (Ed.): Problem chess . 407 Exercises and Studies . 3rd unchanged edition. Sportverlag Berlin (then GDR), November 1, 1986 (editorial deadline). ISBN 3-328-00205-7 , pp. 83-91.
4. ↑ hhdbiii ( Harold van der Heijden's study database , 2005)
5. ^ AJ Roycroft : The chess endgame study: A comprehensive introduction . 2nd edition, Dover 1981. The book is a revised edition of Test Tube Chess .

Web links

• Chess Endgame Study Database Project of a collection of chess studies with free access
• Studies on the PDB server
• 4500 studies