Edward Winter
The posthumous anthology of Petrosian’s writings Шахматные лекции (Moscow, 1989) – translated as Petrosian’s Legacy (Los Angeles, 1990) – demonstrated his appreciation of endgame studies with a discussion of three compositions by V. Korolkov and three by H. Rinck. The Korolkov selection included the following:
White to move and win
1 Qg1 b1(Q) 2 Qxb1 g1(Q) 3 Qxg1
3...Rg3 4 Qg2 Rg4 5 Qg3 Rg5
6 Qg4 Rxg4 7 Ke7 Re4+ 8 Kxd7 Rd4 9 f8(Q)
9...Rxd6+ 10 Ke7 Rd7+ 11 Ke6
11...Re7+ 12 Kd6 Rd7+ 13 Ke5 Re7+ 14 Be6+.
This study won second prize in a competition held by Shakhmaty v SSSR in 1938 and was published on page 90 of the February 1938 issue.
Pages 101-103 of the March 1939 edition had a profile of Vladimir Alexandrovich Korolkov:
Chernev’s Chessboard Magic! (New York, 1943) gave nine studies by Korolkov (‘Korolikov’). The composer’s entry in the unpublished 1994 edition of Chess Personalia by Jeremy Gaige:
At present, Korolkov has no English-language Wikipedia entry.
White to move and win
1 Qg1 b1(Q) 2 Qxb1 g1(Q) 3 Qxg1 Rg3 4 Qg2 Rg4 5 Qg3 Rg5 6 Qg4 Rxg4 7 Ke7 Re4+ 8 Kxd7 Rd4 9 f8(Q) Rxd6+ 10 Ke7 Rd7+ 11 Ke6 Re7+ 12 Kd6 Rd7+ 13 Ke5 Re7+ 14 Be6+.
The profundity of the composition is shown by pages 116-118 of Korolkov’s book Избранные этюды (Moscow, 1958):
A 1938 study by Troitzky and Korolkov was discussed by Michael McDowell (Westcliff-on-sea, England) in C.N. 6183.
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Copyright: Edward Winter. All rights reserved.