Alois Wotawa was a Viennese public prosecutor (Staatsanwalt) by profession and a composer of endgame studies renowned for their stunning, paradoxical, and deeply hidden solutions. His oeuvre comprised around 300 studies, along with a number of directmates — works he reportedly referred to as “botched endgames.” In 1966, he was awarded the title of International Master of Chess Composition.

Alois Wotawa

The first two moves are obvious. You're a genius if you can spot the third!

Deutsche Schachzeitung

Pieces Fight Pawns

Ambush

Sacrificial Play

The Rook's Grand Reveal

Leonid Kubbel (1891/92–1942) was a Russian chemical engineer and one of the greatest composers of endgame studies. Born in Saint Petersburg, he composed more than 1,500 studies and problems, many of them celebrated for their beauty and originality. He was also a strong over-the-board player, twice finishing fifth in the Leningrad Championship (1929 and 1930). His brothers Arvid and Evgeny were chess players too; Evgeny was an accomplished composer, while Arvid was a strong master. Leonid and Evgeny died of starvation during the Siege of Leningrad in 1942.

Leonid Kubbel

Yes, White can push their h-pawn, but they must reckon with ...c3-c2+ — one misstep, and the whole house comes crashing down!

Shakhmaty

Stalemate 

Pawn Race

The Double-Bishop Shield

Franz Sackmann was a German engineer, chess player, and chess composer. After studying at the Technical University of Munich, he worked in several German cities, eventually becoming a chief engineer at an ironworks in Kaiserslautern. Active in chess from his student days, he served as president of the Academic Chess Club of Munich and edited the chess composition sections of two German chess periodicals. From 1906 onwards, he composed approximately 200 directmates and over 100 endgame studies, making a notable contribution to chess composition. The Sackmann combination, named after him, is a distinctive logical theme in more-movers. He died of influenza in Kaiserslautern at the age of 38.

Franz Sackmann

Here's a simple study with a rather unusual twist. You should be able to solve it!

Deutsche Schachblatter

Domination

A Knight Can't Fork A Knight, They Said!

Try to solve this one! We're pretty sure you'll be smiling when you crack it! 

Checkmate

A Mate No One Saw Coming!

Vitaly Semenovich Kovalenko was a Russian composer of miniature directmates and endgame studies. Yuri Bazlov writes of him: “Vitaly had no particular goal and never wanted to beat anyone; standard production was profoundly alien to him. He was a master of the material, and his imagination and inventiveness were inexhaustible. It is no wonder that more than 80 of his studies were awarded prizes, with almost 40 receiving the highest distinction in Russian and international competitions.”

Vitaly Kovalenko

What’s elementary isn’t always easy — and king-and-pawn endings are a perfect example!

Thèmes 64

Pawn Endgames

Holding Your Cards

Michal Hlinka is a Slovak composer who specialises in two-movers and endgame studies. He has been a FIDE Master for Chess Composition since 2004, an International Judge for Chess Compositions since 2009, and an International Master for Chess Composition since 2012.

Michal Hlinka

Mario Guido García was an Argentine chess composer, International Judge for Chess Compositions, and editor of EG, where he oversaw the analysis and technical checking of studies submitted to international tournaments. A prolific composer, he created over 500 endgame studies and 230 directmate problems. A former dean and professor of economics at the National University of Salta, he also contributed extensively to chess education and administration.

Mario García

Black has a queen, but White’s pieces occupy just the right squares to overpower it.

Problemist Ukraini

Pawnless Endgame

The Minor Pieces' Siege

Vladimir Korolkov (1907–1987) was a Soviet chess composer who won more than 150 first prizes, establishing himself as one of the great creators of chess studies. He was awarded the title of International Grandmaster of Chess Composition in 1976.

Vladimir Korolkov

Of course, you'd push the f-pawn. But Black isn't going to sit back and let you make a queen...

Lelo

A King's Escape act, With A Sting In Its Tail!

Sam Loyd, often hailed as America’s greatest puzzler, composed relatively few chess studies. Still, the ones he did compose are well worth exploring.

Samuel Loyd

This looks trivial. Can't we simply promote the pawn?

American Chess Journal

Stalemate Avoidance

Underpromotion

A Lesson From Saavedra

Alexander Stavrietsky (born 20 July 1959 in Makeyevka, Donetsk region, Ukraine) is a professional journalist and chess composer based in Tambov, Russia. A graduate of the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University (1985), he has been involved in chess composition since his school years. Having progressed from solving problems and studies to composing them, he now considers himself primarily a composer of chess studies, though he has also composed problems.

Alexander Stavrietsky

If you know and admire Marshall’s famous gold coin sacrifice against Levitsky, you’re going to love this!

Slumstrup Nielsen-45 JT

With A Nod To Frank Marshall!

Vasily Nikolaevich Platov was a Latvian-Russian chess composer. A physician by profession, Platov was also an influential editor of chess-study columns in several leading Soviet chess journals of his time, including Shakhmatnoye Obozreniye, Shakhmaty, and 64. Together with his brother Mikhail, he is regarded as one of the pioneers of modern chess studies, and the Platov brothers’ compositions had a lasting influence on the development of the genre.

Vassily Platov

Mikhail Nikolaevich Platov (1883 - 1938?) was a prominent Latvian-Soviet chess composer who, alongside his older brother Vasily Platov, became one of the foundational figures of modern endgame studies.

Mikhail Platov

A classic endgame that is said to have captivated Vladimir Lenin!

Rigaer Tageblatt

Knight's Daring Cavort

Alexander Herbstman was a Russian-Swedish composer of endgame studies, who created around 350 studies during his lifetime. He was awarded the title of International Master of Chess Composition in 1959. A professor of philology as well as a prolific author, Herbstman also left behind vivid recollections of the chess-composition world he knew. He met many of the great Soviet composers—including the Kubbel brothers, Troitzky, V. Platov and N. Grigoriev—and later recorded his memories of these encounters in his article "Memories of Famous Composers."


Alexander Herbstman

Passed pawns must be pushed—so the first move is obvious. But can you see all the way through to the logical conclusion?

Shakhmaty v SSSR

Across The Board To Salvation!

John Nunn is an over-the-board Grandmaster, three-time World Chess Solving Champion, brilliant mathematician, and prolific chess author—one of those rare, versatile geniuses who seem to fit several lifetimes of learning into one. Among the world’s top ten players in his prime, he became European Junior Champion in 1975, won two individual gold medals at the Chess Olympiad, and triumphed at Hoogovens three times. He earned a doctorate in Algebraic Topology at just 23 and lectured in mathematics at Oxford before turning to chess full-time. As a solver, he won the World Chess Solving Championship in 2004, 2007, and 2010, while his many acclaimed books have made him one of the most respected chess writers of his generation.


John Nunn

The h-pawn is the trump in the position. Whatever you do, keep the a1–h8 diagonal closed!

Source	Deutsche Schachzeitung
Year	1961

Source	Deutsche Schachzeitung
Year	1961