Leonid Kubbel
Encyclopedia
Chess composer
A chess composer is a person who creates endgame studies or chess problems. He usually specializes in a particular genre, e.g. endgame studies, twomovers, threemovers, moremovers, helpmates, selfmates, fairy problems...
of chess endgame studies and problems
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
.
He was born in Leningrad
Leningrad
Leningrad is the former name of Saint Petersburg, Russia.Leningrad may also refer to:- Places :* Leningrad Oblast, a federal subject of Russia, around Saint Petersburg* Leningrad, Tajikistan, capital of Muminobod district in Khatlon Province...
(now Saint Petersburg) at the end of 1891, or beginning of 1892 and died in the same city on April 18, 1942. He was christened Karl Artur Leonid, but amended his forenames to Leonid Ivanovich subsequent to the 1917 October Revolution.
He composed more than 1500 endgame studies and problems
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, many of which were awarded first prize for their great beauty and original conception. He is generally considered one of the greatest of all endgame composers. He was a chemical engineer
Chemical engineer
In the field of engineering, a chemical engineer is the profession in which one works principally in the chemical industry to convert basic raw materials into a variety of products, and deals with the design and operation of plants and equipment to perform such work...
by profession.
Leonid's brothers, Arvid and Evgeny, were also chess players. Arvid Kubbel
Arvid Kubbel
Arvid Kubbel was a Russian chess player and composer.He was a brother of Evgeny and Leonid Kubbel. He tied for 5-7th at Moscow 1920 , took 6th at Petrograd 1923 , took 5th in Leningrad City Chess Championship 1924 , tied for 11-13th at...
was a strong over the board master
Chess
Chess is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square-checkered board with 64 squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid. It is one of the world's most popular games, played by millions of people worldwide at home, in clubs, online, by correspondence, and in tournaments.Each player...
, having played in the first four USSR chess championships, while Evgeny was himself an endgame composer.
Both Leonid and Evgeny Kubbel died of starvation in 1942 during the Nazi siege of Leningrad
Siege of Leningrad
The Siege of Leningrad, also known as the Leningrad Blockade was a prolonged military operation resulting from the failure of the German Army Group North to capture Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, in the Eastern Front theatre of World War II. It started on 8 September 1941, when the last...
, while Arvid was executed by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1938.
A study by Leonid Kubbel
This is one of Leonid Kubbel's many masterpieces. The Black a-pawn apparently cannot be stopped from promotion, after which the game would be lost for White; however, a subtle plan avoids defeat and checkmateCheckmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
s the black king. Video analysis of this study can be found here.
Solution:
- 1. Nc6!! (threatens Nb4+, blocking the a-pawn) Kxc6
- 2. Bf6 Kd5
- 3. d3 a2
- 4. c4+ Kc5(4....dxc3 5.Bxc3 is a simple technical win)
- 5. Kb7! a1=Q (if 5...Kd6 or 5... Kb4 then 6.Bxd4 stopping the pawn)
- 6. Be7 checkmate.
Works on Leonid Kubbel
- 25 ausgewählte Endspielstudien von Leonid Kubbel (German), Jan van Reek, 1996.
- Leonid Kubbel’s Chess Endgame Studies, TG Whitworth, 2004.
- Леонид Куббель (Russian), J. Vladimirowitsch and Y.Fokin, 1984.