Nikolai Grigoriev
Encyclopedia
Nikalai Dmitrievich Grigoriev was a Russia
n chess
player and a composer of endgame studies
. He was born on 14 August 1895 in Moscow
, and he died there in 1938.
His father, was a professional musician in the Bolshoi Theatre
orchestra. At the relatively late age of eighteen, Grigoriev joined the Moscow chess club and played in the Moscow tournament of 1915. There, one of his opponents was the future world champion Alexander Alekhine
against whom he lost but later maintained friendly relations.
In 1917, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian army in the First World War and was sent to the front. He was wounded and returned severely ill.
In early October 1937, Grigoriev returned from a trip to the Far East and Siberia, where he gave lectures and played. The NKVD
militia on the train arrested him. Grigoriev was frail; he lost consciousness immediately after the use of force, and his throat began to constantly bleed. After an interrogation, the interrogators had to wash down the room. An unexpected illness then confined him to bed. Severe complications required immediate surgery. The patient was severely weakened and died of lung cancer.
four times: in 1921, 1922, 1923–24 and 1929. His playing career spanned from 1910 to 1929. He lost games to Alexander Alekhine
(1915 and 1919) and Mikhail Botvinnik
(1927); both would later become chess world champions.
In the First Soviet Chess Championship (Moscow 4–24 October 1920) Grigoriev took 5-7th place (8 wins, 6 losses, and only one draw), despite undertaking extensive and difficult organizational duties including finding scare food rations for the participants.
Before his departure from Russia in 1921, Alekhine played a match with Grigoriev of 7 games resulting in 2 wins and 5 draws in favour of Alekhine. Analyzing the match, Levenfish
said: "In some of the games only exceptional ingenuity saved Alekhine from destruction."
Grigoriev competed in various internal Soviet tournaments. His tournament victories included: the Third Chess Championship of the Trade Unions 1928 and he divided the 1-2nd places with Peter Romanovsky
in the international Workers' Congress in Leningrad.
Grigoriev became better known, however, as a chess organizer and educationalist, chess journalist and problemist.
Now Black can choose which of his three pawns he wishes to promote to a queen, but he loses no matter what.
If Black queens the b-pawn instead, the queen on b1 is captured after 9.Qd6+ Kxe4 10.Qg6+. If Black tries to get a queen on h1, it's gone after 9.Qd6+ Kxe4 10.Qc6+.
Threatens to queen on move 5 with check, after which the queen can stop Black's pawn if it advances to d2. Black's best defense is to try to chase the White pawn with his king.
The Black king cannot catch the h-pawn, so now Black must counterattack by advancing his d-pawn. Now if White plays 3.h5, Black will queen on d1 with check. So...
And the pattern repeats itself again:
Now, finally, White provides the coup de grace:
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n chess
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...
player and a composer of endgame studies
Endgame study
An endgame study, or just study, is a composed chess position—that is, one that has been made up rather than one from an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find a way for one side to win or draw, as stipulated, against any moves the other side...
. He was born on 14 August 1895 in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, and he died there in 1938.
His father, was a professional musician in the Bolshoi Theatre
Bolshoi Theatre
The Bolshoi Theatre is a historic theatre in Moscow, Russia, designed by architect Joseph Bové, which holds performances of ballet and opera. The Bolshoi Ballet and Bolshoi Opera are amongst the oldest and most renowned ballet and opera companies in the world...
orchestra. At the relatively late age of eighteen, Grigoriev joined the Moscow chess club and played in the Moscow tournament of 1915. There, one of his opponents was the future world champion Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
against whom he lost but later maintained friendly relations.
In 1917, he was drafted into the Imperial Russian army in the First World War and was sent to the front. He was wounded and returned severely ill.
In early October 1937, Grigoriev returned from a trip to the Far East and Siberia, where he gave lectures and played. 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....
militia on the train arrested him. Grigoriev was frail; he lost consciousness immediately after the use of force, and his throat began to constantly bleed. After an interrogation, the interrogators had to wash down the room. An unexpected illness then confined him to bed. Severe complications required immediate surgery. The patient was severely weakened and died of lung cancer.
Playing career
Grigoriev was Moscow ChampionMoscow City Chess Championship
-References: ****** from chessbase.com...
four times: in 1921, 1922, 1923–24 and 1929. His playing career spanned from 1910 to 1929. He lost games to Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alekhine
Alexander Alexandrovich Alekhine was the fourth World Chess Champion. He is often considered one of the greatest chess players ever.By the age of twenty-two, he was already among the strongest chess players in the world. During the 1920s, he won most of the tournaments in which he played...
(1915 and 1919) and Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Botvinnik
Mikhail Moiseyevich Botvinnik, Ph.D. was a Soviet and Russian International Grandmaster and three-time World Chess Champion. Working as an electrical engineer and computer scientist at the same time, he was one of the very few famous chess players who achieved distinction in another career while...
(1927); both would later become chess world champions.
In the First Soviet Chess Championship (Moscow 4–24 October 1920) Grigoriev took 5-7th place (8 wins, 6 losses, and only one draw), despite undertaking extensive and difficult organizational duties including finding scare food rations for the participants.
Before his departure from Russia in 1921, Alekhine played a match with Grigoriev of 7 games resulting in 2 wins and 5 draws in favour of Alekhine. Analyzing the match, Levenfish
Grigory Levenfish
Grigory Yakovlevich Levenfish was a leading Jewish Russian chess grandmaster of the 1920s and 1930s. He was twice Soviet champion - in 1934 and 1937. In 1937 he tied a match against future world champion Mikhail Botvinnik...
said: "In some of the games only exceptional ingenuity saved Alekhine from destruction."
Grigoriev competed in various internal Soviet tournaments. His tournament victories included: the Third Chess Championship of the Trade Unions 1928 and he divided the 1-2nd places with Peter Romanovsky
Peter Romanovsky
Peter Arsenievich Romanovsky was a Russian chess International Master, International Arbiter, and author.-Biography:At the beginning of his career in Sankt Petersburg, he shared fourth place in 1908 , tied for 10-11th in 1909 , took second place behind Smorodsky in 1913, and shared first with...
in the international Workers' Congress in Leningrad.
Grigoriev became better known, however, as a chess organizer and educationalist, chess journalist and problemist.
Composing career
Grigoriev composed more than 300 endgame studies. He is especially noted for his prolific output of pawn endgames with only kings and pawns on the board, where he had no equal. In 1935, the French magazine La Stratégie organized a tourney for endgame studies with two pawns against one, and Grigoriev ran away with ten of the twelve awards.Example study 1
In Diagram 1, White wins as follows:- 1.d4 Kg5
- 2.Kf7 Kf5
- 3.d5 Ke5
- 4.e4
Now Black can choose which of his three pawns he wishes to promote to a queen, but he loses no matter what.
- 4...a5
- 5.Ke7 a4
- 6.d6 a3
- 7.d7 a2
- 8.d8=Q a1=Q
- 9.Qh8+ wins the queen by a skewerSkewer (chess)In chess, a skewer is an attack upon two pieces in a line and is similar to a pin. In fact, a skewer is sometimes described as a "reverse pin"; the difference is that in a skewer, the more valuable piece is in front of the piece of lesser or equal value...
.
If Black queens the b-pawn instead, the queen on b1 is captured after 9.Qd6+ Kxe4 10.Qg6+. If Black tries to get a queen on h1, it's gone after 9.Qd6+ Kxe4 10.Qc6+.
Example study 2
In Diagram 2, White wins a pawn race through a beautiful repetitive maneuver:- 1.f4
Threatens to queen on move 5 with check, after which the queen can stop Black's pawn if it advances to d2. Black's best defense is to try to chase the White pawn with his king.
- 1...Kb4
- 2.h4 d5
The Black king cannot catch the h-pawn, so now Black must counterattack by advancing his d-pawn. Now if White plays 3.h5, Black will queen on d1 with check. So...
- 3.f5 Kc5
- 4.h5 d4
And the pattern repeats itself again:
- 5.f6 Kd6
- 6.h6 d3
- 7.f7 Ke7
- 8.h7 d2
Now, finally, White provides the coup de grace:
- 9. f8=Q+ Kxf8
- 10. h8=Q+ Ke7
- 11. Qd4 and White wins.
External links
- Another problem by Grigoriev on ChessCafe.comChessCafe.comChessCafe.com is a website that publishes endgame studies, book reviews and other articles related to chess on a weekly basis. It was founded in 1996 by Hanon Russell, and is well known as a repository of articles about chess and its history....
: http://www.chesscafe.com/text/es429.pdf - Studies by N.Grigoriev at SilverPawn.com
- 42 studies of Grigoriev