Author: Matthew Sadler

July 22, 2016 Matthew Sadler 1 comment

In the last part of our examination of the theory of King, Rook and Pawn against King and Rook, we look at endings involving a rook’s pawn (a/h). We shall examine 3 basic scenarios for rook’s pawns The White king supports the pawn with the aim of shepherding it to a queen. The White rook stands…

July 15, 2016 Matthew Sadler 1 comment

In this article, we will examine endings in which White’s pawn has not yet moved past the 4th rank, but Black’s king is cut off from the pawn (and is thus unable to move over and blockade the pawn) on the long side (thus interfering with any attempts from Black to check from the side)….

July 10, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

Swale Chess Club on Thursday 7th July was the latest stop in our “Chess for Life” tour. While the German and French football teams battled for a place in the finals of the European Championship, more than 20 keen chess players gathered at the UKP Leisure Centre in Sittingbourne to discover the mysteries of Alekhine’s…

July 8, 2016 Matthew Sadler 10 comments

One of the eternal questions that practical players face is how to remember more than a couple of theoretical endings. Taking rook and pawn endings as an example, knowledge of the simplest positions such as Philidor’s defence in rook and pawn against rook…   Philidor’s position     1…Rb6 2.d6 Rb1 3.Ke6 Re1+   …or…

June 30, 2016 Matthew Sadler No comments exist

The book that got me into Alekhine – Bogolyubow was a book of the match by Yates and Winter that appeared in 1930. If truth be told, I have a few doubts about the scale of Yates’ contribution to the book. Winter wrote a short biography of Bogolyubow and also the theoretical review of the…