Nikolai Grigoriev

Nikalai (Nikolay) Dmitrievich Grigoriev was a Russian chess player and a composer of endgame studies. He was born on 14 August 1895 in Moscow, and he died there in 1938.

Playing career

Grigoriev was Moscow Champion 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.

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

Grigoriev, 3rd prize, Shakhmat, 1928

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Diagram 1. White to move and win.

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 skewer.

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

Grigoriev, 1930

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

Diagram 2. White to move and win.

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.com: [4]
• Studies by N.Grigoriev at SilverPawn.com
• 42 studies of Grigoriev