The Telegraph

Malcolm Pein on…a Korolkov Study

Malcolm Pein

November 25, 2020

Malcolm Pein focuses on an excellent and entertaining Korolkov and Mirtofanov study in today’s Daily Telegraph column.

A chess study is a composed position with a stated task. Sometimes it will be a forced win and other times it will be a draw.

Just as we have tournaments and champions in the world of chess playing, so too do we have competitions for chess studies. There is not as much a crossover as one would think and some of the most famous composers of chess studies made little impact in over-the-board chess.

Famous chess players who have also produced excellent studies are a rare breed, but they do include former World Champion Vasily Smyslov and former title challenger Jan Timman.

Studies are deep and can be difficult. However, they can also have a beneficial effect on one’s powers of analysis.

If you are new to studies you may find this one difficult, but Malcolm’s annotations will help you appreciate some of the finer details. Try and solve the final piece of the study, given in the fourth diagram.

I hope you enjoyed today’s Korolkov and Mitrofanov study.

Tune in tomorrow for Malcolm Pein’s next chess column.

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Malcolm Pein

Malcolm Pein is a British International Master, chess organizer, author and journalist. He was a child prodigy and a former British Junior Champion. He qualified for the International Master title in 1985. Malcolm is a distinguished writer, journalist and editor. He has been a chess correspondent of the Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph for over 30 years, has written numerous chess books and is the Executive Editor of CHESS Magazine. In 1992, he founded the London Chess Centre, a games store in central London and the UK's only chess shop. He is also the founder and CEO of Chess in Schools and Communities, a UK charity whose aim is to introduce chess to state schools and has taught the game to over 250,000 children since its inception in 2009. Malcolm is also well-known for his chess event management. He was responsible for the pre-planning of the World Chess Championship match between Garry Kasparov and Vladimir Kramnik in London 2000. In 2002 he was appointed as Technical Director of the 'Brains in Bahrain' match between Vladimir Kramnik and the computer program Fritz. In 2009, Malcolm devised and organized the 1st London Chess Classic - the UK's first world-class elite all-play-all tournament since the 1980s which ran annually until 2019. Malcolm is also very active with the English Chess Federation. In 2016, he was appointed as the Manager and Captain of the England national team. He was also appointed as English Chess Federation delegate to the European Chess Union and FIDE and is the Director of International Chess. In 2018, he also stood for the post of Deputy President of FIDE. In 2021, Malcolm joined the ranks of Chessable authors by bringing the highlights of his column in the Daily Telegraph in the form of an interactive Chessable course, titled Telegraph Tuesday. Profile photograph © Lennart Ootes