World Championship Challenger, Soviet Grandmaster and writer. Bronstein was a great player with a likeable personality who came close to winning the World Championship in 1951. Botvinnik was out of form and found it difficult to cope with his brilliant young opponent. The World Champion overcame a one point deficit, winning the penultimate game and drawing the final game to keep the title.

 Bronstein was an original thinker who demonstrated a high degree of creativity in the middlegame. But his independence of thought and family background would lead him into trouble with the Soviet authorities. His lasting legacy is his long list of brilliant games and his superb Zurich International Chess Tournament 1953 which has become a classic in chess literature.

White has a protected passed pawn and better placed minor pieces. Also the White King has invasion squares on the queenside. The Black pieces, especially the Bishop, lack mobility and he has serious pawn weaknesses. We follow the moves as played in the game:

(a) Basic Endings. These are theoretical positions in which we know the correct result with optimum play by both sides. They may consist of three pawns or less and also include all the non-pawn and five piece endings which have now been extensively analysed by computer and of which we have tablebases. In the days when we had adjournments some of these endings could be looked up in text books to give us some idea how to play the position. As we no longer can do this, knowledge and memory of these endings has become important in practical play. Fundamental Chess Endings (2001) by Muller and Lamprecht and Basic Endings (1992) by Balashov and Prandstetter and the earlier A Pocket Guide to Chess Endgames (1970) by David Hooper are good introductions to these endings.

(b) Practical Endings. These occur in over-the-board play where usually more pawns are present. The above ending is an example of this type. Some of these endings are in the process of being transformed to basic endings but often they finish before this stage is reached. Endgame strategy is very different from the middlegame and has its own set of rules and exceptions. Fine's book Basic Chess Endings (1941,2003) recently revised by Pal Benko and Batsford Chess Endings (1993) by Speelman, Tisdall and Wade are about basic and practical endings and both can be recommended.

(c) Endgame Studies. These are positions which have been composed and will contain elements of one or both of the above types of endings. But there are important differences between these types and the study, such as artistic form and economy of construction. An endgame study has to follow strict rules of composition, especially if it is entered into a composing competition. One of these rules states there should only be one solution. If there is an unintended second solution then the study is unsound and said to be "cooked".