Leonid Ivanovich Kubbel (russian: Леонид Иванович Куббель; 1891 or 1892 – 1942) was a Russian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

of chess

endgame studies In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially uniqu ...

and

problems A problem is a difficulty which may be resolved by problem solving. Problem(s) or The Problem may also refer to: People * Problem (rapper), (born 1985) American rapper Books * ''Problems'' (Aristotle), an Aristotelian (or pseudo-Aristotelian) co ...

Life

He was born in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

at the end of 1891, or beginning of 1892 and died in the same city (then called Leningrad) on 18 April 1942. He was christened ''Karl Artur Leonid'', but amended his forenames to ''Leonid Ivanovich'' subsequent to the 1917 October Revolution. He composed more than 1500

and

, many of which were awarded first prize for their great beauty and original conception. He is generally considered one of the greatest of all endgame composers. He was a chemical engineer by profession. Leonid's brothers, Arvid and Evgeny, were also chess players. Arvid Kubbel was a strong over-the-board

master Master or masters may refer to: Ranks or titles * Ascended master, a term used in the Theosophical religious tradition to refer to spiritually enlightened beings who in past incarnations were ordinary humans *Grandmaster (chess), National Master ...

, having played in the first four

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

chess championships, while Evgeny was himself an endgame composer. Both Leonid and Evgeny Kubbel died of starvation in 1942 during the Nazi siege of Leningrad, while Arvid was executed by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

in 1938.Журнал о шахматах - здесь Вы найдете статьи, советы, рассказы о шахматах и шахматистах

A study by Leonid Kubbel

This is one of Leonid Kubbel's many masterpieces. The Black a-pawn apparently cannot be stopped from promotion, after which the game would be lost for White; however, a subtle plan avoids defeat and checkmates the black king. Video analysis of this study can be found . Solution: * 1. Nc6!! (threatens Nb4+, blocking the a-pawn) Kxc6 * 2. Bf6 Kd5 * 3. d3 a2 * 4. c4+ Kc5(4....dxc3 5.Bxc3 is a simple technical win) * 5. Kb7! a1=Q (if 5...Kd6 or 5... Kb4 then 6.Bxd4 stopping the pawn) * 6. Be7 checkmate.

Works on Leonid Kubbel

* ''25 ausgewählte Endspielstudien von Leonid Kubbel'' (German), Jan van Reek, 1996. * ''Leonid Kubbel’s Chess Endgame Studies'', TG Whitworth, 2004. * ''Леонид Куббель'' (Russian), J. Vladimirowitsch and Y.Fokin, 1984.

External links

''Biographical data on chess composers''

References

- Preface by Grigory Levenfish in: "''K.A.L. Kubbel Schachmatnich etjudov: 150 Endgame Studies''", Leningrad, 1925 (Russian). 1890s births 1942 deaths Baltic-German people Russian chess players Soviet chess players Chess composers Sportspeople from Saint Petersburg Deaths by starvation 20th-century chess players Victims of the Siege of Leningrad {{Russia-chess-bio-stub