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888 Miniature Studies, by Genrikh Moiseyevich Kasparian, Beosing, 2010,
Hardback, Figurine Algebraic Notation, Limited edition of 500 copies, 384pp.
$49.95 (ChessCafe Price: $47.95)

Kasparian is undoubtedly one of the greatest problemists/study composers of

Book all time. He was the first to receive the prestigious grandmaster title for chess
composition from FIDE. This is a title many composers earn only
Reviews posthumously – that is how difficult the title is to achieve. Kasparian, like
most good composers, was not only a composer, but also excelled in over-the-
board play, earning the title of international master. I sometimes wonder if the
legacy of Kasparian is one of the reasons Armenia is such a chess powerhouse
today, despite being so small a country. A steady diet of studies?
Chess Informant #111
Translate this page by Branko Tadic
Miniature problems or studies are those with seven or fewer pieces.
Composers and solvers tend to like miniatures in the same way a player
enjoys a miniature game of chess. One of the most dearly-held tenets in chess
composition is to show an idea with the greatest economy possible. Often the
same sort of spectacular play found in a miniature chess game is seen in the
miniature study. When a miniature does use endgame theory, it is usually in a
pointed manner that doesn't make you pour over endless variations.

This book is presented as new, but it is an update of a previous work, 555

etiudov miniatur, Erevan 1975. That was a problem with most of the previous
work of Kasparian in that not enough of it made it into English. Most good
players are familiar with and have read through his major work available in
many languages, Domination in 2,545 Endgame Studies, available since the Ljubomir Ljubojevic
1970s from various publishers. Many strong players credit the book with by Milan Bjelajac
Rating Chart helping them develop as players, and not just in the endgame, but because the
book teaches the relative strengths and weaknesses of each piece as well. John
Awful –
Roycroft published an edition of Kasparian's complete studies in 1997, still
Poor – available today. There the alternate spelling of Kasparian's name is used with
the "y."
Uneven –
The following are the contents of the book:
Good –

Great – ● Introduction
● From the author
Excellent – ● From the beginnings
● Miniatures by the founders of the modern study
● Miniatures of various authors Chess School 1-2-3
● Studies of S. Kasparian (Genrihk's son) by Slobodan Mirkovic
● Alphabetical Index
● Thematical Index
● The List of the Books Published by Genrich Kasparian

You can note the unnecessary "The" in the last section and the alternate
spelling of Kasparian's first name (clearly given as "Genrihk" on the cover)
and expect language problems. You would be correct. The book is poorly
translated, and some translations look like they were dumped directly into an
on-line translator. Consider the following passage from the "From the author"
section:

"A player that cannot use a win or draw of study is considered to be a

weak chess player. Besides the fact that he looses a point or half a point,
loosing the possibility has negative influence upon his psyche and self-
 confidence. That's why the chess players must have study's knowledge
in order to widen their perspective."

You certainly get the point, but also wonder why such fractured English is
tolerated in a book in this day and age. Most of the language sticking points
could have been cleared up with a day's work by any competent proofreader.
"Was" is often used where "were" is meant (for example, "the roles was
reversed," and more importantly, the names of thematic devices are
misspelled, such as "Grimshou" for "Grimshaw." But again, such errors
simply should not occur.

Lest you think this ruins the book, it does not. When Kasparian is explaining a
study, providing both analysis and language explanations, you don't really
notice the poor English as much.

The first short chapter looks at the study before 1900, including thirty-nine
compositions from the earliest works, such as Polerio (1590), an idea with
which surely every strong player is familiar:

[FEN "8/8/1p6/p7/P7/8/4K1kp/5R2 w - - 0 1"]

Moving the rook anywhere seems to draw, anywhere but 1.Rh1! of course,
when after 1...Kxh1 (else he loses the h-pawn and White keeps the rook) and
now 2.Kf2! and even though both pawns will queen, Black will be mated by
the switchback move of the queen to b7 after it promotes.

You may not know this one:

L. van Vliet, Deutsche Schachzeitung 1888

[FEN "K7/1P6/k1q5/8/8/1Q6/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

Your engine will probably tell you that 1.Qa3+ will win as well, but in that
case I invite you to visit the Endgame Database site sponsored by Shredder
using the Nalimov tablebases, and you will see that only 1.Qb4! wins, with
the prettiest variation being 1...Qd5 2.Qa4+ and now White completes what
is called a "rundlauf" by problemists, a round trip, and in fact the smallest
round-trip (three squares) possible by a queen 3...Kb6 3.Qb3+!, sacrificing
the queen and winning by force.

The book does not contain additional analysis, such as why 1.Qa3+ does not
win, nor does it mention such things as the tablebases. For some reason as
well, there is a 1967 study by Pal Benko also in this chapter, one many of you
will know, with a lone bishop and king fighting against a rook, pawn, and
king. Why it is there, except for poor editing, I could not begin to guess. It
certainly is an important miniature, but it belongs in the third chapter.

Chapter Two covers miniatures by individuals Kasparian considers to have

founded what is considered the modern study: Trotski, Rinck, the Platov
brothers, Kubbel, and others. One of my favorite studies by Kubbel, which
has been used in various forms by other authors, is included:

L Kubbel, Sahmatnyi Listok, 1928

[FEN "8/k2p4/8/2PKB3/8/8/4n3/8 w - - 0 1"]

The solution: 1.Kd6! Nc1! 2.Bd4! Ka8! 3.Kxd7 Nb3 4.c6 Na5 5.c7 Nc6 6.
c8R+! and wins. 6.c8Q+ of course would be a huge blunder because of 6...
Nb8! and Black draws.

The best section here was the one on Rinck, where he explains in great detail
Rinck's style and the material he often used in his approximately 2,000(!)
studies. It's especially useful if you ever plan to compose one yourself or even
make a systematic study of endings, to explore how Rinck organized his
thousands of ideas.

Chapter Three also has useful hints for composers based on the author's own
methodology and his view of what makes an acceptable study. The English is
again weak, but the content strong. The studies extend up to 1985 in this
section, and although you would expect that Soviet and Russian composers to
take precedence, my feeling is that too few studies by Western composers,
such as Pal Benko, are included. Although in the ones that are included, the
names are often so mangled the authors will barely recognize themselves –
"P" is often used as a first initial when it should be "R," so the American
composer Richard Becker becomes "P. Bekker," and so on. For a problem
composer, this "crime" is actually a bigger deal than the poor use of language
– if you spend weeks or sometimes even years composing a problem, and it is
good enough to be picked up in an anthology of this sort, you want that name
given correctly. It's rather like playing a brilliant game and then finding
someone else's name attached to it in publication and databases.

The lack of computer-checking and too-brief solution explanation is also a bit

of a deficit. You can, of course, do your own computer-checking, which is a
nice mental exercise for you as well if you don't trust the engine. As noted
above, engines look for numerical evaluations – they assume 1.Qa3+ wins
just as well in the first study because they only analyze for so long. If you are
going to use an engine to help you solve studies, always be critical and
assume that the composer saw something the engine didn't – this often is
something like a stalemate or underpromotion.

Here is an example of an analytical mistake in the book:

F. Sackmann, 1915
 [FEN "6b1/k4p2/2K5/5Rp1/8/8/8/8 w - - 0 1"]

Here 1.Rf1! is given as the solution, with question marks given to rook moves
to f3 or f2, which seems quite correct. The solution continues 1...f6 2.Ra1+
Kb8 3.Rb1+ Kc8 4.Rh1!+- and "A stylish study" as closing comment. My
first thought was 1.Rf6! (most players would probably look at this restraining
move first), which after first consultation with my engine, and then looking in
the tablebase, I concluded also won. If 1...g4, then 2.Rf4! sets up the same
sort of "bishop capture" motif – the black bishop isn't getting out of the box
without getting captured. 2...f5 3.Rb4! – my idea with thanks to Fritz (the
tablebases also give 3.Rxf5 the thumbs-up), and now if 3...Be6 4.Kc7! and
Black is dominated – it is odd that Kasparian didn't see this given his great
knowledge of the tool of domination. Even odder, I found this same "cook" in
my old edition of Harold van der Heijden's Endgame Study Database. It's
probably been known for quite some time.

The fourth chapter is a nice addition – Sergey Kasparian released his father's
unfinished work, and in return, his own studies are featured. Neboisa Illijin,
an over-the-board IM, is the "Production Manager" of the book and also
contributed this chapter. These are not, for the most part, miniature studies,
which doesn't detract. This chapter is an added bonus.

I love corner-to-corner themes, such as the "four corner queen," where the
queen travels through all four squares of the chessboard. S. Kasparian found a
problem type I have been seeking to compose for some years without finding
a successful setting, where a knight travels from a8 to h1. His has a bit of a
clumsy start, but still, he found the position!

S. Kasparian, 2006
Erevan (Dedicated to Lev Aronian)

[FEN "N5k1/6p1/1ppK2P1/4pP2/
1P5p/8/3P4/8 w - - 0 1"]

1.Nxb6 h3 2.Nd7 h2 3.f6 gxf6 4.Nxf6+ Kg7 5.Nh5+ Kxg6 6.Ng3 Kg5 7.
Kxe5! Kg4 8.Nh1 Kf3 9.Kd4 Kg2 10.Ke3!

And now if 10...Kxh1, after 11.Kf2! you probably get a bit of feeling of deja
vu – we are back to something similar to the Polerio study.

This book is flawed; nevertheless, you still should buy it. The book is given as
being ideal for coaches, who often use studies in their teaching, but anyone
who wants a piece of history (Kasparian's last book) or wants to engage in
endgame study that is not boring – miniatures are rarely boring or theoretical
in nature – should buy this book while they can. While the production values
in terms of language are poor, those that will prolong the book's life, making
it something you can turn to for thirty or forty years without worrying it will
fall apart, are excellent. In an age where some of the books I buy start to fall
part in days, this is welcome. As I noted, if you are studying the book on your
own, have your engine by your side, but view any analysis critically, whether
it is the great Kasparian or the great Houdini. Both make mistakes. And last
but certainly not least, this is a book that a chess fan of any strength will learn
from, and books of that nature are very rare.

My assessment of this product:

Order 888 Miniature Studies

by Genrikh Kasparian

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