| Plato: <acirce> I know very little about the non-endgame compositions, hence the slant! I'll have to look into the work of some of those people you mention. <atripodi and other chess problem enthusiasts:> From my "top-five" list, a lot of people might think it's too much to include Liburkin in the same category as the other four. It's probably true that he didn't compose *as many* brilliant studies as the others listed (though he still composed a lot of them!), but the best compositions of Mark Liburkin are right up there with the best of the others. I will post my favorite of Liburkin's compositions here because unfortunately there is no ChessGames page for this great problemist. Mark Liburkin died tragically in his early 40s. He composed the following problem at the age of 23: <M. Liburkin, 1933.
White to move and win:>
click for larger viewWhite has a huge material advantage, of course, but Black makes use of his opponent's vulnerable King position to create some serious threats with his three remaining pieces. In order to win, White needs to play like a magician: 1. Ne4+ Kd3
2. Nc5+ Kc3
3. Nb3 Be5
4. f4 Bg7
5. e8N!
The first underpromotion, a knight, which is necessary to avoid mate. 5... Bh8
6. f5 Be5
7. Bh2! Bxh2
8. b7 Be5
9. b8B!
The second underpromotion, a bishop -- getting a queen would be a blunder because Black can force a draw after 9.b8Q?? Kxc4+, 10.Qxe5 c1Q+, 11.Nxc1 stalemate. 9. ... Bxb8
10. Nc7! Bxc7
11. e7 Be5
12. e8R!
The third underpromotion, a rook -- getting a queen would allow the same forced stalemate as before 12... Bf6
13. Re6
and Liburkin's original composition stops here. For completeness, the win is clear after: 13... Bd4
14. Re1! Bf6
15. Rb1! Kd3+
16. Rb2 Ke2
17. a4 Kd1
18. a3 c1Q+
19. Nxc1 Kxc1
20. c5 Bxb2+
21. Ka2 Be5
22. a5
and the pawns are unstoppable. | 
