Mark Liburkin

Mark Liburkin, study composer

Mark Savelievich Liburkin (Russia,* Wednesday, 31.08.1910 - † Thursday, 05.03.1953)

Well known chess composer of endgame studies

Chessbase article The Life and Times of Mark Liburkin by Siegfried Hornecker

02/23/2019 – Composer Mark Liburkin is the focus of "Study of the Month"

"Little is known of this study composer born in 1910, but his "chameleon echo" is sure to delight and we fill in the biographical gaps as best we can. And, as usual, don't miss the instructive endgame studies!

Born on August 31, 1910, in Russia, in his rather short life — he died from an illness on March 5th 1953 (according to the Schwalbe, the same day as Prokofiev) — he composed more than 110 endgame studies (some sources put the number at over 150), usually with geometrical motifs. The title of this column is hinting at Mark Liburkin’s profession as a finance expert. Sadly the Kofman book about the selected studies of Kaminer and Liburkin does not contain information about the personal life of Liburkin. Brian Stephenson seems to have had other sources translated by the late Paul Valois, detailing Liburkin as an accountant who in his final years worked for businesses based in Moscow.

Sadly, this is all of the personal information I can find about Liburkin. His honorary citizenship (where?) and medal for Socialist work have already been mentioned in the June 2017 column.

As Rafael Kofman writes, Liburkin's interest in endgame studies arose in 1925 after reading an article by Leonid Kubbel. Liburkin usually would not publish his studies immediately but hold them back for months or years to find their final form. Thus the studies published first in Kofman’s book not always adhere to the standards Liburkin set for himself. The reputation of Liburkin led to his appointment as editor of the “Shakhmaty v SSSR” (“Chess in the USSR”) magazine for endgame studies in 1945, ended only by his death."

A financial expert by profession, he was the chief accountant in an important Moscow company. He became interested in studies in 1925 after reading an article by Leonid Kubbel on stable studies. He composed around 120 chess studies and won 18 first prizes in international competitions.

Many of his chess studies are of remarkable elegance, extremely refined form and great originality of ideas. He won the second and third Soviet championships for composition (once ex aequo with Vladimir Korolkov). He was a good table player; Yurij Averbach said he often saw him take part in tournaments at the Central Chess Club in Moscow. After the Second World War he became the editor of the studies section of the magazine Šakhmaty v SSSR.

Over 40 of his endgame studies are listed in Alexander Kazantsev's collection of 650 studies, The Soviet Chess Study (Moscow, 1955)

Mark Liburkin 1930, 1/2-1/2

Solution of the study 1. Rb4+ Kc8 2. Rxf2 Rf8+ 3. Ke6 Rxf2 [3... Bh3+ 4. Ke7 Rf2 5. Rxc4 Nxc4 6. d7+ Bxd7 stalemate =] 4. d7+ Kc7! 5. Rxc4 + Nxc4 6. d8Q+ Kxd8 stalemate = Two main variations, both of which lead harmoniously to an ideal stalemate. Typical of the old masters are the short moves. Even today, clear, short-movement studies that have no difficult secondary variations are the best advertisement for chess composition. Mark Liburkin was only 20 years old at the time.