History
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The study has a long history. It has its origins in a game played between Richard Fenton and William Potter in 1875. From the position shown to the left, the game continued 1.Rxh3 Kxh3 2.Kc6 Rxa5 3.b7 Ra6+ and the players agreed a draw. However, as Johann Zukertort pointed out in the City of London Chess Magazine, 1875, White could have won with 4.Kc5 (not 4.Kb5 Ra1 when White cannot promote the pawn because of 5...Rb1+) 4...Ra5+ 5. Kc4 Ra4+ 6. Kc3 (or 6. Kb3 Ra1 7. Kb2) 6...Ra3+ 7. Kb2, and White will promote the pawn when the queen versus rook endgame is a theoretical win (this winning method had earlier been demonstrated in a study by Josef Kling and Bernhard Horwitz published in The Chess Player, September 1853).
G.E. Barbier, 1895| a | b | c | d | e | f | g | h | ||
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Upon Potter's death in March 1895, G.E. Barbier published a position in his Glasgow Weekly Citizen chess column of April 27, 1895, which he claimed to have occurred in Fenton-Potter. In fact, he had misremembered the game, and the position he published (shown to the right) had never arisen. It was published as a study with Black to play and White to win; the technique is just that demonstrated by Zukertort and by Kling and Horwitz before him: 1...Rd6+ 2. Kb5 Rd5+ 3. Kb4 Rd4+ 4. Kb3 Rd3+ 5. Kc2.
When Barbier published this solution on May 4, he claimed that by moving the black king from h6 to a1 the position could be transformed into a Black to move and draw study. On May 11 he gave the solution 1...Rd6+ 2. Kb5 Rd5+ 3. Kb4 Rd4+ 4. Kb3 Rd3+ 5. Kc2 Rd4! 6. c8Q Rc4+ 7. Qxc4 stalemate. However, as Saavedra pointed out, 6. c8R instead wins, a solution published by Barbier on May 18. The modern form of the position was obtained by Emanuel Lasker (in The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, June 1, 1902, p. 53) by moving the c7 pawn back to c6 and changing the stipulation to the standard "White to play and win".
Read more about this topic: Saavedra Position
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