Mikhail Afanasievich Zinar

Mikhail Afanasievich Zinar  (Ukraine, 09.05.1951 - 04.02.2021)

Mikhail Afanasyevich Zinar (Ukrainian Михайло Опанасович Зинар) (Russian Михаил Афанасьевич Зинар) (* 9 May 1951 in Hvosdavka Persha; † 4 February 2021) was a Ukrainian chess composer. Alongside Grigoriev, he is considered the most important composer of pawn endings.

Life
According to his own statements, Zinar was born on 22 November 1950, but his passport states 9 May 1951. He spent his childhood and school years in Hwosdawka Perscha.

At the age of 23, then still living in Feodosiya, Zinar took part for the first time - less than twelve months after the publication of Bondarenko's book Etjud w peschetschnom okonchanii- in a composition tournament organised by the magazine Schachmaty w SSSR. His study showed a pawn ending with the solution 1. Kd2-c2 Ke7-f7! 2. Kc2-b2! Kf7-g6 3. Kb2-a3!!! Kg6-f6 4. Ka3-b3 Kf6-f5 5. Kb3-b4 Kf5-f4 6. Kb4-b5 Kf4-e3 7. Kb5-c4 Ke3-f3 8. Kc4xd4 Kf3-f4 9. Kd4-c3! Kf4-e3 10. Kc3-c4 Ke3-e2 11. Kc4-b5 and White wins. He composed more than 250 studies. Although, with a few exceptions, he only composed pawn endings, he won several honours with them. He often composed studies with underpromotions and was a pioneer in this field. He also worked on the Réti manoeuvre.

Although only a master contender at the board, he wrote a chapter in Yuri Awerbach's book on pawn endings dedicated to the systems of the opposite squares. In his foreword to the Russian edition, Awerbach wrote: "Otherwise this chapter would look outdated." In 1986, Zinar was awarded the title of Master of Sports of the USSR.

Sinar stopped publishing chess compositions in 1990. In 1996, Sergei Tkachenko visited Sinar in his then home town of Hvosdavka Persha, as Tkachenko learnt in a conversation with Anatoly Georgiyevich Kuznetsov, and found out that Sinar, who worked as a teacher, lived with his family on the breadline and therefore did not have the means to do so. Due to political friction in Odessa, which led to the withdrawal of a financier, Tkachenko had to cancel a project that had been started after the visit, through which Zinar, among others, was to have received financial support. Sinar published a study for the last time in 2000. Due to Kuznetsov's sudden death in 2000, efforts to bring Kuznetsov and Sinar together came to nothing. A short time later, there were rumours that Sinar had also died.

In 2007, Tkachenko began researching Sinar for an article. He called Persha in Hvosdavka and was told that Sinar was alive, healthy and working at the school. Later, Sinar actively returned to chess composition. He was also a judge in a study tournament for pawn endgames. Mikhail Zinar died on 4 February 2021 at the age of 70.

Works
M. A. Zinar; V. M. Artschakow: Garmonija peschetschnogo etjuda, Kiev, Radjanska schkola, 1990, ISBN 5-330-00853-0

Source: de.wikipedia.org