Mikhail Afanasievich Zinar  (* Ukraine, Wednesday, 09.05.1951 - † Thursday, 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 In his foreword to the Russian edition, Awerbach wrote: "Otherwise this chapter would look outdated."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

Memories:

 In 1995 Mikhail Afanasievich Zinar moved from Crimea to a little village Gvozdavka-2 in Odessa region (300km from Odessa). He taught labour discipline at school. In 1997 S.N.Tkachenko came to see him and M.Zinar told him he abandoned composition because of financial difficulties. Those were really hard times for Ukrainian people and especially for teachers. They were paid 10-20 dollars a month.
A little later M.Zinar prematurely died. Sergiy Didukh

"World has lost the greatest composer of pawn endgames that ever has lived on this planet (even greater than Kling & Horwitz)...". Sarah Hornecker

"Zinar indeed deserved better for his unique contribution to chess culture."  Yochanan Afek
 

"Do you know that the 10th chapter of Averbach's "Pawn Endgames"(The Theory of the Corresponding Squares) was written by M.Zinar!
There are many original studies by Zinar in that chapter." Arpard Rusz
 

Thank you Siegfried and Sergyi for updating us on the fate of Zinar. It was a mystery for a long time.
Are there any photographs of Zinar available? Please contact me by direct e-mail if this is the case.

"It must be said, though, that Grigoriev should be recognized as thé grandmaster of pawn endings, especially in the style of the first Zinar study Siegfried Hornecker presented to us.
Zinar, apart from closing some white spots in Grigoriev's oeuvre, excelled at the multiple underpromotion studies he constructed, almost exclusively starting from pawn endings."  Harold van der Heijden

"Today Sergiy Didukh sent me four photos of Zinar, made by Zinar's daughter. He said, it is free to use but I don't want to publish it. However, I think it's ok to send it to people so feel free to send me a note if interested (or an e-mail), including a valid e-mail address. Only for trustworthy people so if you're not a member and not known to me otherwise, don't ask!" Sarah Hornecker

Source: schachstudienkomponisten.fandom.com