It is named after the Spanish priest Fernando Saavedra (1849–1922), who lived in Glasgow during the late 19th century.
Though not a strong player, he spotted a win involving a dramatic underpromotion in a position previously thought to have been a draw.
Note that if Black's king were on b1, 6...Rc2+ would win, so White must acquiesce to a draw by perpetual check.
Material is even, but the unfortunate positions of Black's king and rook doom him to a loss.
[3] The long history of the study has its origins in a game played between Richard Fenton and William Potter in 1875.
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).
Barbier published a position in his Glasgow Weekly Citizen chess column of April 27, 1895, which he claimed to have occurred in Fenton–Potter.
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.
Saavedra, a Spanish priest who lived in Glasgow at the time, was a weak amateur player; his sole claim to fame in the chess world is his discovery of this move.
[citation needed] 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".
As computer-generated endgame tablebases confirm,[4] Black can offer longer resistance by 3...Kb2, for which White has only one winning reply, 4.c8=Q, promoting to a queen instead of the underpromotion to a rook.
[5] A number of composers have produced work which elaborates on the basic Saavedra idea including the one by Mark Liburkin (second prize, Shakhmaty v SSSR, 1931) where White is to play and win.
After the first move 1.Nc1, Black has two main defences; the first of these shows the Saavedra theme: 1.Nc1 Rxb5 (1...Kb2 2.Nd3+ wins) 2.c7 Rd5+ 3.Nd3!