BCPS

In the November magazine John Rice presented a full report on this year's World Congress of Chess Composition at Rhodes, where Great Britain dominated the WCSC, winning both team and individual titles. John also gave a selection of awardwinners from the composing tourneys while Paul Valois detailed Commission business and reviewed new books on sale at the congress. Fuller reviews were given to new collections of the work of Norwegian composers and the late American composer Edgar Holladay. Browsing in the library covered Soviet Chess Compositions 1945-47, compiled by György Páros. The two-move award for 2006 was published along with the Study of the Year for 2006. The Supplement included articles by John Rice examining some three-move miniatures by Russian GM Viktor Chepizhny and the work of the aforementioned György Páros, one of the great helpmate composers. Bob Lincoln selected eight favourite problem books by British authors, and Paul Valois presented an interesting letter from 1884, written by the famous pioneering composer Walter Grimshaw.

Januarta Simadhinata 1st HM., The Problemist, 2006 Mate in 2

The Nowotny try 1.Rd7? threatening 2.Sf7 and 2.Qxe6, fails to 1…c4!, while a pair of White Grimshaw tries fail to Grimshaw interferences – 1.Rc4? (>2.Sd3) 1..Bd7! and 1.Bc4? (>2.Sd3) 1...Rd7!. A further try 1.Be1? (>2.Bc3) is refuted by 1...Qc4! because of the unguard of d4. The key 1.Qh3! (>2.Qc3) avoids any errors and gives the variations 1...Rd7 2.Qxe6; 1...Bd7 2.Sf7; 1...Qc4 2.Sxc4; 1...Qd3+ 2.Sxd3 and 1...f3 2.Qh2. The judge praised the perfect construction.

O. Tabidze 1st Prize, Gruzia Ty., 1947 Mate in 3

1.Sf4 () 1...Sd7 2.Se2 any 3.Sd4 1...Se6 2.Sd3 any 3.Se5 1...Sg6 2.Sh3 any 3.Sg5 1...Sh7 2.Sg2 any 3.Sh4 1...Rh8 2.gxh8Q 1...Rxg7 2.a7 Four matching anticipatory interferences.

Gyögy Páros 2nd Prize, Stella Polaris, 1970 Helpmate in 2: 2 solutions

1.Rc1 Se7+ (Sc3+?) 2.Rxc5 Kf3 1.Bf8 Sc3+ (Se7+?) 2.Bxc5 Kg4 The white king and knight must guard e4 and f5, but as a knight move gives check Black must remove the rook, and the knight must avoid closing the path to c5.