The January issue featured a full appreciation of the late Lu Citeroni. John Nunn related how solving a problem suggested to him a reconstruction which might increase the solver’s enjoyment, and Geoff Foster attempted to encourage the solving of fairy problems. John Rice presented a selection of awardwinners from the composing tourneys at the Crete WCCC, while Browsing in the library covered the 1980 collection of the work of Matti Myllyniemi. Awards included fairies for 2007 (judge: Vlaicu Crisan), selfmates and reflexmates 2008 (Klaus Wenda), and more-movers 2008 (Jakov Vladimirov). In the Supplement John Rice showed some early longer helpmates, and David Shire discussed problems revolving around king play.
Matti Myllyniemi
Schach-Echo, 1970
Mate in 2
1.g5 (>2.Qg1) 1...Re6 2.f4 1...Be6 2.Sc6 1...e6 2.gxh6
Cyclic interferences. The rook interferes with the bishop, the bishop with the pawn, and the pawn with the rook. Three white batteries fire.
Eeltje Visserman
1st Prize, Probleemblad, 1954
Mate in 2
1.Kb8! 1...Kd4 2.Sxc6 1...Kf4 2.Qc7 1...Kd6 2.Sb7 1...Kf6 2.Sd7
Tries 1.Kd8? Kd4!, 1.Kc7? Kf4!, 1.Kb7? Kd6! and 1.Kd7? Kf6!
Mates are set for all four moves of the black king, and White simply
needs to play a waiting move with his king, however four of his five
moves prevent each of the set mates in turn, three because of
occupation of a mating square and the fourth because of self-pin of
the mating piece.
Hermann Weissauer
Schach-Echo, 1973
Mate in 4
1.Rd1! 1...a3 2.Se5 dxe5 3.Sf5+ any 4.d6 1...Kf7 2.Rf1+ any 3.Rhf8 any 4.R1f7
An entertaining puzzle for the solver to unravel.
The March issue contained a full report by Steve Giddins on the final of the 2010-11 Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship, won by John Nunn. Awards included the Norman Macleod award for 2008-09 (judges Marjan Kovacevic and Hans Peter Rehm), selfmates and reflexmates for 2009 (judge Andrey Selivanov) and threemovers for 2009 (judge Paz Einat). Bob Burger reminisced about Robin Matthews’ visits to California, and John Rice reviewed three important new books, namely Cyclone 2 and the collections of helpmates by Chris Feather and Živko Janevski. Browsing in the library covered the A. C. White Christmas book The White Knights. The Supplement contained a reprint of an article from 1962 by Robin Matthews on “Two-move tries and three move variations”, while John Rice presented selections of problems by Israel Schiffmann and Živko Janevski, and David Shire examined the le Grand theme.
Israel Schiffmann
1st Prize, Chess Amateur, 1929
Mate in 2
1.Qe8 (>2.Qxe5) 1...Re6 2.Qa4 1...Be6 2.Sf6 1...Se6 2.Qxc6 1...Rg3 2.Re1 1...Bg3 2.Sxg5 1...Sg3 2.Sf2
Three interferences on each of two squares.
Alvaro Faria Pereira
1st Prize, The Problemist, 2009
Mate in 3
1...Rc4 2.Rd5 (3.Rxe5)
cxd5 3.Bxd5
1...Sc4 2.Sd5 (3.Sc3)
cxd5 3.Bxd5
1.R6d5? Sc4!
1.Sd5? Rc4!
1.Bc4! (>2.Kg6 (3.Sg5)
Bxh3 3.Bd3)
1...Rxc4 2.Re6 & 3.Rxe5
1...Sxc4 2.Se6 & 3.Sxc5
1...Bxc4 2.Kg4 & 3.Sg5
Changed continuations after mutual obstructions between rook and knight on c4.
Adolf Kraemer
v. Schweizerische Schachzeitung, 1914
Mate in 4
1.Se4 (>2.Sxf2#) 1…Rf8 2.gxh4 Bc7 3.Sf4 Bxf4/Rxf4 4.Sxf2/Sg3 1…Bb6 2.gxh4 Ra3 3.Se3 Bxe3/Rxe3 4.Sg3/Sxf2
Matching Nowotnys.
The May issue contained reports on various solving meetings, the 2011 European Solving Championship, the BCPS weekend in Harrogate and the NBvS weekend at Nunspeet. Articles included Jim Grevatt on the Siers theme in three-movers, Nils Adrian Bakke on reflexmates with models, and Cedric Lytton on “Eightsome wheels”. Chris Feather marked what would have been the 80th birthday of Josef Krikheli by presenting some of his help-play problems, while John Rice examined maximummers and Krikheli more-movers. Browsing in the library covered the 1959 Dutch collection of problems by Lev Loshinski and Jan Hartong. The Supplement featured a selection by Michael McDowell of problems from the first ten years of the Selected Two-Movers column, and an article by Colin Russ entitled “Somewhere in the night”. Uri Avner gave his judgment on the helpmates from 2008.
Vaux Wilson
2nd Prize, American Chess Bulletin, 1955
Mate in 2
1.Rg3? (>2.Sxf2) 1...Kxc2+ 2.Se1 1...Ke2+ 2.Sc1 1...Sxd3 2.Qxd3 1...Se4! 1.Rg2! (>2.Sxf2) 1...Kxc2+ 2.Sc1 1...Ke2+ 2.Sde1 1...Sxd3 2.Qxd3 1...Se4 2.Se3
An original example of reciprocally changed mates from an economical setting.
Josif Krikheli
3rd Prize, Schach-Echo, 1975
Helpmate in 2: 3 solutions
1.Sc7 Sg4+ 2.Rxg4 Kd6 1.Sf6 Sxf3 2.Bxf3 Kxb5 1.Sc3 Shf1+ 2.Rxf1 Kxb4
In Chris Feather’s opinion one of the finest of all two-move helpmates, showing tempo sacrifices with cyclic dual avoidance. A total of nine thematic lines are employed.
Jeremy Morse
Evening News, 1957
Selfmate in 4
1.Sd2
1...g1Q,R+ 2.Sf1+ exf1S 3.Qc5+ Bd4 4.Qc1+ Sd2
exf1B 3.Qa3+ Bc3+ 4.Qxc3+ Bd3
1...g1B 2.Qe8 Bxh2 3.Qg8 any 4.Qg3+ Bxg3
1...g1S 2.Qa3+ Bc3 3.Shf3 h4 4.Qb3 Sxf3
A selfmate which was greatly enjoyed by the competitors in the solving tourney at Harrogate.
Articles in the July issue included “Misadventures in composition” in which Michael Lipton traced the steps in his reworking of a Mansfield matrix, “Robin Matthews and the idea of theme”, the text of a talk given by Bob Burger at Harrogate, and “Reinstatement” featuring an entertaining retro by Joaquim Crusats and Andrey Frolkin. Awards covered three-movers for 2008 (judge: Harri Hurme) and Helpmates in 2½ and 3 (judge: Ofer Comay). Browsing in the library examined “When the pieces move!” the 1978 exposition of Vaux Wilson's MOE system. In the Supplement Chris Feather's series on British helpmate composers covered C. E. Kemp, David Shire's problem alphabet reached M for Mari, and Geoff Foster explained how to use the Popeye solving program.
Henry D’Oyly Bernard
Western Daily Mercury, 1903
Mate in 2
1...Kf5 2.e4 1.Ra1 (-) 1...Kf5 2.Qb1 1...d5 2.Bd3 1...e any 2.Sxd6
A mutate with one striking change following a pure Bristol line clearance.
Friedrich Chlubna
1st HM., Probleemblad, 1971
Mate in 3
1.Qc5 (>2.Sg6+ Bxg6 3.Qe5) 1...Qxc5 2.Se2+ dxe2 3.Bg3 1...Rxd1 2.Bg5+ Sxg5 3.Rh4 1...Re8 2.Rf5+ Bxf5 3.Sh5
A beautiful problem in which each defence removes a potential guard of a mating square, allowing the pieces at g3, h4 and h5 to perform a cycle of sacrifices followed by mating moves on the vacated square. In addition the other three white pieces are each captured during the solution.
Robin Matthews & Bob Burger
1st Prize, Chess Life, 1987
Mate in 5
1.Kb2 (>2.Sc3+ Kf4 3.Rd4) Rh5 2.Rxb3 (>3.Rd4+ exd4 3.Sxg3) Bh4
3.Rdd3 (>4.Rxe3) Qg5 4.Kc2 Qg6 5.Rxe3; 4...Qf4 5.Sc3
A series of White threats forces the black rook and bishop to the
board edge where they are incarcerated by the queen. The concluding
zugzwang is not apparent in the diagram!
The September issue contained a report on activities at the WCCC at Jesi, where the UK team took silver in the World Chess Solving Championship, behind Poland. John Rice presented problems from a recent composing match between Israel and Serbia, and Michael Lipton discussed the birth of the Banny theme. Awards included Fairies 2006 (judge Hans Gruber), Helpmates 2009 (Ricardo de Mattos Vieira), and Retros 2009-10 (Hans Gruber). Browsing in the library covered John Beasley's 1978 selection of problems by 19th century German composer Philipp Klett. In the Supplement Chris Feather examined the helpmates of former Problemist columnist Bill Trumper, Bernd Gräfrath presented his Desert Island selection of books on retros, Michael McDowell reworked a famous problem by T. R. Dawson, and David Shire's problem alphabet reached N for Nightwatchman.
Philipp Klett
Schachprobleme, 1878
Mate in 4
1.Rg6 (>2.Rxe6 or 2.Qxg7+) 1...Qxg6 2.Kb4 (>3.Qa1) Qg1 3.Ba8! 1...Qxb3 2.Rxd6+ Kc4 3.Bd5+ 1...Qd7 2.Qxd7 or 2.Rxd6+ etc.
The black queen is decoyed to g1, after which a subtle retreat of the bishop into the corner sets up a zugzwang. A well-concealed idea.
Saul Shamir & Paz Einat
5th Place, Israel v. Serbia Match, 2009
Helpmate in 3: (b) swap a5 and h7
(a) 1.Rf2 Bxf4 2.Qg5 Bd2 3.Kh6 Rh4 (b) 1.Bf2 Rxf4 2.Qc4 Rh4 3.Kb4 Bd2
Very well matched line-play following the unusual twinning.
Gerald F. Anderson
4th Prize, The Problemist, 1970-1971
Selfmate in 3
1.Bh7 (-)
1...Bxc5 2.Sg4+ K~ 3.Sxe3+ Bxe3
1...Bc7,e7,f8 2.Rd6+ Bxd6 3.bxc3+ Sxc3
1...Bxe5 2.Rg6 (3.bxc3+ Sxc3)
cxb2 3.c3+ Sxc3
1...S(b8)~ 2.Rb4+ Sxb4 3.bxc3+ Sxc3
1...cxb2 2.Sg6+ Be5 3.c3+ Sxc3
A beautifully constructed selfmate by a former BCPS President, used in the WCSC. The key is a critical move across g6 in preparation for two shut-offs of the bishop’s guard on b1.
The November issue featured the 14th update of Jeremy Morse’s Tasks and Records and a tribute to the late Bo Lindgren by John Rice. Chris Reeves discussed some experiments in the Rice cycle theme. Awards included two-movers for 2010, judged by Claude Wiedenhoff, more-movers for 2009 (judge Hemmo Axt), and the Brian Harley Award for three-movers published between 2006 and 2008. Browsing in the library covered Brian Harley’s famous book Mate in three moves. In the Supplement Geoff Foster presented a selection of mutates by Tony Lewis, while David Shire showed some problems featuring the Organ Pipes.
Thomas Taverner
1st Prize, Dubuque Chess Journal, 1889
Mate in 2
1.Rh1 (-) 1...Be7,Be6 2.e3 1...Re7,Rf6,Bxc7,Bh4 2.Rh4 1...Rf7,Re6,Bd5,Bxh7 2.Sd5 1...Bf7,Bf6,Rf5 2.Qf5 1...Bg5 2.Qh2 1...Re5 2.Qg4 1...Re4 2.fxe4 1...Re3 2.Bh2 1...Rxe2 2.Sxe2 1...c3 2.Sd3
A classic example of the Organ Pipes, shown with English School accuracy. As David Shire pointed out, Taverner had extraordinary technique.
Tony Lewis
The Problemist, 1985
Mate in 2
1...Ba7,Bc7 2.Re8 1.Ra6 (-) 1...Ba7 2.bxa7 1...Bc7 2.bxc7 1...Bd6 2.Sd8
A beautiful lightweight Lewis mutate. White cannot maintain the block, so the rook ambushes behind a static pawn, anticipating the bishop’s assistance in twice opening the battery.
William A. Shinkman
The Theory of Pawn Promotion, 1912
Mate in 3
1.e7 (>2.e8Q+) 1...Kb6 2.e8R Kc6 3.Re6 1...Bd8 2.exd8R Kb6 3.Rd6
Two promotions to white rook in parallel. Jeremy Morse has been unable to find a directmate problem of any length showing three such parallel promotions to rook. A composing challenge for someone?
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