Friday, August 23, 2013

A simple nine-mover

At this time of the year, those composers wanting to participate to the Tourneys of the World Congress of Chess Composition, are over their chessboards trying for their best. I am one of them and I am sorry if the posts in this blog are not frequent.
New tourneys are continuously announced, some of them open for composers from all over the world (not only for the participants of the congress).
Sometimes we go astray, not following the strict guidelines of the judges, and we make other compositions, just for fun.
Today's nine-mover could be sent to one of the Batumi tourneys if it was difficult and two-mover! But it is not, so I present it to you as an exercise. If you write a comment with the solution, please include the specific one of the tourneys I was implying.

Problem-724
Emmanuel Manolas, Greece
original

1B1q4/3r4/rpp2pS1/2RB3s/p7/8/2K5/k7 (5 + 9)
#9, Mate in nine moves


The solution will be posted here in a few days
1.Rc3! [2.Ra3#]
1…a3 2.Kb3 [3.Rc1#] Kb1 3.Be4+ Rd3 4.Bxd3+ Qxd3 5.Rxd3 [6.Rd1#] Kc1 6.Bf4+ Sxf4 7.Sxf4 [8.Se2+ Kb1 9.Rd1#]

The relevant tourney is 25th TT SPIŠSKÁ BOROVIČKA.

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

World Championship in Composition for Individuals, 2010-2012

The World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) has published the results 2010- 2012 for the World Championship in Composing for Individuals (WCCI).

Specifically, per Section
Section1st place2nd place3rd place
Marjan Kovačević
Vasil Dyachuk
Valery Shanshin
Aleksandr Feoktistov
Mikhail Marandyuk
Aleksandr Kuzovkov
Mikhail Marandyuk
Aleksandr Kuzovkov
Aleksandr Feoktistov
Sergiy Didukh
Richard Becker
Oleg Pervakov
Michal Dragoun
Aleksandr Semenenko
Viktor Chepizhny
Andrey Selivanov
Torsten Linss
Diyan Kostadinov
Petko A. Petkov
Vlaicu Crișan
Peter Gvozdják
Dmitrij Baibikov
Nikolai Beluhov
Nicolas Dupont


Congratulations to the winners and to all the participants.

From the Greek perspective, we saw per Section / Position
Kostas Prentos, E/55, G/22, H/13
Themis Argirakopoulos, G/46

Friday, August 02, 2013

Solving contest in Ikaros-2013, Greece

One of the events, during the very successful 36th International chess tourney IkariaChess-2013 in Greece, was a Solving Contest. The problems were selected by Mr Dimitris Skyrianoglou and Judge was Ms Marianna Pagali.

The winners are :
1st, Nikolaos Kampanis with absolute score 20/20 and time 1 hour 30 minutes.
2nd, Pavel Kisevel with 19,5/20 in 24 minutes.
3rd, Anastassios Papargyriou with 19/20 in 26 minutes.

Following in rank were : (4th) Athanassios Spiliadis, (5th) Achilleas Kouros, (6th) Alexei Vetyogov, (7th) Chariton Papacharitonos,(8th) Nikitas Georgiadis, (9th) Alexandros Pissias, (10th) Aggeliki Issari, (11th) Georgios Vassilakopoulos, (12th) Evgeny Karganashvili.

And now the problems. Try to solve them. The solution text is visible only when selected.

Problem-718
Vitaly Kovalenko
Karpati Igaz, 1968


1k6/1P6/4K3/8/1Q6/8/8/8 (3 + 1)
#2, a) diagram, b) wRb4

[a) Key : 1.Qb5! Ka7 / Kc7 2.b8=Q#
b) 1.Rb6! Ka7 / Kc7 2.b8=Q#

Mate from a square initially occupied by the bK. Theme Umnov.
Only (b) was given for solving.
]
Problem-719
Boris Pustovoi
after K.A.L. Kubbel
Molodoo sibiriak, before 1987

5Q2/6pk/8/6KP/8/8/8/8 (3 + 2)
#2

[Key : 1.Kf5!
1...Kh6 2.Qh8#
1...g~ 2.hxg6 (e.p.)#

Flight-giving key, exposes the wK to check.
]
Problem-720
Philip H. Williams
Birmingham Post, 1890

8/8/4K3/1kB5/1P4Q1/5B2/8/8 (5 + 1)
#2

[Set play : {1...Ka6 2.Qc4#}.

Key : 1.Qh3!
1...Ka6 2.Qf1#
1...Kc4 2.Be2#
1...Ka4 2.Bc6#

Flight-giving key. Model mates.
]
Problem-721
Frederick Gamage
3rd Prize, Western Daily Mercury, 1907

b1k5/2B2R2/8/K1S5/Bp1pp3/5q2/8/2Q5 (6 + 6)
#2

[Tries : {1.Bd7+? Kxc7!}, {1.Qg5? [2.Qd8# / Qg8#] Qf6!}

Key : 1.Sb7! [2.Sd6#]
1...Bxb7 2.Bd7#
1...Qg3 2.Bxg3#
1...Qf4 2.Bxf4#
1...Qf5+ / Qh5+ 2.Be5#
1...Qf6 2.Bd6#
1...Kxb7 2.Bf4#

Sacrificial key. Black corrections. Cross-checks. Exposition of wK to check. Anti-triple for the defenses Qf4-f5-f6.
]
Problem-722
Samuel Gold
Lasker's Chess Magazine, 1904

8/k7/1pK5/8/8/8/6R1/8 (2 + 2)
#3

[Key : 1.Rc2!
1...b5 2.Kc7 [3.Ra2#]
1...Kb8 2.Kxb6 Ka8 3.Rc8#
1...Ka8 2.Kc7 [3.Ra2#]

Model mates.
]
Problem-723
William A. Shinkman
Checkmate, 1901

6ss/2p3K1/8/7k/2B4p/5R2/3B4/8 (4 + 5)
#3

[Key : 1.Rc3! [2.Be2#]
1...h3 2.Rxh3+ Kg4 3.Be6#
1...Sh6 / Sf6 2.Be2+ Sg4 3.Rc5#
1...Kg4 2.Be6+ Kh5 3.Rc5#
]