January 23rd

Victor Cioană (23-01-1939 - 07.01.2010) Romanian composer and player

Victor (on the left) 
analyzing an endgame with Dieter Klosterman

Victor Cioană was the best solver in his hometown Suceava. Victor won several times the solving tourney organized by Romanian magazine "Revista Română de Şah”. It was only natural for him to publish his first problem in this same magazine. It was a helpmate in 4 with 2 solutions.

Cioană, Victor
Revista Română de Şah, 1988

h#4

4 + 5

Show Solution

1.Be4 Bg8 2.Bh7 e4 3.Kg6 Kf8 4.f6 Bf7#
1.Bf3 Bxd3 2.Bh5 e4 3.Kg6 e5+ 4.f5 exf6 e.p.#

Indian.

Another helpmate in 4 with two solutions, composed soon before Victor left us:

Cioană, Victor
Probleemblad, 2010

h#4

2.1.1...

3 + 4

Show Solution

1.Kd4 Rf2 2.Kc3 Sxe2+ 3.Kb2 Sc3+ 4.Ka1 Ra2#
1.Kf4 Sxf3 2.Kg3 Kxe2 3.Kg2 Rf2+ 4.Kh1 Rh2#

Chameleon echo mates.

Luigi Ceriani (23-01-1894 – 08-10-1969) Italian composer

Lugi Ceriani (Wikipedia)

Luigi Ceriani is renowned for his retro problems and for the theme that wears his name, but he also composed selfmates or directmates. More than 600 of his problems can be seen on the Chess Problem Database Server.
Readers may consult online Nikita Plaksin and Igor Vereshchagin's article about Luigi Ceriani's retro works in Best Problems : the article can be seen here.
Luigi Ceriani also wrote two books, "32 Personaggi e 1 Autore" (1955) and "La genesi delle posizioni" (1961), about chess retroanalysis.

Ceriani, Luigi
46 32 personaggi e 1 autore 1955

What happened to wPa2?

14 + 11

Show Solution

Retro: 1... Kf5-e4; 2.g3-g4+ Kf6-f5 3.Bg4-h5 Ke7-f6 4.Bc8-g4 Kf8-e7 5.d7xBc8=B Ke8-f8 6.c6xQd7+ Qd8-d7 7.c5-c6 d7-d6 8.b4xBc5 Bf8-c5 9.c3-c4 d6-d5 10.c2-c3 e7xBd6 11.Be5-d6 a2-a1=B 12.Bc3-e5 a3-a2 13.Bd2-c3 a4-a3 14.Bc1-d2 a5-a4 15.d2xSe3 Sf5-e3+ 16.b3-b4 Rc3-f3 17.Rf3-f2 etc.

Stig Leopold Björklund (23-01-1917 - 15-10-2005) Swedish composer

Stig Leopold Björklund
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

Two problems with Black self interferences:

Björklund, Stig Leopold
Springaren, 1963
1^st Prize

#3

9 + 12

Show Solution

1.g7 ! (2.Qxh6+ Rxh6 3.Bf4#)
1...Bc6/Rh8/Rf8 2.Sb2 (3.Rd3#) 2...Be4 3.Qxd4#
1...Rc6 2.Sf4 (3.Sd5/Rd3#) 2...Rf4/Rc6~/Qg8/Qd8 3.Rd3#

Björklund, Stig Leopold
Tidskrift för Schack, 1950
3^rd Prize

#3

9 + 11

Show Solution

1.Qb2 ! (2.Sd5#)

1...Be5 2.b8=S (3.Sd7#)
1...Se5 2.b8=Q (3.Qd8#) 2...Se5~ 3.Sd5#
1...Re5 2.gxf7 (3.f8=Q/R#) 2...Re5~, Rxe4 3.Sd5, Sxe4/Sd5#
1...e5 2.Qb5 (3.Qc6#)
1...Ke5 2.Sb5+ c3 3.Qxc3#

5 black defences on the same square (e5) after a flight-giving key with battery creation.
Also notable is the wQ switchback to b5 after 1...e5 and the exchange of places between wQ and wS in the variation 1...Ke5.

Miroslav Stošić (23-01-1949 - 11-01-1975) Yugoslav composer

Miroslav Stošić
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

A book of his selected problems was published in 1979: "Miroslav Stošić - Izabrani problemi".
Probably the highest distinction obtained by the great Yugoslav composer was the following problem:

Stošić, Miroslav
1^st WCCT, 1972
2^nd Place, 1972-1975

#2

8 + 9

Show Solution

Set play:
1...Sb2/Sb6/Sc3/Sc5 2.Sxb2#[A]
1...Sg3/Sh2/Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#
1...Rf2/Re5/Rd5/Rc5/Rb5/Ra5/Rg5/Rh5 2.Sxf2#[C]
1...Bg6/Bh5/Be8 2.Bxc4#

Tries:
1.Qg7? (2.Qxd4#)
1...Sb6/Sc5 2.Sb2#[A]
1...Re5/Rd5/Rc5 2.Sf2#[C]
1...Sd2 2.Rxd2#[B]
but 1...Rf6!

1.Qg4? (2.Qxe4#)
1...Sc3/Sc5 2.Sb2#[A]
1...Sg3/Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...Re5 2.Sf2#[C]
1...e3 2.Qxd4#/Qxf5#/Bxf5#
but 1...Rf4!

1.Qg3+?
1...Sxg3/Se3 2.Rd2#[B]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#
1...Rf3 2.Sf2#[C]
but 1...hxg3!

1.Qc8? (2.Qxc4#)
1...Sb2/Sb6/Sc5 2.Sxb2#[A]
1...Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...Rd5/Rc5 2.Sf2#[C]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#
but 1...Bxe6!

1.Qa8? (2.Qxe4#)
1...Sc3/Sc5 2.Sb2#[A]
1...Re5/Rd5 2.Sf2#[C]
1...Sg3/Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#
but 1...Rf4!

1.Qh8? (2.Qxd4#)
1...Sb6/Sc5 2.Sb2#[A]
1...Sd2 2.Rxd2#[B]
1...Re5/Rd5/Rc5 2.Sf2#[C]
but 1...Rf6!

1.Qxf7? (2.Bxc4#)
1...Sb2/Sb6 2.Sxb2#[A]
1...Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...Rd5/Rc5 2.Sf2#[C]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#/Qxf5#
but 1...Rxf7!

1.Qg1! (2.Qxd4#)

1...Sb6/Sc5 2.Sb2#[A]
1...Se3/Sd2 2.Rd2#[B]
1...Rf2/Rd5/Rc5 2.Sxf2#[C]
1...e3 2.Bxf5#

Transferred mates.

Stošić, Miroslav
Makuc + Moder MT, 1970
1^st Prize

#2

12 + 10

Show Solution

1.Se8! (2.Qf6#)
1...d4 2.f4#
1...Rf4 2.Rd7#
1...Sd7 2.Sd4#
Interesting cycle of fields (d4-f4-d7-d4).

The following problem was quoted by Dragan Stojnić in his excellent Bristol article in Mat Plus Review.

Stošić, Miroslav
Шахматы в СССР 1973
4^th Prize

#2

10 + 6

Show Solution

Set play:
1...gxf4[a]/g4 2.Qg4#[A]

Try:
1.Qh1? zz

1...gxf4[a] 2.Rg1#[D]
1...f5[b] 2.Rxh6#[B]
1...Kf5[c] 2.Qe4#[C]
but 1...g4!

1.Ra1! zz

1...gxf4[a]/g4 2.Qg4#[A]
1...f5[b] 2.Ra6#[F]
1...Kf5[c] 2.Qb1#[E]

Bristol, changed mates.

Leon Fontaine (23-01-1900 - 14-06-1976) Belgian composer

Fontaine, Leon
Probleemblad, 1976 (7757)

#2

14 + 9

Show Solution

1.Sb5! (2.Re4#)

1...Qe5 2.fxe5#
1...Qxf4+ 2.gxf4#
1...Sd6 2.f5#
1...Rc4 2.bxc4#

Pawn batteries.

Christoph Johannessohn (23-01-1917 - 27-03-1979) German composer

Johannessohn composed mostly logical problems.

Johannessohn, Christoph
Die Schwalbe, 1960
4^th Prize

#5

5 + 8

Show Solution

Tries: 1.Rg8? Bc1!; 1.Rd8? Bg2!
1.Rb8 ! (2.Rxb5#)
After 1...Rb2 2.Rd8? would fail because of 2...Bg2! Hence:
2.Rg8! (3.Rg5#)
2...Rg2 3.Rd8 (threatens 4.Rd5# ; 3...Bg2 is now impossible)
3...Rg5 4.Rb8 ~ 5.Rxb5#

Rook Rundlauf.

Григорий Аронович Шмуленсон (23-01-1931) Belarus and Israeli composer and correspondence player (Grigori Aronovich Shmulenson)

Grigori Aronovich Shmulenson
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

Шмуленсон, Григорий Аронович
Solidarity Ty, 2001
2^nd Prize

+

4 + 5

Show Solution

1. Ke3
{1. Kd4 exd5 2. Ba6+ Kb8 3. Kxd5 Kxa8 4. Kxd6 Kb8}
{1. Bb5 exd5+ 2. Kd4 Kb7 3. Kxd5 a6}
1... exd5 2. Ba6+ Kb8 3. Kd4 Kxa8 4. Kxd5 Kb8 5. Kxd6 Ka8 6. Kc7 d5 7. Bb7#

A variation on an already well-known theme: see d'Orville, 109 in Problèmes d'Échecs, 1842 for the first presentation of the idea and John D. Beasley's article "A tale of two bishops against one" on pages 6-7 in BESN June 2006 for further versions in endgames studies.

D'Orville, Pierre Auguste
Problèmes d'Échecs, 1842 (109)

#4

3 + 3

1.Ba6+! Kxb8 2.Kd6 Ka8 3.Kc7 d6/d5 4.Bb7#

Bo Jonsson (23-01-1950) Swedish composer

Bo Jonsson
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

Bo Jonsson
Probleemblad 9-10 1969
2^nd Prize

h#5

2 solutions

2 + 2

Show Solution

1. c1=B Kg1 2. Bf4 Kf1 3. Kh2 Sd6 4. Kh1 Se4 5. Bh2 Sf2#
2) 1. Kf2 Kh2 2. c1=R Kh3 3. Kg1 Sd6 4. Kh1 Se4 5. Rg1 Sf2#
Echo mates.

Pierre Bansac (23-01-1892 - 13-08-1978) French composer

Pierre Bansac
[in Thèmes 64 no.92, Oct-Dec. 1978]

Pierre Bansac was the pseudonym of General Charles Rinderknech. He is famous for his contribution to chess problem theory by numerous articles published in French magazines and by his book "La théorie des effets appliquée au problème d'échecs" (1978).
He held regular columns in "L'Échiquier de Paris" from 1946 until 1953.
His best-known problem is the following:

Bansac, Pierre
1^st Prize
UPF 1945

#4

9 + 7

Show Solution

1.♕d1! ZZ
1...c5 2.♕e1 c4 3.♗d1 ♗h7 4.♗c2#
1...c6 2.♗c4 c5 3.♕b3 ♗h7 4.♕xa2#
1...cxd6 2.♕xd6 ~ 3.♕xa3 ♗h7 4.♕xb2#
1...cxb6 2.♗xb2+ and two sub-variations:
2...♔xb2 3.♗xe6 h7 4.♕c1# or 3...♗c2 4.♖xc2#
2...axb2 3.♗xa2 (4.♕xb1#) 3...♔xa2 4.♕a4#
Pickaninny theme.