January 27th

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, alias Lewis Carroll (27-01-1832 - 14-01-1898)
British mathematician, writer, chessplayer and composer

Lewis Carroll [Wikipedia]

Many things could be said about Lewis Carroll, but here we focus on chess problems. Lewis Carroll's chess problem published in "Through the Looking Glass" is the following:

Carroll, Lewis
Through The Looking Glass, 1871

#3

5 + 3

1.Sg3+! Kd3(d4) 2.Qc3# (short mate)
1....Ke5 2.Qc5+ Ke6 3.Qd6#
In fact, the stipulation is wrong. As the source says it should be "White Pawn to play and win in eleven moves." And as the printed solution indicates, the rules of chess are not very strictly adhered to...

Show the Solution intended by Lewis Caroll

1. Alice meets R.Q. R.Q. to K.R's 4th
2. Alice through Q's 3d (by railway) to Q's 4th
Tweedledum and Tweedledee W.Q. to Q.B's 4th (after shawl)
3 Alice meets W.Q. (with shawl) W.Q. to Q. B's 5th (becomes sheep)
4 Alice to Q's 5th (shop, river, shop) W.Q. to K. B's 8th (leaves egg on shelf)
5 Alice to Q's 6th (Humpty Dumpty) W.Q. to Q.B's 8th (flying from R. Kt.)
6 Alice to Q's 7th (forest) W. Kt. takes R. Kt. R. Kt. to K's 2nd (ch.)
7 W. Kt. takes R. Kt. W. Kt. to K. B's 5th
8 Alice to Q's 8th (coronation) R. Q. to K's sq. (examination)
9 Alice becomes Queen Queens castle
10 Alice castles (feast) W.Q. to Q. R's 6th (soup)
11 Alice takes R. Q. & wins

The solution in animated gif can be seen on this website:

Some explanations about this strange series of moves can be found here and Christophe Leroy proposes a decryption of the game in English and in French.

Erich Ernest Zepler (27-01-1898 - 13-05-1980) German - British composer and International Master

Eric Zepler,
picture in oil by D. Houston, 1960
[from Life and work of Eric Zepler - the early years - The University of Southampton]

Eric Zepler
[Source: M. McDowell]

Erich Zepler fled Germany in 1935 and settled in England. Biographical details and one of his logical problems can be found on the Wikipedia page or on the website of The University of Southampton.
Zepler collaborated with Ado Kraemer and published with him "Im Banne des Schachproblems" (1951), a collection of their best work, as well as "Problemkunst im 20.Jahrhundert" (1957), an anthology of 20^th century problems.

Zepler also gave his name to a doubling manoeuvre: the Zepler doubling.

If you are looking for a hard-to-solve problem, enjoy the following:

Zepler, Erich Ernest
Parallèle 50, 1949
3^rd Prize

#4

5 + 12

Show Solution

1.Sg5 ! (2.Qb5/Qc4#)
1...Rxg5 2.Bc6+!

2...Kxc6 3.Qc4+ Kb6, Kd7 4.Bc7, Qb5#
2...bxc6 3.Qe1 (4.Qe5#) 3...Kc5, c5 4.Qa5, Qh1#

(1...e5 2.Qb5+/Qc4+)
After 4.Qh1# it finally becomes clear why the black Rook had to be attracted to g5, where it does not control h1.

Zepler, Erich Ernest
British Chess Magazine, 1946
1^st Prize

#3

9 + 11

Show Solution

1.Bg2 ! (2.Bg5+ Kg4 3.Sf6#)

1...b5 2.Sc1 (3.Se2/Sd3#) 2...Bc4/b4 3.Qd4#
1...b6 2.Sd4 (3.Sxe6#) 2...Rxd4, b5 3.Qxd4, Se2#

1...Bh4 2.Bxh4 (3.Bg3#)
Self-interferences by the same bP.

Gustav Herbert Hultberg (27-01-1910 - 16-05-1995) Swedish composer and FIDE master

Gustav Hultberg in Problem, 1969
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

Hultberg, Gustav Herbert
Springaren, 1960
1^st Prize

s#4

8 + 8

Show Solution

1.Rh8 ! ZZ

1...Rxg2 2.Qc6+ Kxb8 3.Se7+ Rg8 4.Sxg8 c2#
1...Rf2 2.Sb6+ axb6 3.Sd7+ Rf8 4.Sf8 c2#
1...Re2 2.Qc6+ Kxb8 3.Sd6+ Re8 4.Sxe8 c2#
1...Rd2 2.Sb6+ axb6 3.Sc6+ Rd8 4.Sxd8 c2#

Grab theme.

Gerhard Wolfgang Jensch (27-01-1920 - 26-10-1990) German composer

Gerhard Jensch in the 1970s
[Wikipedia picture by Manfred Zucker, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2575990]

Gerhard W. Jensch was instrumental in the founding of the Permanent Commission for Chess Composition of the FIDE in 1956 (nowadays WFCC), and for many years he was the German PCCC delegate. He organized its congress in Wiesbaden in 1974. He published chess problem columns in newspapers (Wiesbadener Kurier, Süddeutsche Schachzeitung).
More details about him in Hemmo Axt's article in die Schwalbe or Wikipedia.de.
He was also interested in fairy chess and invented a 3D version, Stereoschach.

Jensch, Gerhard Wolfgang
Die Schwalbe, 1954
1^st Prize

#2

6 + 4

Show Solution

Set play:

1...Ke4[a] 2.Rf4#[A]
1...Kc5[b] 2.Be3#[B]

1.Se3! (2.Qc4#)

1...Ke4[a] 2.Rb4#[C]
1...Kc5[b] 2.Qd6#[D]
1...Sd5 2.Qxd5#
1...Sxb6 2.Qxe5#

Beautiful aristocrat Meredith with changed mates between set play and real play.

Валерий Михайлович Шавырин (27-01-1953) Russian composer and Grandmaster (Valery Mikhailovich Shavyrin)

Valery Shavyrin in Problem, 1979
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

Шавырин, Валерий Михайлович
Открытый чемпионат Москвы, ТК 2002
1^st Place

#3

13 + 7

Show Solution

1. Bd7! (2. exf7 [3. Sg4#] 2... Sd5 3. Rxd5#)

1... Bxg6 2. exf3 (3. f4#) 2... Sd5 3. Rxd5#
1... Bxe6 2. e3 (3. Rxe6#) 2... Bxd7 3. Bf4#
1... Be8 2. e4 (3. Sg4#) 2... Sd5 3. Rxd5#
1... Bg8 2. exd3 (3. d4#) 2... Sxd3 3. Rd5#

Task Albino answering a black Bishop star.

Шавырин, Валерий Михайлович
Шахматы в СССР 1977
1^st Prize

#3

10 + 10

Show Solution

1.Bg6 ! (2.Bf5+ Kf7 3.Rg7#)

1...Se4 2.Bc5 Bxc5, Rxc5 3.Re5, Sf8#
1...Sd7 2.Rc5 Bxc5, Rxc5 3.Sg5, Re8#
1...Sa6 2.Rxb5 (3.Sg5#) 2...Re5 3.Rxe5#

Two Novotnys in orthogonal-diagonal correspondence.

Michael Schreckenbach (27-01-1960) German composer

Sickinger, Peter & Schreckenbach, Michael
Freie Presse, 28^th Apr 2006 (4541)
1^st Prize

#3

6 + 10

Show Solution

1.Bc8 ! (2.Rg5 [3.Sd5#] 2...e6 3.Sd7#)

1...Sf3 2.Bxg4 (3.Sd7#) 2...Se5 3.Sd5#
1...Bh4 2.Sd5+ Ke5 3.Bxf4#
1...Sf7 2.Sd7+ Ke6 3.Rxg6#

Pseudo le Grand and anticritical move.

Геннадий Иванович Лобастов (27-01-1918) Russian composer (Gennady Ivanovich Lobastov)

Gennady Lobastov
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]

According to Aleksandr Nikitin, Lobastov composed his first problem at the age of 9. After 1929 followed a huge break in his composer's career, since he resumed composing only in 1973.

Лобастов, Г. И.
VII командное первенство России 1980
2^nd Place

#4

10 + 6

Show Solution

1. b3! (2. Ba3 ~ 3. Bc1#)

1... Se7 2. Se5! (3. Sg4#) 2... Be6 3. Rd5 (4. Sc4#) 3... Bxd5 4. Sg4#
1... Sd6 2. Sb4! (3. Sc2#) 2... Bxb3 3. Rc4 (4. Sd5#) 3... Bxc4 4. Sc2#
1... Ba5 2. Bc5 (3. R~#) 2... Bxc3+ 3. Rd2+ Bd4 4. Bxd4#
(1... Rxh6 2. Bxh6)

Focal theme.