Chess Composers: March 11th

Milan Radoje Vukcevich (11-03-1937 - 10-05-2003) American Grandmaster in chess composition

Milan Radoje Vukcevich [Vivacity inc]

Today is the 75th anniversary of Milan Vukcevich's birth.

Milan Vukcevich was a prominent American chess player (3rd in US closed Championship in 1975, his games here ) and composer. About his personality the best is to quote from an eulogy written by Michelle Vukcevich in 1983 (the eulogy was itself quoted in a biographical sketch centered on Milan's scientific achievements):

Milan was a continual, tireless educator. He gave lectures and encouraged students throughout his career and absolutely shined in the classroom. He believed that the evolutionary driving force of humanity is increased knowledge. He, himself, was constantly learning new things. He couldn't sit still for two minutes without a chess board or a science magazine in his hand. To his students he was an inspiration, to search for truth and understanding. And he was a counselor, to search for their personal growth...

Milan Vukcevich composed in all genres (orthodox, studies, fairy problems,...). His pet theme was the Bristol and his famous article about the Bristol can be found in the MatPlus.org archive, which can be downloaded from here (open the 'bristol.html' file).

Of course, Milan also had talent for writing. He published in 1981 "Chess by Milan: Problems and Games of Dr. Milan R. Vukcevich" and in 2003 "My Chess Compositions". For all our chess readers, here is a quote from "Chess by Milan":

“Problems and games are two equal aspects of Chess and the difference between them is more in the intensity than in the substance. Relative to the game, a good chess problem activates more force per move, uses pieces more efficiently and stresses more their cooperation and interference with each other. A good problem may combine a dozen separate elements into one extraordinary event, in the same way in which a good novel may condense a dozen real lives into a single lifetime of its fictitious hero.”

The problems quoted in the Chessbase obituary can be replayed here.
In 2008 Siegfried Hornecker also published an article about Milan, quoting many problems, on ChessProblem.net.

Let's quote only two rich and beautiful problems and let the readers explore Milan's problems (more than 400 registered on YACPDB).

Vukcevich, Milan Radoje
U.S. Problem Bulletin, 1990
Prize

s#4

11 + 13

Show Solution

Vukcevich, Milan Radoje
6^th WCCT, 1996
2^nd Place, 1996-2000

7 + 14

Show Solution

Jürgen Tschöpe (11-03-1940) German composer

Jürgen Tschöpe is the inventor and specialist of the fairy condition Dynamo Chess. He even had a Dynamo Chess endgame study reproduced in the FIDE Album - this endgame study can be found below. He composed 5 more endgames with Dynamo Chess, as well as helpmates and directmates.

Dynamo Chess is a fairy variant of chess where there are no ordinary captures. Instead the men have the ability to pull or push (possibly outside the board) other men.
A dynamo move by a line piece (Q, R, or B) consists of pushing or pulling another man (of either color) observed by the line piece along the line; the line piece itself may remain stationary or it may move along the line in the same direction as the other man.
A dynamo move by a leaper (K, N, or P) observing another man (of either color) consists of the leaper remaining stationary or moving to the other man's square and pushing the man one step away in the same direction, or it consists of the leaper moving in the opposite direction and pulling the other man to the leaper's old quare.
A dynamo move can affect at most one other man. Men disappear from the board by moving off it themselves, or by being pushed off it, or by being pulled off it by a line piece that also disappears.
Check means threatening to make the opponent king disappear by pushing or pulling. The moving man and the affected other man (if any) must respect other men standing around, just like in ordinary chess: you cannot jump over another man, nor may two men occupy the same square. [definition from PDB]

Tschöpe, Jürgen
feenschach, 1986
1^st Prize