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| Josef Kling [Wikipedia] |
Josef Kling was a church musician and music teacher. Born in Mainz, he moved to Paris in 1834, then to London in 1837. In 1849 he published a collection of 200 problems "The Chess Euclid. A Collection of two hundred Chess Problems and End-Games" (read it here).
In 1851 he published with Bernhard Horwitz a classical book: "Chess studies; or endings of games" (read it here), an important and ground-breaking work for endgame studies. Between 1851-1853 Kling and Horwitz edited the magazine "The Chess Player" in which they published numerous studies.
Kling, Josef
The Chess Euclid, 1849
The Chess Euclid, 1849
| #5 | 5 + 4 |
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Василий Никитович Долгов (19-03-1924) Russian composer and FIDE Master (Vasily Nikitovich Dolgov)
Dolgov has composed about 200 studies, but also other genres of problems, such as this twomover Fleck with 7 pieces.
Долгов, Василий Никитович
Mkhedruli, 1975
2nd Special Prize
Mkhedruli, 1975
2nd Special Prize
| + | 3 + 4 |
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Heinz Zander (19-03-1924 - 14-09-2004) German composer
Heinz Zander wrote with Günter Glaß "Nur ein Bauer", a special Feenschach issue in 1974. He was a specialist of selfmates and composed about 500 problems.
He is also the inventor of the fairy condition Kölner Kontaktschach, better known under the shorter name Köko. He wrote a short pamphlet "Neues vom Köko" with 15 Köko problems in 1990.
It was too difficult to choose only one of the two selfmates in 10 below.
Please observe that in the diagram below the white King has 8 flights: how will he be mated?
Zander, Heinz
feenschach, 1975
1st Prize
feenschach, 1975
1st Prize
| s#10 | 9 + 8 |
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Zander, Heinz
Schach, 1987
1st Prize
Schach, 1987
1st Prize
| s#10 | 12 + 5 |
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Colin Albert Henry Russ (19-03-1930 - 22-09-2021) British composer
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| "Miniature Chess Problems" by Colin Russ, 1981 |
Colin Russ was a chess expert and edited a chess problem column in the Chess magazine. He wrote the anthology "Miniature chess problems from Many Lands" in 1981 and it was republished several times, for instance in 1987 under the title "Miniature chess problems from Many Countries".
He served the British Chess Problem Society in various roles, as President from 1987 to 1989, Secretary from 1980 to 2001, and delegate to the PCCC from 1987 to 1994. He was also responsible for introducing the late Michael Ormandy to the Society, which led to the establishment of The Problemist Supplement.
His obituary by John Upnam here.
The problem below was selected in the FIDE Album 1956-1958:
Russ, Colin Albert Harry
Die Schwalbe, 1957
7th HM
Die Schwalbe, 1957
7th HM
| #2 v | 10 + 6 |
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Siegfried/Sarah Hornecker (19-03-1986 - 22-03-2024) German composer
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| Siegfried Hornecker [Akobiachess.gol.ge] |
In 2012 when these lines were written, Siegfried Hornecker was a young, talented and enthusiast chess player and composer. His rich website [broken link] offered opportunities for some long hours spent reading and solving. All Siegfried's published endgame studies could be found on this page. For instance, S. Hornecker also wrote an article about Konstantin Sukharev who was celebrated on this blog on February 26th. He also proposed some downloads [and had a cool "404 error" page] on his website.
Instead of the website, we can now send the reader to his ChessBase articles, where he presented the Study of the Month.
S. Hornecker was a regular contributor to chess forums MatPlus and ChessProblem.net and organized his Jubilee Tourney "Hornecker-25" last year. The award can be read here.
Note: On MatPlusForum S.Hornecker expressed the desire to be addressed as "Sarah Hornecker" from now on, but also added: "If you quote old compositions of me, for historical purposes, you should use the old name."
The very hard endgame study given for solving at the 8th Internet Solving Contest 2012 on January 29th (10th diagram here, solution here) was fully solved by no participant - the best score (2 / 5) being achieved by only 3 solvers.
Hornecker, Siegfried
Akobia 70 JT, 2007
7th Special Prize
Akobia 70 JT, 2007
7th Special Prize
| + | 7 + 4 |
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Unto Reunanen (19-03-1954) Finnish composer
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| Unto Reunanen, 1979 [© Hannu Harkola] |
Unto Reunanen is a helpmate composer who also sometimes composes fairy problems.
Reunanen, Unto
5th WCCT
19th Place, 1993-1997
5th WCCT
19th Place, 1993-1997
| h#2 | b) bPb6->b5 2 solutions in each twin | 10 + 14 |
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Siegfried Hornecker's activities in chess studies and problems have always interested me. Siegfried Hornecker was also very interested in near-death experiences. The news of his untimely death almost knocked me off my chair. Siegfried Hornecker was one of the few people who was not only interested in chess studies, but also in the life of a chess study composer. Apart from Siegfried Hornecker and Jan van Reek, I don't know of anyone else who took a keen interest in the life of a chess composer.
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