March 21st

Waclaw Grzankowski (21-03-1910 - 26-09-1991) Polish composer

Waclaw Grzankowski 35 compositions were compiled and published by Marek Kwiatkowski in "Give and Take" booklet.
We quote a remarkable threemover from the FIDE Album which realizes the difficult theme Umnow II:

Grzankowski, Wacław
Szachy, 1947
1^st Prize

#3

8 + 11

Show Solution

1.Bd7-e8 ! (2.Se5-g4 [3.Sg4*e3 /3.Sg4*h6] 2...Rg3*g4/Bh3*g4, Kf5*g4 3.Qc6-d5, Qc6-e4#)

1...Rg3-g4 2.Se5-f7 (3.Sf7*h6#) 2...Kf5-g6 3.Sf7-d6#
1...Bh3-g4 2.Se5-c4 (3.Qc6-d5/Sc4*e3#)
1...g5-g4 2.Qc6-d5 (3.Se5-c4/Se5*f3/3.Se5-g6/3.Se5-d7/3.Se5-c6)

Erkki Heinonen (21-03-1922 - 19-12-1993) Finnish composer

Erkki Heinonen
[© Hannu Harkola]

Erkki Heinonen was an original Finnish composer, with striking ideas. He showed Zagoruiko 3x2 theme after black move 1...S~(b5) with mates on the same field in his unusual twomover which appeared later in the FIDE Album.
Another task which gained the 2^nd Place, in 1^st WCCT is:

Heinonen, Erkki
1^st WCCT, 1972
2^nd Place, 1972-1975

r#2 *

9 + 9

Show Solution

1.f8=R? Kxe6/Bxe2/Kd5/Sg~ 2.d8=R(B, S, Rg8)
but 1...Kxf4!
1.d8=R! Ke6/Bxe2/Kf6/Sg~/Kxf4 2.f8=R(B, S, B, S)
Selfblocks with 8 promotions.

Heinz Müller (21-03-1938) German composer

Heinz Müller finds his place in our selection due to the remarkable fourmover below. In order to fully appreciate the solution, don't miss the tries played by wSb5 at first move!

Rinder, Gerd & Müller, Heinz
Österreich-Bayern, 1972
2^nd Place

#4

6 + 9

Show Solution

1.Rb2-g2 ! (2.Rg2-g8#)

1...Bf1*g2 2.Sb5-c7 (3.Sc7-e6#) 2...Bg2-h3 3.Bb6-e3 (4.Be3-h6#) 3...Sh2-g4 4.Sc7-e6#
1...f3*g2 2.Sb5-d4 (3.Sd4-e6#) 2...Bf1-c4 3.Bb6-d8 (4.Bd8-e7#) 3...Sb4-d5 4.Sd4-e6#
1...Sh2-g4 2.Rg2*g4 (3.Rg4-g8#) 2...Bf1-c4 3.Bb6-e3 (4.Be3-h6#) or 3.Bb6-d8 (4.Bd8-e7#) 3...Sb4-d5 4.Rg4-g8# ; 2...h5*g4 3.Bb6-e3 ~ 4.Be3-h6#

1.Sd4? Bh3! and 1.Sc7? Bc4! are the two thematic tries.

Красимир Гандев (21-03-1946 - 12-04-2019) Bulgarian composer and International Master (Krassimir Gandev)

Krassimir Gandev
[kobulchess]

Krassimir Gandev was IM for chess composition. His expertize and fantasy displayed in fairy problems gained world-wide recognition. He made his first steps in chess composition in 1966 after meeting with Petko Petkov. A short biography can be found on Diyan Kostadinov's site, kobulchess as well as an homage.

You may see one of his helpmates quoted in the Bristol article on OzProblems.

For the blog we selected a serial selfmate:

Гандев, Красимир
Phénix, 1988

Ser-s#11

Circe e6, f6, c3, d2: Neutral Pawn f1: Neutral Knight

1 + 2 + 5

Show Solution

1.nSxd2(nPd7) 2.d8=nB 3.nBxf6(nPf7) 4.nBxc3(nPc7) 5.c8=nB 6.nBxe6(nPe7) 7.f8=nB 8.nBxh6(sPh7) 9.nBxd2(nSb8) 10.nSd7 11.e8=nB+ nBxd7(nSb1)#
Four promotions into neutral Bishop!
Please note the specific Circe mate: the neutral S cannot capture one of the two neutral Bishops d2 or c3, because it would be reborn on c1 with self-check.

We also selected a problem with unusual stipulation: Doppel-ser-h-Zwingmatt in 5 Circe (or 5->ser-hs#5)

Гандев, Красимир
The Problemist, 1981
1^st Prize

5-> Ser-s#5

Circe b7, b6, b5, e5: Neutral Pawn

1 + 1 + 4

Show Solution

1.Kxb5(+nPb2) 2.Kc5 3.b1=nR 4.nRxb6(+nPb2) 5.b1=nS+
& 1.nSd2 2.b8=nB 3.nBxe5(nPe7) 4.e8=nQ 5.nQxe5(nBf8)+ Kxb6(nRa1)#
Five captures and rebirths and specific Circe mate. Neutral Allumwandlung.

Jörgen Börner (21-03-1948) Norwegian composer

Jörgen Börner is best known for his twomover showing le Grand theme using black castling as main defence:

Börner, Jörgen
Die Schwalbe, 1979
3^rd Prize

#2* vv

9 + 4

Show Solution

Set play:
1...Kd8[a] 2.Rf8#[A]
1.Sc4? (2.Rb8#[B])
1...Kd8[a]/Kd7[b]/O-O-O 2.Rf8#[A]
but 1...Rc8!
1.Sxa8? (2.Rb8#[B])
1...Kd7[b] 2.Rf8#[A]
but 1...Bxb5!
1.Sd7! (2.Rf8#[A])
1...O-O-O 2.Rb8#[B]
Le Grand and pseudo Le Grand. The problem was reproduced in the FIDE Album.