April 25th

W.J.Miller (25-04-1838) American composer

Only one known problem by this composer, but such a delightful piece:

Miller, W. J.
Sunny South, 3^rd Aug 1889 (644)

#2

6 + 5

Show Solution

1.Qh8! ZZ and in this relatively free position Black cannot avoid creating a weakness that will allow the mate.

Friedrich Freiherr von Wardener (25-04-1873 - 15-01-1964) Austrian composer

Friedrich Freiherr von Wardener
Die Schwalbe, April 1963
[Thanks to Александр Никитин ]

Von Wardener was a composer of direct mates and strategic multimovers, but also of helpmates.

Freiherr Von Wardener, Friedrich
Reclam-Sammlung V

#4

7 + 9

Show Solution

1.Ka1! a2 2.Qxa2! and two variations:
2..Bxf3 3.Qa7 ~ 4.f3# (Direct battery)
2...Bh5 3.Bxh3 (4.Qb1#) 3...Bxf3 4.Sxf3# (Indirect battery).

Freiherr Von Wardener, Friedrich
Die Welt, 1957

h#4

b) -bBc5 c) = b) + wSd7->c6 d) = c) + bKa6->f6

2 + 5

Show Solution

a) 1. Rf5 Kxc7! 2. Bb6+ Kb8 3. Qa5 Ka8 4. Rb5 Sb8#
b) 1. Rf8+ Kxc7 2. Qa5+ Kd6! 3. Ra8 Kc6 4. Ra7 Sb8#
c) 1. Rf6 Sd4 2. Qa8+ Kd7! 3. Ka7 Kxc7 4. Ra6 Sb5#
d) 1. Qg2 Sd4 2. Ke7 Kxc7! 3. Kf8+ Kd8 4. Qg8 Se6#
Fourfold tempo by the white King.

Freiherr Von Wardener, Friedrich
Aachener Anzeiger, 1933 (746)

h#5

3 + 4

Show Solution

1. g1=S Kd5 2. Qd1+ Ke4 3. Se2 Kf3 4. Sg3+ Kg2 5. Qh5 fxg3#
Black Indian and nice strategic motivation (Qh5? at the 1st or 2nd move fail because the wK cannot reach g2).

John Denis Martin Nunn (25-04-1955) British composer (and double GM)

John Nunn
[Wikipedia]

John Nunn is o.t.b. GM and solving GM, he was also three times Solving World Champion and once Solving European Champion. He is the author of numerous articles and books, of which we can quote here "Solving in Style" (1983) and his series of books "Secrets of Endings"; for a more complete list of his works, please have a look on Wikipedia.

You might prefer the long task #24 which won a prize, but we prefer something more restrained:

Nunn, John Denis Martin
The Problemist, Mar 2005 (H2855)

h#3

2 solutions

6 + 7

Show Solution

1.Be5 Rd1 2.Qc5 Kd2 3.Kd4 Ke1#
1.Bf4 Bb1 2.Qe5 Kc2+ 3.Ke4 Kd1#
A neat orthogonal-diagonal correspondence.

Thomas Brand (25-04-1958) German composer

Thomas Brand
[Thomas Brand's website]

Thomas Brand composes in all genres, with a preference for (fairy) Proof Games. He is the retro editor for Die Schwalbe. He expressed his views about fairy retros here.
His website "Rund um die Retroanalyse" can be found here, especially his blog about Retros and Fairy Retros.

Brand, Thomas
Probleemblad, 1996
6^th HM

Proof Game in 16.5 moves

15 + 15

Show Solution

1.a4 e5 2.Ra3 e4 3.Rb3 e3 4.Rb6 axb6 5.Sh3 Ra5 6.Sf4 Rf5 7.Sd5 Rf3 8.exf3 Bc5 9.Ke2 Se7 10.Kd3 e2 11.a5 e1=R 12.a6 Re4 13.a7 Be3 14.a8=R c5 15.Ra1 Ra4 l6.Ke2 Ra8 17.Ke1 diagram
One wK switchback and two Rook Pronkins.

Brand, Thomas & Geissler, Norbert
Die Schwalbe, 1993
3^rd Prize

h#5

4 + 14

Show Solution

1. Ra2 Rd4 2. Rg2 R:e4 3. Ba2 Rf4 4. Se4+ Rg4 5. Sg3 Rh4#
The white Rook moves in slow motion towards the edge of the chessboard. Notice the reason why the wR cannot accelerate: 1.Ra2 Rxe4? 2.Rg2 and the wR is pinned. Or 3...Rg4 4.Se4 and the wR is pinned again.

Luboš Kekely (25-04-1959) Slovak composer

Ludo Lehen & Luboš Kekely, 2008
[V. Kotesovec]

Luboš Kekely is the studies editor for Pat a Mat.

Kekely, Ľuboš
Umenie 64, 2001 (0800)

+

3 + 3

Show Solution

1. a8=Q b2+ 2. Kd2 b1=Q 3. Qh8+ Qb2+ 4. Qxb2+ Kxb2 5. b7 a1=Q
{5... Ka1 6. Kc3 Kb1 7. b8=Q+ ; 5... Ka3 6. b8=Q a1=Q 7. Qa7+}
6. b8=Q+ Ka3
{6... Ka2 7. Kc2}
7. Qa7+ Kb2 8. Qb6+ Ka3 9. Qa5+ Kb2 10. Qb4+ Ka2 11. Kc2 +-
The ending of this study is well known, but managing to show two additional Queen promotions without any cookstopper is a worthy achievement.

Lubomír Ursta (25-04-1970) Czech composer

Lubomir Ursta
[his website]

Lubomir Ursta was interested in a new sort of stipulation, combining help play and direct play: help-direct-mate. A series of help moves is used to reach a position where the stipulation will be direct: direct mate, selfmate or reflexmate.
One example will be sufficiently clear:

Ursta, Lubomír
Bulgarski Problemist (2004/)

h3#2

2.1.1...

2 + 7

Show Solution

Three help moves: 1.Bf5 cxd5 2.Bh7 d6 3.g6 and now mate in 2: 1.dxc7 ! (2.c8=Q#)
Second solution: 1.Bf4 c5 2.Bh6 c6 3.g5 & 1.cxd7 ! (2.d8=Q#)

The award by Michal Dragoun of the composing tourney launching this new type of stipulation can be found on Lubomir Ursta's website.