May 25th

Фридрих Рудольфович Дюммель (25-05-1912 - 1975) Russian composer (Friedrich Rudolfovich Djummel)

Friedrich Rudolfovich Djummel
Problem, February 1968
[Thanks to Александр Никитин ]

Friedrich Djummel was a direct mate composer.

Дюммель, Фридрих
Правда Востока 1947
1^st Prize

#2

9 + 11

Show Solution

1.Qf1? (2.Qf8#)
1...Bxf1/Rf3 2.Re5#[A]
1...Bf3/Rh8/Rd3+ 2.Sd3#[B]
but 1...Sf2!
1.Rf3! (2.Qb4#)
1...Bc3/Sc3/Rd3+ 2.Sd3#[B]
1...Rb3 2.Sxb3#
1...Rc3 2.Re5#[A]
Two Grimshaws on f3 and c3 in two different phases, transferred mates.
To be compared with Żuk's twomover below !

 
Erwin Sehrig (25-05-1899 - ?) German composer

Sehrig, Erwin
German Ring Ty. 1949
5^th Prize

#5

9 + 9

Show Solution

1.e4-e5 ! ZZ
1...Kc4-c5 2.Rf1-b1 Kc5-c4 3.Rb1-b3 Kc4-c5 4.c2-c4 Kc5xc4 5.Rb3-c3#
1...c6-c5 2.f2-f3 Kc4-d5 3.f3-f4+ Kd5-c4 4.Rf1-f3 Kc4-d5 5.Rf3-c3#

Henryk Żuk (25-05-1916 - 08-10-2001) Polish composer

Żuk, Henryk
Magasinet, 28^th May 1955
1^st-2^nd Prize

#2*

6 + 5

Show Solution

Set play:
1...Re8+[a] 2.Rxe8#[A]
1...Bh2[b]/Re3[b] 2.Rd4#[B]
1...Be3[c]/Rg3+ 2.Sg3#[C]
Key:
1.Sg7! (2.Qf4#)
1...Re8+[a] 2.Qxe8#[E]
1...Re3[b]/Bh2[b] 2.Qc4#[D]
1...Rf3/Be3[c] 2.Qxf3#[F]
Changes mates and additionally a black Grimshaw on e3 which is exploited by different mates.
Do you like it better than Djummel's twomover?

Jan Papoušek (25-05-1943) Czech composer

Jan Papoušek composed, of course, Bohemian problems, such as this one:

Papoušek, Jan
Šachové umění 1979
1^st Prize

#3

7 + 8

Show Solution

1.Rg5-g3 ! (2.Rg3xf3 [3.Qe5-d4/Qe5-c7/Qe5xd5]
1...Rf2xc2 2.Qe5xd5+ Kc4-b4, Kc4xc3 3.Qd5-c5, Qd5-d4#
1...Rf2-d2 2.Qe5-c7+ Kc4-d3 3.Sc2-e1#
1...Rf2-e2 2.Qe5xe2+ Kc4xc3 3.Ba7-d4#
1...Sf3xe5 2.Sc2-a3+ Kc4-b4 3.Sc3xd5#
1...Kc4-d3 2.Sc2-a3 (3.Qe5-d4/Qe5-e3#) 2...Rf2-e2/d5-d4, Kd3-d2 3.Qe5-d4, Qe5-e3#
1...d5-d4 2.Sc2-a3+ Kc4-b4 3.Qe5-c5# or 2...Kc4xc3/Kc4-d3 3.Qe5xd4#
The key is not so nice, but the variations more than make up for it.

Raymond Merrill Smullyan (25-05-1919 - 06-02-2017) American composer

Raymond Smullyan
[© Paul Halmos, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive]

Raymond Smullyan was a mathematician, concert pianist, logician, Taoist philosopher, and magician. He wrote two very influential books making retroanalysis more popular: "The Chess Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes" (1979) and "The Chess Mysteries of the Arabian Knights" (1981).

Smullyan, Raymond Merrill
Chess with Sherlock Holmes, 1979

Add wBe3 or wBe4 for a legal position?

Monochrome Chess

3 + 1

Monochrome Chess: A piece must never move (or be placed) on a square of different colour.

Show Solution

The answer is +wBe3. The three white pieces Ke1/Pd2/Pf2 have not moved and only a dark-squared Bishop could have captured the remaining pieces moving on dark squares.