June 11th

Alois Wotawa (11-06-1896 - 12-04-1970) Austrian composer and International Master

Alois Wotawa
[Österreichische Nationalbibliothek]

Alois Wotawa was a Viennese public prosecutor (Staatsanwalt) and composed direct mate problems and endgame studies with brilliant, paradoxical and very hidden solutions.
Friedrich Chlubna's obituary of Alois Wotawa "An artist has left us" was published in EG 20 (August 1970) and can be read here.

Alois Wotawa's "Auf Spurensuche mit Schachfiguren - 150 Endspielstudien" is a compilation of endgame studies (1965).
The following quote by A.Wotawa, extracted from this book, was quoted by A.J.Roycroft in EG 100 :

"Wir zählen die Schachstudie... jenem Teilgebiete der Kunst zu, das die rein rationalen Schöpfungen erfasst, sofern diese hinreichend Gefühle ästhetischer Befriedigung vermitteln"
"We place the chess study in that domain of art that encompasses purely rational creations insofar as these adequately transmit feelings of aesthetic satisfaction" (translation by A.J.Roycroft)

Here are two studies that may convey this feeling:

Wotawa, Alois
Schach-Echo, 1962

+

8 + 5

Show Solution

1. a6! bxa6 2. Bc6+ Kd8 3. Be8! Kxe8 4. Sd5 Kd8 5. Sf4 and the black Queen will be captured by the wS after the ingenious Bishop sacrifice on e8 cleverly prepared by the Pawn sacrifice on a6.

Wotawa, Alois
Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1960

+

5 + 7

Show Solution

1. f8=Q Rxf8 2. gxh5+ Kf7 3. Rh8 !! {Surprising sacrifice} 3... Rxh8 {Distant selfblock} 4. Rf1+ Kg8 5. h6 ! {closing the trap} 5...gxh6 6. Ke7 b2 7. Rg1#

Eric Ernest Westbury (11-06-1881 - 15-03-1939) British composer

Eric Westbury
Source: Chess Notes

Eric Westbury was a well-known Good Companions composer. The reader may learn many things from the text of Michael McDowell's lecture about Westbury on the British Chess Problem Society website. About his composing style:

"In the two-mover he was one of the leading British exponents of the Good Companions style, and had a knack for finding artistic matrices. His three-movers were mostly in the standard English style of his youth, attempting to combine model mates with strategic features, although he occasionally composed pure Bohemian problems."

Westbury also composed selfmates and helpmates.

Westbury, Eric Ernest
British Chess Federation, 1929-1930
2nd Honorable Mention, ex aequo

s#3

8 + 11

Show Solution

1.♕e2! (2.♗×e4+ ♗×e4 3.♕c2+ ♗×c2#)
1...♖×a2 2.♖d1+ ♖×d1 3.♕b2+ ♖×b2#
1...♗×f5 2.♕f1+ ♗e1 3.♘d2+ ♘×d2#
1...♖×d5 2.♘a3+ b×a3 3.♕d3+ ♖×d3#
1...♗h5 2.♖d1+ ♖×d1 3.♕×d1+ ♗×d1#
The first two variations exploit the half-pin of wSc4-wRd5. The third variation shows the sacrifice of both half-pinned pieces and the play of the black battery on the pin line.