Chess Composers: August 16th

Victor Holst (16-08-1844 - 25-03-1924) Danish composer

Victor Holst composed direct mates and wrote some articles for "Skakbladet" at the beginning of the19th century. He was the problem editor of the "Familie-Journalen".
He gave his name to the Holst theme: a thematic try fails due to a black promotion; during the solution, White's foreplan forces the black pawn to make a promotion different from that in the try and then White can apply the main plan of the try, which now works.

Holst, Viktor
Husrennen, 1886

5 + 9

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Henri Delaire (16-08-1860 - 27-09-1941) French composer

Delaire (left) playing a game with an unknown player and viewer.
[Cleveland Publich Library Digital Gallery]

Henri Delaire was a French chess player, the first president of the French Chess Federation and the author of chess manuals: "Les échecs modernes: histoire, théorie complète" (1914) , "Premières notions d'échecs" (1911), "Traité-manuel des échecs" (3rd edition 1930).
He conducted the French magazine "La Stratégie", sometimes sustaining it with his own funds, from 1908 until its end in 1940 because of the war.

Delaire, Henri
Bulletin de la Fédération Française des Échecs, 1922

6 + 6

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Josef Cumpe (16-08-1868 - 13-08-1943) Czech composer

Josef Cumpe
[Wikimedia]

Josef Cumpe composed about 1500 problems in the Bohemian style with a marked preference for miniatures.
Josef Cumpe was also Vladimir Pachman's great-uncle. His book "Žertem doopravdy" was published in 1941 and can be downloaded from here. Miroslav Soukup's homage "Josef Cumpe - Věrný Čech" (1943) can be downloaded from here.

Cumpe, Josef
Šach, 1939 (236)
3^rd Prize

5 + 4

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František Pabouček (16-08-1900 - 02-07-1995) Czech-French composer

František Pabouček was a Bohemian composer. In this fourmover miniature you can find exquisite play by the wSs.
Here is another problem:

Pabouček, František
Bulletin Ouvrier des Echecs, 1948 (275)
1^st Prize

5 + 8

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Gaston Balbo (16-08-1906 - 03-03-1985) French composer

Gaston Balbo
[problemiste.fr]

Gaston Balbo was a book collector who gathered the most complete chess problem book collection of France (4000 works). He composed few problems but during many years he edited problem columns in several magazines: "Le courrier des échecs", "Problème", "Bulletin Ouvrier des Echecs", etc.
In 1960 he organized the "Roi Blanc Peugeot" tourney for which he received the record number of 1212 entries from 31 countries; he sorted and checked all these entries (source: problemiste.fr)

Balbo, Gaston
L'Echiquier de Turenne, 1957 (/1)

9 + 3

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Alexander Ettinger (16-08-1923 - 14-01-2005) German-Israeli composer

Alexander Ettinger was a composer and a solver. As a solver, he often proposed improved versions of the solved problems.

Ettinger, Alexander
Die Schwalbe, 2004

h#3

2.1.1.1

3 + 8

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Jean Morice (16-08-1930 - 22-03-2022) French composer and FIDE Master

Roland Lecomte & Jean Morice, Messigny 2002
[maroc-echecs.com]

Jean Morice composed mostly direct mates in 2 or 3 moves, but also reflexmates and other genres. He was granted the title of International Judge in 1983.
He collaborated during a long time with the French magazine "Thèmes-64" and afterwards with "Phénix" where he used to edit the Orthodox section and contributed with the regular history-oriented column "Il y a quarante ans" (Forty years ago).

Morice, Jean
British Chess Problem Society, 1960
1^st Prize