August 20th

Samuel M. Joseph (20-08-1847 - 1910) American composer

Samuel Joseph composed direct mates.

Joseph, Samuel M.
Brighton Society, 1895
1^st Prize

#2

10 + 9

Show Solution

1.Ba1! ZZ

1...Rh2/Rh1/Rh4/Rh5/Rh6/Rh7/Rh8/Rg3 2.Sg3#
1...Rf3 2.Re5#
1...Sh4/Sf4/Se1 2.Rf4#
1...Bg7/Bh6/Be7 2.Qe7#
1...Bd6 2.Kd7#
1...Bxc5 2.Kxc5#
1...Ra3/Ra2/Rxa1/Rxa5/Rb4 2.Qb4#
1...Rc4 2.Kb5#
1...Rd4 2.Sc3#
1...Sb6 2.Kxb6#
1...Sc7 2.Kxc7#
1...Qc2 2.Bxc2#
1...Qxb1 2.Qxb1#

A surprising zugzwang key.

B.J.M. Markx (20-08-1874 - ?) Dutch composer

B.J.M.Markx composed direct mates and selfmates.
Here are two selfmates worthy of your attention:

Markx, B. J. M.
Tijdschrift van den NSB, 1926 (4624)

s#4

9 + 4

Show Solution

1. Rg8 ! ZZ

1...f6 2. Sgf7 f5 3. Sh8 f4 4. Ba7+ Bxg8#
1...f5 2. Kh8 f4 3. Sh7 f3 4. Bc7+ Rxg8#

The step of the f-pawn determines the black unit that will be unpinned at the last move and White must prepare the mate according to this foreseen unpinning.
Dual avoidance at the last white move.

Markx, B. J. M.
Tijdschrift van den NSB, 1926 (4681)
1^st Prize

s#6

7 + 5

Show Solution

1. Ba1! ZZ
1...b5 2. Re5+ Kf6+ 3. Re3+ Kg5 4. Ra3 b4 5. Ra2 b3 6. Rb2 Kf6#
Spectacular - and rather mysterious - critical move by the white Bishop at the first move (and accessorily the second key 1.Ba1! today). The manoeuvre by the white Rook is forced by the advance of the black pawn. The two moves 2.Re5+/3.Re3+ are a subtle touch.

Gligor Denkovski (20-08-1946 - 15-01-2015) Macedonian composer

Gligor Denkovski

Gligor Denkovski composed in all genres. His favourite field is retro problems; his booklet "My Retro Problems" including 50 of his best retro works can be downloaded in PDF format from here.
Together with his son Ivan, Gligor was the director of ISC 2014 & 2015, as well as regular director of Open Solving Championships of Serbia last years. (Short obit by Marjan Kovačević)

Denkovski, Gligor
Liga Problemista, 1982 (3/)
1^st Place

h#3

2 solutions

3 + 8

Show Solution

1.Bb6-a5 Sb5-c7 2.b7-b5 Se3-f5 3.Ba5-b6 Sc7-a6#
1.Rc6-c7 Sb5-d6 2.Qd7-b5 Se3-c2 3.Rc7-c6 Sd6xb7#
Black opens a line (for the b-pawn in the first solution, for the Queen in the second solution) and the Black unit returns to its initial square.

Валерий Альбертович Сурков (20-08-1965) Russian composer (Valery Albertovich Surkov)

Valery Surkov, 2007
[source]

Valery Surkov is a very prolific composer from Ryazan.
His favourite stipulation is selfmate and his problems were shown on his own website [broken link].
Valery is also present on LiveJournal or on Facebook and YouTube.

Сурков, Валерий Альбертович
U.S. Problem Bulletin, 1994

s#8

SetPlay

5 + 2

Show Solution

Set play: 1. ... Kg6 2. g8=R+ Kh6 3. Qf8+ Rg7 4. Sde4 Kg6 5. Qf5+ Kh6 6. Qh7+ Rxh7#
1. Sb7 ! Kg6 2. g8=R+ Kh6 3. Re8 Kg6 4. Qd6+ Kf7 5. Re7+ Kf8 6. Rh7+ Ke8 7. Qe6+ Kf8 8. Qg8+ Rxg8#
Echo mates on h7 and g8.