August 26th

Сергей Михайлович Каминер (26-08-1908 - 02-11-1938) Russian composer (Sergey Mikhailovich Kaminer)

Sergey Kaminer
[Wikipedia]

Sergey Kaminer composed endgame studies (and one helpmate). In 1937 he left a notebook with all his studies to his friend Mikhail Botvinnik, who revealed their existence in the 1950s after Stalin's death.
Rafael Kofman's 1981 book "Izbrannye etjudy" contains Kaminer's 75 studies. And JMRW reproduces 30 of Kaminer's studies on his website.

Каминер, Сергей Михайлович
«64» 1935 (679)
2^nd Prize

+

5 + 6

Show Solution

1. Se7+ Kxc5
{1... Kd4 2. Sxc4}
2. Sb7+ Kd4
{2... Kb6 3. Bxc4 Kxb7 4. Bxe6}
{2... Kb4 3. Sd5+ Kb5 4. Sc3+ (4. Kc3 ? Kc6 ! 5. Bxc4 Kxb7=) 4... Kb6 (4... Kb4 5. Sa2+ Kb5 6. Kc3) 5. Bxc4 Sd4+ 6. Kd3 Sc6 7. Sa4+ Kxb7 8. Bd5 a5 9. Kc4 Ka6 10. Sc5+ Kb6 11. Sd7+ Ka6 12. Bxc6 and White wins; some might consider that this should be the main line of the study.}
3. Sc6+ Kd5 4. Bf3#

Олександр Гнатович Жук (26-08-1946) Ukrainian composer (Oleksandr Gnatovich Zhuk)

Oleksandr Zhuk
[popovgl.narod.ru]

Oleksandr Zhuk composes direct mates and helpmates.

Жук, Олександр Гнатович
Уральский проблемист 2010 (62/654)

h#4

2 solutions

5 + 9

Show Solution

1. c3 bxc3 2. b2 Ka2 3. b1=R Qxd3 4. Rb8 Qa6#
1. f2 Qh5 2. f1=R+ Qd1 3. Rf7 Qg4 4. Ra7 Qc8#
Echo mates.

Guus Rol (26-08-1949) Dutch composer

Guus Rol composes endgame studies and retro problems. He is also interested in the game of Go.
You may enjoy his fourmover (with the disruption sacrifice in key 1.Qc8+! and in try 1.Rb8+?). His style is generally quite analytical:

Rol, Guus
Schakend Nederland, 30^th Nov 1983
2^nd-3^rd Prize

=

4 + 5

Show Solution

1. O-O+ ! Kg5
{1... Kxe4 2. Re1+ Kf5 3. Kh2 Bg7 4. Kg3 Bh6 5. Rf1+ Kg5 6. Rf4}
2. e5 ! Bd4+ !
{2... Bxe5 3. Re1 Bd4+ 4. Kh2 ! Kf5 5. Kg3 Bg7 6. Rf1+ Kg5 7. Re1 e5 8. Re4 =}
3. Kh1 g3 4. g7 g2+ 5. Kh2 Bxe5+ 6. Rf4 ! Bxg7
{6... Bxf4+ 7. Kxh3 g1=S+ 8. Kg2 ; 6... Kxf4 7. g8=Q Bd4 8. Qf7+}
7. Re4 Bc3 8. Rxe6 Kf5 9. Re3 Be5+ 10. Rg3 ! Bxg3+ 11. Kxh3 g1=Q/R stalemate
This is a short version of the solution. All variations and explanations about the sacrifices can be found on YACPDB.

Axel Steinbrink (26-08-1954) German composer

Axel Steinbrink
[Facebook profile]

Axel Steinbrink organizes solving tourneys and will be the director of the 36th World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC) at Kobe in September 2012.
He also occasionally composes problems.

Steinbrink, Axel
Sarajevo, 1984
3^rd Prize

h#2

b) wSe7->bSe7 c) wRe8->bRe8

4 + 2

Show Solution

a) 1.d2 Sf5+ 2.Kd3 Re3#
b) 1.Kd4 Kf3 2.Sd5 Re4#
c) 1.Rd8 Kg3 2.Rd4 Re1#
Helpmate paradox (new mates when white units become black).

Vlaicu Crişan (26-08-1973) Romanian composer and International Master

Vlaicu Crişan, 2010

Vlaicu Crişan is already well-known for his successes in prestigious tourneys: for instance in the Olympic Tourney, 1st place in the fairy section 2012 and 2nd place in the Retro section 2012 1st place in the fairy section 2010 and 1st place in the Helpmate section 2008. He obtained the FM title in 2013.
He also collaborates with magazines "Quartz" with Paul Raican or Japanese "Problem Paradise" as fairy editor. He is the co-organizer and judge of the yearly Tzuica tourney, with Eric Huber (by the way, this year's announcement is here).

Romanian readers can discover his 2010 interview by Dinu-Ioan Nicula on the site of the Romanian Chess Federation where he provides details about his career as a Romanian chess composer.

Vlaicu is also a very good solver (International Master) who won the Solving Show at Wageningen 2001.

Vlaicu can compose in all genres, but he has recently specialized mostly in fairy problems (especially helpselfmates) and retro problems (especially Proca Retractors with fairy conditions AntiCirce or Circe Assassins).

Crişan, Vlaicu
Rusenescu MT, 1992
Comm.

#3

9 + 10

Show Solution

1.Bf5-g4 ! (2.Rd3-f3+ Be4xf3 3.Qb3xf3#)
1...Be4xd3 2.Se7-g6+ Bd3xg6 3.Qb3-f3# or 2...Kf4-g3 3.Sf2-h1# or 2...Qd6xg6 3.Bb8xe5#
1...Qd6xd3 2.Se7-d5+ Qd3xd5 3.Qb3-e3# or 2...Be4xd5 3.Bb8xe5# or 2...Kf4-g3 3.Sf2xe4#
1...Qd6-d5 2.Se7xd5+ Be4xd5 3.Bb8xe5#
Keller paradox: White moves to a square just controlled (or controlled again) by Black.
This problem has a peculiar history: Vlaicu refined it during 3 years, as it was the first problem he was composing. He had it published in 1992, but received only a Commendation, because the judge had found it some imaginary flaws. The problem was however retained for the FIDE Album 1989-92...

Crişan, Vlaicu
1^st place
FIDE Olympic Tournament 2012

hs#3   b) Pf2 – d7  (7+12)
Take & Make
Vao – a2
Pao – a4
Equistoppers – h6,h7

Take & Make: the capturing piece must play another move immediately, playing like to piece that it has just captured. The second move cannot be a capture.
Vao and Pao are Chinese pieces that move like Bishop, respectively Rook, but can capture only beyond a hurdle.
Equistopper: it moves to any square that is exactly halfway towards any other unit of either colour, which must (naturally) be an even number of rows (ranks and files) away orthogonally.

Show Solution

In order to appreciate the solutions, play them on the board.
a) 1.Rxe6-c8 Sxc5-b3 2.Kxh7-e5 Rxf5-d6 3.Bxd6-a6+ Kxd3-b4#
b) 1.Bxf4-f1 Sxd3-b4 2.Kxh6-e5 Bxf5-e3 3.Rxe3-c1+ Kxc5-b3#
Note the perfect orthogonal-diagonal transformation between the two twins and the corresponding positions on the last move.
Position in a) after 1.Rxe6-c8 Sxc5-b3 2.Kxh7-e5 Rxf5-d6 3.Bxd6-a6+ :
the only move by the bK in double check is to capture the wS and then the only vacant and unguarded square is b4.

 Position in twin b) after 1.Bxf4-f1 Sxd3-b4 2.Kxh6-e5 Bxf5-e3 3.Rxe3-c1+:
the only move by the bK in double check is to capture the wS and then the only vacant and unguarded square is b3.

 

Comment by the judge:

Not only the actions and lines are fairly transformed from orthogonals to diagonals and vice versa as is

often the case. There are exchanges of functions between pairs of units and there are even six such pairs! Further the critical positions involve double checks by wR/wB and en prise white knights available for bK, with the only Make square possible as landing one, firing equistopper mirror mates with board (suddenly) much more empty, especially in the middle. All moves are Take&Make captures making full use of the power of captured pieces, even if they do not move during solution.