September 18th

Ottavio Stocchi (18-09-1906 - 04-03-1964) Italian composer

Ottavio Stocchi
[Wikipedia]

Ottavio Stocchi mostly composed direct mates in 2 and was a leading twomover composer in the 1950s. He was also an International Judge and he left his name to a twomover theme.
Stocchi theme: Triple avoidance (n-fold avoidance) on self-blocks (at least three) played on the same square.
Oscar Bonivento compiled and commented his problems in "Raccolta completa dei 933 problemi di Ottavio Stocchi. Diagrammi e commenti dei 111 Primi Premi" (1995).

Stocchi, Ottavio
Tijdschrift vd KNSB, 1954
2^nd Prize

#2 v

7 + 7

Show Solution

1.Sc4? (2.Rf4#)
1...Be3[a] 2.Bd3#[A]
1...Bc7[b]/Re3[b] 2.Sf2#[B]
1...Rf3 2.Bxf3#
1...e5 2.Sf6#
but 1...Rf1!
1.Sd1! (2.Rf4#)
1...Be3[a] 2.Sc3#[D]
1...Re3[b]/Bc7[b] 2.Sdf2#[C]
1...Rf3 2.Bxf3#
1...e5 2.Sf6#
Grimshaw.

Stocchi, Ottavio
L'Italia Scacchistica, 1937
1^st Prize

#2

9 + 9

Show Solution

1.Bg8 ! (2.Rf5#)

1...Re6 2.Sb4#
1...Be6 2.Ra5#
1...e6 2.Rd4#

Three self-blocks on e6 with dual avoidance effects (line opening for Black).
1...Ke6 2.Rxf8#
1...e5 2.Rxd7#
1...Re5 2.Qxe5#

Ivan Halic (18-09-1910 - 08-07-1978) Romanian composer

Ivan Halic was a Romanian chess champion of the inter-war period and he composed at least one endgame study.

Halic, Ivan
Revista de Şah, 1929 (0158)

=

5 + 6

Show Solution

1. axb6 g2
{1... Kxb6 2. Be3+ Kb5 3. Kf5 g2 4. Kxg4 =}
2. Be3 g1=Q 3. Bxg1 Bxg1 4. Kf5 g3 5. Kg4 Bh2 6. b7 g2 7. Kh3 g1=Q 8. b8=Q+ Bxb8 stalemate

Kurt Friedrich Laib (18-09-1912 - 1989) German composer

Kurt Laib was a direct mate composer.

Laib, Kurt Friedrich
Deutsche Schachbund, 1934
1^st Prize

#2

9 + 7

Show Solution

1.Rb3? (2.Rxe6#) but 1...c6!
1.Rf3? (2.Rxe6#) but 1...Nc6!
1.Rg3? (2.Rxe6#) but 1...Rxc1!
1.Rh3! (2.Rxe6#)

1...Sc6 2.Rh5#
1...Rxc1 2.Qxh2#
1...c6 2.Qb8#

Elegant mates by the wQ.

Rainer Ehlers (18-09-1963 - 07-10-2011) German composer

Rainer Ehlers
[die Schwalbe]

Rainer Ehlers was a direct mate composer.
The obituary written by his brother Carsten, including several problems and many other details, can be read on "die Schwalbe" website (in German).

Ehlers, Rainer
Geburtstagsturnier Bo Lindgren 80 Jahre, Springaren, 2009
1^st Prize

#7

11 + 15

Show Solution

1.Rd1? (2.Rd5#) d5 2.exd5!? (3.Qc4/Qd4#) 2...Bxh4! 3.d6 (4.Rxc6/Rd5#) 3...g2+ 4.Ke2 g1=S+! 5.Sxg1 Rg2+!
Other tries (1.Qg3?) are detailed here.
1.Bd4+ ! Kd6 2.Bc5+ Kxc5 3.e5 Bxh4 4.O-0-0 d5 5.exd6 e.p.!
and now 5...R8xd6 6.Rxc6+ Rxc6 7.Rd5# or 5...Rgxd6 6.Rd5+ Rxd5 7.Rxc6#
An interesting Plachutta interference by the en-passant capture. The bBg5 is decoyed to the 'bad' diagonal h4-e1 thanks to the passive sacrifice of the wQ.
Promotion + castle + en-passant capture = Valladao task.

Oskar Korschelt (18-09-1853 - 04-07-1940) German composer

Oskar Korschelt was a chemist and chess collector who gathered around 100,000 problems.
He also introduced the game of Go to Europe. He is said to have composed "einige Stücke" but we have not found any.