October 13th

František Dedrle (13-10-1878 - 28-05-1957) Czech composer

František Dedrle
[encyklopedie.brna.cz]

John D. Beasley presented this composer in BESN Special Issue 31 where he also gave a few of his studies with commented solution and which can be read with pleasure:

"The Moravian composer and analyst František Dedrle (1878- 1957) was an all-rounder whose interests embraced problems, studies, and endgame theory. Problemists know him from "Böhmische Schachminiaturen" (1922), from his introduction (in English) to A. C. White's book "Bohemian Garnets" on the problems of Miroslav Havel (1923), and from his trilingual book "Echo" (1927). His writings on the endgame included an article on Drtina's theory of critical squares in pawn endings (1919) and a book "Studie" (1925) containing 150 studies with detailed analysis (...)"

He was also an International Judge.
Read "Böhmische Schachminiaturen" here.
For more details about the Dedrle brothers František and Cyril, please read Siegfried Hornecker's article on ChessBase.

Dedrle, František
British Chess Federation 20^th Tourney, 1935
2^nd Prize

#3

9 + 10

Show Solution

1.d6-d7 ! (2.d7-d8=S+ Ke6xf5 3.Qb4-f4#)

1...Ke6xf5 2.Qb4xg4+ Kf5xe5 3.Bg5-f4#
1...f6xe5 2.Qb4-e7+ Ke6xf5, Sg8xe7 3.e2-e4, Rf5-f6#
1...f6xg5 2.Se5xg4 ZZ 2...Ke6xf5 3.Qb4-e4# or 2...g6xf5 3.d7-d8=S# or 2...Sg8-e7 3.Rf5-f6#

Model mates.

Dedrle, František
80 Eindspelstudies, 1926

+

3 + 3

Show Solution

1.Kxb6? does not work on account of 1...Kg4 and Black captures wPg2 and promotes.
1. Kc6 ! Kg4 2. Kd6 ! Kg3 3. Ke5 Kg4 4. Kf6 Kh4 5. Kf5 Kg3 6. Kg5 +-
What is notable is the try 1.Kd6? Kh6! 2.Kc6 Kg5! (same position as after 1.Kc6!) which highlights the position of mutual zugzwang occurring after 1.Kc6.

Николай Иванович Сподин (13-10-1946 - 18-03-1976) Russian composer (Nikolay Ivanovich Spodin)

Nikolay Spodin composed direct mates.

Сподин, Николай Иванович
Hlas ľudu, 1971
2^nd Prize

#4

9 + 3

Show Solution

1.Rd8! ZZ
1...b5 2.Bd7! Kd5 3.Bxb5+ Kе4 4.Bd3#
1...b6 2.Bс8! b5 3.Rd7! Kxf5 4.Rd4#
Two reciprocal Indians.

Andreas Buckenhofer (13-10-1967) German composer

Andreas Buckenhofer composes helpmates and fairy problems.

Buckenhofer, Andreas
Problemkiste, 1989
1^st Prize

h=16.5

Circe b4, e4, c3, a2, g2, d1, f1, h1: Grasshopper

1 + 16

Show Solution

1... Kf2 2. Rh6 Kg3 3. Ba6 Kg4 4. Bd6 Kg5 5. Gh7 Kxh6[+bRh8] 6. Gd7 Kg6 7. Gg7 Kf6 8. Gf7 Ke6 9. Ge7 Kxd6[+bBf8] 10. Rg8 Kc6 11. Gc7 Kb6 12. Gb7 Kxa6[+bBc8] 13. Ga7 Kb5 14. Sc4 Kxc4 15. Qd3+ Kxd3[+bQd8] 16. Se2 Kxe2 17. Re1 Kxe1[+bRh8]=
The final position is very similar with the array position, with all black Pawns transformed into Grasshoppers and the Black pieces suitably blocked.

Peter Grunder (13-10-1924 - 03-01-2012) Swiss composer

Peter Grunder between Andreas Schönholzer and Adrian Beutlerand
and behind Hans Jakob Schudel
at the first meeting of the Swiss Chess Problemists Association in 1974
[Kunstschach.ch]

Peter Grunder composed directmates, helpmates, selfmates and fairy problems (often with fairy condition Circe). His best #3 is quoted in the Swiss anthology "Kunstschach in der Schweiz - Les Echecs artistiques en Suisse" and two of his Circe selfmates were quoted in the collection "Inverses Circés Remarquables" (Remarkable Circe Selfmates) by Paul Raican.

Grunder, Peter
Schweizerische Schachzeitung, 1992

h#2

4 solutions

3 + 5

Show Solution

1.♘c3 ♖b2 2.♘d5 ♖c1#
1.♘b4 ♖c2 2.♘d5 ♖b1#
1.♖b3 ♖e7 2.♖b7 ♖f6#
1.♖c3 ♖e6 2.♖c6 ♖f7#
How to unpin two white Rooks elegantly.