October 18th

Helmut Lenhart (18-10-1919 - ?) German composer

Helmut Lenhart composed direct mates.

Lenhart, Helmut
Weser-Ems, 1949
1^st Prize

#2

9 + 9

Show Solution

1.Rb1! (2.Sb7#)

1...Rd5 2.Qb4#
1...Rd4 2.Qxd4#
1...Sd5/Bb3 2.Sb3#
1...Bd5 2.Bd4#

Herpai theme.

Robert Sinclair Brieger (18-10-1925 - 26-04-2012) American composer

Robert Sinclair Brieger
[legacy.com]

Robert Brieger was a chess player who composed direct mate problems, helpmates and endgames. He recently passed away and his obituary published in Houston Chronicle can be read here.

Brieger, Robert Sinclair
New Statesman, 1968
3^rd Honorable Mention

+

7 + 5

Show Solution

1.Kf8+ Bxd7 2.Sxd7 g1=Q 3.Rg4 Qxg4 4.Sxf6+ Kh8 5.Sxg4 Sxd3 6.b3 Sc1 7.b4 Sa2 8.b5 Sc3 9.b6 Sa4 10.b7 Sc5 11.b8=S ! Se6+ 12.Kf7 Sg7 13.Sd7 Sxh5 14.Sf8 Sf6 15.Se5 ~ 16.Seg6#
An eventful study.

Дмитрий Николаевич Банный (18-10-1932 - 10-08-1997) Russian composer and FIDE Master (Dmitry Nikolayevich Banny)

Dmitry Banny composed mostly twomovers. He gave his name to a famous twomover theme.
Banny theme: 1.A? a! 1.B? b! 1.X! 1...a,b 2.B, A#
The cyclic variant of the Banny theme is presented here.

Банный, Дмитрий Николаевич
Шахматная Москва 1966
1^st Prize

#2

13 + 8

Show Solution

The white Queen must free square c4 for the threat 2.Sc4, but where should she go?
1.Qa6? b5!; 1.Qb5? Se5!; 1.Qc3? Se3! ; 1.Qc5? bxc5!
Hence:
1.Qc6! (2.Sc4#)

1...Se3 2.Bc4#
1...Se5 2.b5#
1...b5 2.axb5#

Банный, Дмитрий Николаевич
Šahs/Шахматы (Rīga) 1969
4^th Prize

#2 vv

8 + 6

Show Solution

1.e3[A]? (2.Qg2#)

1...Qe2+ 2.Qxe2#
1...Qf1 2.f6#
but 1...Qe6[a]!

1.e4[B]? (2.Qg2#)

1...Qd3/Qf1 2.f6#
1...Qe2+ 2.Qxe2#
but 1...Qd6[b]!

1.Qd1! (2.Qg1#)

1...Qe6[a] 2.e4#[B]
1...Qd6[b] 2.e3#[A]
1...Qd3 2.exd3#
1...Qxe2+ 2.Qxe2#

Of course, Banny theme.

Waldemar Mażul (18-10-1953 - 15-08-2000) Polish composer and FIDE Master

Waldemar Mażul composed most twomovers (and also a few helpmates, two of them in collaboration with Piotr Murdzia).

Mażul, Waldemar
Magyar Sakkélet, 1997
1^st Prize

#2 vvv

10 + 10

Show Solution

Tries:
1.Qb8? (2.Bb3#[A])
1...Bxc3[b] 2.Sa3#[B] but 1...cxb5[a]!
1.Qh8? (2.Sa3#[B])
1...cxb5[a] 2.Bb3#[A] but 1...Bxc3[b]!
1.Sxc6? (2.Qe6#[C])
1...Se3 2.Qxe4# but 1...Kd5[c]!
Real play:
1.Sd5! (2.Sb6#)

1...cxb5[a]/cxd5 2.Bb3#[A]
1...Bxc3[b] 2.Sa3#[B]
1...Kxd5[c] 2.Qe6#[C]

Dombrovskis paradox, pseudo Le Grand.

Frank Fiedler (18-10-1957) German composer

Frank Fiedler
[euroschach.de]

Frank Fiedler composes direct mates, helpmates and selfmates.

In recognition of the Frank Fiedler's 50th birthday a composition tourney for chess puzzles and chess problems of all kinds was held and was judged by over-the-board players who had an understanding of and interest in chess problems. Their award and other articles by Frank Fiedler were included in the book "Jubiläumsturnier Frank Fiedler - 50 ". The winning problem can be found on Joaquim Crusats' blog.

Fiedler, Frank
TT, Problem-Echo, 1993
2^nd Prize

h#3

2.1.1.1.1.1

3 + 16

Show Solution

1.Bg1-e3 Ke4xd3 2.Kc6-b6 Bf4-e5 3.Kb6-a5 Be5-c7#
1.Rh3-e3+ Ke4xd4 2.Kc6-b7 Rf5-e5 3.Kb7-b8 Re5-b5#
Diagonal-orthogonal correspondence and battery creation, unpinning, dual avoidance, reciprocal interference.

Reinhard Zaiser (18-10-1964) American composer

Reinhard Zaiser
[Facebook profile]

Reinhard Zaiser composes mostly direct mates.

Zaiser, Reinhard
Weinsberg, 1990

#4

10 + 7

Show Solution

1.0-0-0 !
1...c2 2.Rf1 (3.Rf8 ~ 4.Rh8# or 3.Rf4 ~ 4.Rh4# or 3.Rf3 ~ 4.Rh3#)
2...c3 3.Ra4 ZZ 3...Kxg5 4.Bxe3#
Ambush of the white Rook.

Sébastien Luce (18-10-1963) French composer

Sébastien Luce
[Google+ profile]

Sébastien Luce is a very active and prolific composer.
He is also an o.t.b. International Master and a chess trainer.
He has already composed more than 1000 problems. Promotions play an important role in many of his works. He is an unconventional composer who does not hesitate to challenge commonly accepted conventions, for instance in this problem with the illegal initial position.
He also writes many articles in problem magazines, such as this article about Symmetrical Circe and AntiCirce in KoBulChess or other articles in the ChessProblems.ca Bulletin.

Luce, Sébastien
Gaudium, 2015

h#2.5

- Zeroposition - a) bPg4-->e6 b) wKb6-->f2 c) wKb6-->g2 d) wKb6-->c1

4 + 2

Show Solution

a) 1...♘g6 2.♔d5 f8=♖ 3.♔×d6 ♖d8#
b) 1...♘h7 2.♔e5 f8=♘ 3.♔f4 ♘g6#
c) 1...♘d7 2.♔e3 f8=♗ 3.♔f4 ♗h6#
d) 1...♘e6+ 2.♔d3 f8=♕ 3.g3 ♕f3#

White Allumwandlung of wPf8 combined with half-wheel of wSf8, in a miniature setting.

Luce, Sébastien
The Problemist TT 2014
1^st Prize

ser-h#19

AlphabeticChess Contra grasshopper: b8, g5

2 + 10

AlphabeticChess: The squares are considered in the order a1, a2...a8, b1...b8, c1 and so on to h8. At each turn, only the unit standing on the square which comes earliest in this order may move. However check and mate are normal.
Contra-Grasshopper: is a Contra-Hopper(0,1) + Contra-Hopper(1,1), explanations here.

Show Solution

1.a1=CG 2.CGe5 3.b1=CG 4.CGf5 5.b2 6.b1=CG 7.CGe4 8.c1=CG 9.CGe3 10.d1=CG 11.CGg4 12.d4 13.d3 14.d2 15.d1=CG 16.CGf3 17.e1=♖ 18.♖c1 19.♖c7 CGd6#

6 promotions to Contra-Grasshopper and one promotion to Rook.

Léonce Auguste Marcel Lamérat (18-10-1903 - 20-10-1933) French composer

Léonce Lamérat was a French composer born in Algeria. He composed direct mates and was the editor of the chess column of "La Presse Libre d'Alger".

Lamérat, Léonce
1^st Prize ex-aequo
Gazette de Lausanne, 1932

#3

7 + 11

Show Solution

1.♗b3! (2.♕d8+ ♔e6 3.♘×c7#)
1...♖d5 2.♘e3 (3.♘g4#) and 2...♖×g5 3.♗g7# or 2...♗c8 3.♘×d5#
1...♗d5 2.♘e3 (3.♘g4#) and 2...♗e6 3.♕d8# or 2...♖g1 3.♘×d5#
Nice threat with bR pin and nice variations in echo with black selfblocks on g5 and e6.