October 24th

Miroslav Soukup (24-10-1903 - 1981) Czech composer

Miroslav Soukup
[Vaclav Kotesovec]

Miroslav Soukup composed direct mates and selfmates. Vaclav Kotesovec dedicated a page of his site to M.Soukup where he detailed the list of his editorial achievements: columns for chess magazines such as "Československi šach", books dedicated to fellow composers. Such as an homage "Josef Cumpe - Věrný Čech" (1943) can be downloaded from here.

Soukup, Miroslav
Parallèle 50, 1948
1^st Prize

#7

8 + 9

Show Solution

1.Rg8! (2.Rg1 (3.Ra1#))
1...Qg7 2.h3 Qg3 3.h4 Qg7 4.h5 Qg3 5.h6

5...Qg7 6.hxg7 (7.Sc7#) Rxa8 7.Rxa8#
5....Qf4/Qe5/Qh2/Qd6 6.Rg1 (7.Ra1#) Qf1/Qe1/Qh1/Qxg1 7.Sc7#

Soukup, Miroslav
Pauly MT, 1934
1^st Prize

s#5

12 + 7

Show Solution

1.Bd5-c6 ! ZZ

1...Sh4-f5 2.Rh1-f1 h5-h4 3.Rf1-f3 h4-h3 4.Bc6xa4 Ra3xa4+ 5.Qe3-d4+ Ra4xd4#
1...Sh4-f3 2.Qe3-f2 h5-h4 3.Rh1-g1 h4-h3 4.Ke4-e3 Kf6-f5 5.Rb2-e2 b3-b2#
1...Sh4-g2/g6 2.Qe3-f3+ Sg2-f4 3.Rh1-e1 h5-h4 4.Re1-e3 h4-h3 5.Bc6xa4 Ra3xa4#

Difficult and beautiful variations.

Пётр Тихонович Головков (24-10-1931 - 01-04-1999) Russian composer (Piotr Tikhonovich Golovkov)

Piotr Golovkov composed direct mates and helpmates.

Головков, Пётр Тихонович
Olympia-Turnier, 1974
2^nd Prize

#13

3 + 4

Show Solution

1. Bg7!
1...Rb2 2. Be4 Rg2 3. Be5 Rb2 4. Bd4 c6 5. Bf6 Rf2 6. Be5 Rb2 7. Bd4 c5 8. Be5 c4 9. Bd4 Rb3+ 10. Kxc4+ Rb2 11. Kc3 Rb8 12. Kc2+ Rb2+ 13. Bxb2#

Головков, Пётр Тихонович
Komsomols-Thematurnier, 1976
1^st Prize

#4

11 + 5

Show Solution

1.Re4-a4 ! ZZ

1...d6xc5 2.Bg6-f7 c5-c4 3.Bf7xc4 Kh4xg4 4.Bc4-e2#
1...d6-d5 2.Kb2-c3 d5-d4+ 3.Kc3xd4 Kh4xg4 4.Kd4-e3#
1...d6xe5 2.Sa2-c3 e5-e4 3.Sc3xe4 Kh4xg4 4.Se4-d2#

Three unified variations after a critical move as a key.

Holger Helledie (24-10-1951 - 24-11-2019) Danish composer

Holger Helledie composed in all genres.
He wrote with Leif Schmidt "Danske miniaturer: 284 udvalgte skakopgaver".
He was the solutions editor of "Thema Danicum".

Helledie, Holger
British Chess Magazine, 1974
Prize

ser-h#17

5 + 8

Show Solution

1. c1=B 2. Ba3 3. Kb2 4. c3 5. c2 6. c1=S 7. Se2 8. Sg1 9. h1=R 10. Rh2 11. Rg2 12. h2 13. h1=Q 14. Qh7 15. Se2 16. Sc1 17. Qb1 f7#
A neat Allumwandlung.

Израиль Давидович Каценеленбоген (24-10-1898 - 09-1941) Russian composer (Israel Davidovich Katzenelenbogen)

Israel Katzenelenbogen
[Source: Задачи и этюды 5/1928]

Katzenelenbogen composed direct mates.
He was a cornerstone of the Russian magazine Zadachi y Etyudy in the period 1928-1930.
More about him can be read in Yakhov Rossomakho's article in Zadachi y Etyudy 58/2012.

Каценеленбоген, Израиль Давидович
2^nd Prize
Шахматный листок, 1927

#2

11 + 5

Show Solution

1.Sfe5! (2.Qc4#)
1...Bxe5 2.Se3#
1...Rxe5 2.Qd7#
1...Ke6 2.Sf6#
1...Kd4 2.Qd3#
Novotny, flight-giving key