November 26th

Carl Kockelkorn (26-11-1843 - 16-07-1914) German composer

Carl Kockelkorn and Johannes Kohtz published their first common chess problem when they were 17 and being in total accord after a short while they decided to publish their problems as co-productions. After Carl Kockelkorn died in 1914, Kohtz still published his problems under both authors names.

Together they founded the logical school of chess composition, in reaction against the old German school founded by Johann Berger.

Kohtz, Johannes & Kockelkorn, Carl
The Times, 26^th Sep 1902 (No.176)

#3

8 + 4

Show Solution

1. R3h1! ZZ (Indian)
1... Kg5 2. Bh2 ZZ 2... Kg4, Kxh6 3. Rg1, Bf4#
Other variations:
1... g5 2. Bh2+ Kg4 3. Rg1#
1... Kg4/Kg3 2. Rxg6+ Kf4 3. Bh2/Rh4#

José Paluzíe y Lucena (26-11-1860 - 22-01-1938) Spanish composer

José Paluzíe y Lucena
[in "Iberia", 1927]

José Paluzíe y Lucena composed mostly threemovers, wrote a 6-volume "Manual de Ajedrez para uso de los principiantes" (1905-1912) and a book about chess composer Valentin Marin: "Un artista del Ajedrez" which has the peculiarity of being a bilingual Spanish-Esperanto edition.

Paluzíe Y Lucena, José
Good Companion, Nov 1923
2^nd Prize

#3

6 + 8

Show Solution

1.Sd4-f5 ! (2.Qb6-b5+ Kd5-e4 3.Sh5-f6/d2-d3#)

1...e6xf5 2.Sh5-f6+ Kd5-e5 3.d2-d4# (Chameleon echo mates with the threat mate)
1...Bf4xd2/Bf4-e3/Bf4-d6 2.Qb6-d6+ Kd5-e4 3.Sh5-g3#
1...Bf4-e5 2.Sf5-e7+ Kd5-e4 3.Qb6-e3#
1...Kd5-e5/Kd5-e4 2.Qb6-d4+ Ke5xf5 3.Qd4xf4#

Filip Jakob Petersen (26-11-1924 - 11-07-1990) Danish composer

Filip Petersen
[Problemskak]

Filip Petersen was a poet and his "Brikkerne" (1985) included both poems and chess problems.
He composed direct mates, endgame studies, helpmates and retro problems.

Petersen, Filip Jakob
53^rd TT DSK, 1976
1^st Prize

#4

7 + 5

Show Solution

1.e4-e5 ! ZZ
1...d7-d5 2.e5xd6 e.p. e6-e5 3.e2-e4! d4xe3 e.p. 4.c2-c4#
Two en-passant captures in a King&Pawns problems.

Petersen, Filip Jakob
Thema Danicum, 1979
1^st Prize

#2

7 + 4

Show Solution

1.Sd8! (2.Qg5#)

1...Qxe6/Qxd8 2.c6#
1...Qxc5+ 2.Rxc5#
1...Bxe6 2.cxb6#

Nietvelt theme: The black Queen selfpins itself because the threat must unpin it by withdrawal. The selfpinning is used thereafter by 2.c6#.

Beat Neuenschwander (26-11-1958) Swiss composer

Beat Neuenschwander, Rotterdam 1991
[Wikimedia]

Beat Neuenschwander composes endgame studies.

Neuenschwander, Beat
Heuacker MT, 1981
3^rd Commendation

+

5 + 7

Show Solution

1.Qe5+ Kb7 2.Qe4+
{2.bxa6+ ? Kxa6 =}
2...Kb8 3.Qf4+ Kb7 4.Qf3+ Kb8 5.Qg3+ Kb7 6.Qg2+ Kb8 7.Qh2+ Kb7 8.Qh1+ Kb8 9.Qh8+ Kb7 10.bxa6+ Sxa6
{and now that square b5 has been freed with tempo gain, the Queen must go all the way back}
11.Qh1+ Kb8 12.Qh2+ Kb7 13.Qg2+ Kb8 14.Qg3+ Kb7 15.Qf3+ Kb8 16.Qf4+ Kb7 17.Qe4+ Kb8 18.Qe5+ Kb7 19.Qb5#
Classical staircase manoeuvre.

Joaquim Crusats (26-11-1966) Spanish (Catalan) composer and FIDE Master

Joaquim Crusats

Joaquim Crustas has published his problems on his blog "My chess problems" and some of his problems published in 2009 can be found in this PDF file.
He composes direct mates (sometimes in collaboration with Steven Dowd), constructional problems or retro problems (in collaboration with Andrey Frolkin).

Crusats, Joaquim & Фролкін, Андрій Миколайович
Die Schwalbe, 2009 (14315)
5^th Prize

Proca Retractor (-17) & #1

11 + 11

Show Solution

The main plan fails to Black's O-O# forward defense.

Main plan: -1.Kf6-f5? Se7-g8 -2.Kg7-f6 and 1.Bd7#, but this fails on the forward defense -1...Se7-g8 and 1...O-O!#

Solution: -1.g2xBh3 g4-g3 -2.Ra2xBc2!
[Now Black can't uncapture anything, because the pawn structure and promoted Bishop need 5 captures.]
-2...Bd1-c2 -3.Bc3xRa5! Ra4-a5 -4.Ke4-f5 Ra5-a4 -5.Kd5-e4 Ra4-a5 -6.Kc4-d5 Ra5-a4 -7.Kb5-c4 Ra4-a5 -8.Kb4-b5 Ra5-a4 -9.Rd2xSa2 Sc1-a2
[Because of this move, the white Bishop had to come from c3 on the 3rd move] -10.Kb5-b4 Ra4-a5 -11.Kc4-b5 Ra5-a4 -12.c2xQb3 Qb2-b3 -13.Kd5-c4 Ra4-a5 -14.Ke4-d5 Ra5-a4 -15.Kf5-e4 Ra4-a5 -16.Kf6-f5
[and because of the forward defense Qb2xc3#, the white Rook had to go to d2 on the 9th move. Because there are 16 black pieces on the board, the white e-pawn had to promote on e8, so no forward defense O-O now!]
-16...Se7-g8 -17.Kg7-f6 & 1.Bd7#
Comments by Joaquim Crusats on PDB.