Chess Composers: December 2012

Sunday, December 30, 2012

December 31st

Joel Fridlizius (31-12-1869 - 06-01-1963) Swedish composer

Joel Fridlizius
[ChessGames]

Joel Fridlizius was a school teacher, a very good chess player, composer and editor of the chess column of the newspaper "Göteborgs Handels- och Sjöfarts-Tidning" (source).
He was specialized in Bohemian threemovers and his best-known work is reproduced below (St. Petersburger Zeitung 1898).
Some of his works can be found in "370 Udvalda Svenska Schackproblem" by Johan August Ros, 1901 (source of the information and games by J.Fridlizius on ChessGames.com).

Fridlizius, Joel
St. Petersburger Zeitung, 1898
1^st Prize

#3

8 + 9

Fridlizius, Joel
Trollhättans Schacksällskap, 1918
1^st Prize

#3

9 + 4

Fridlizius, Joel
Zlatá Praha, 1908
1^st Prize

#3

6 + 8

Saturday, December 29, 2012

December 30th

Friedrich Beck (30-12-1906 - ?) German composer

Friedrich Beck composed mostly twomovers.

Beck, Friedrich
Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1944
3^rd Prize

#2*

6 + 8

Friday, December 28, 2012

December 29th

Joseph Alonzo Potter (29-12-1837 - 30-07-1859) American composer

Joseph Alonzo Potter, Scientific American Supplement, 1878.07.27
[Chess Archaeology]

According to these Proceedings:

[Joseph Alonzo Potter] was an invalid from early youth, and consequently did not engage much in the active duties of boyhood, but was induced to lead the life of a retired student. In 1856 he first played a game of chess, the study of which became his delight and hobby. In January 1857, he received the Chess Monthly, when he dates his chess life ; and from that time to his death he was absorbed in its history and science, whenever health would permit. He composed problems, corresponded extensively with chess scholars — edited for eight months a chess column in the American Union, and during his chess life wrote or received over 1000 letters on the subject and left over 100 original chess problems.

Potter, Joseph Alonzo
American Chess-Nuts, 1868 (3-moves / 664)

#3

5 + 5

Thursday, December 27, 2012

December 28th

William W. Greenwood (28-12-1836 - 11-07-1922) British composer

William Greenwood was a Good Companion composer. He composed mostly direct movers, but also selfmates.

Greenwood, William W.
English Chess Problems, 1876

#3

5 + 1

Greenwood, William W.
The British Chess Magazine, Jan 1916

s#2

9 + 16

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

December 27th

Frank W. Martindale (27-12-1854 – 27-10-1909) American composer

Frank W. Martindale
[Chess problems, HathiTrust Digital Library]

Frank Martindale learnt the rules of chess at 17 and the next year already published a book including 100 of his problems ("Chess Problems", O.A.Brownson, Dubuque Chess Journal, 1872).

Martindale, Frank W.
Maryland Chess Review, 1874

#3

6 + 4

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

December 26th

Joseph Ney Babson (26-12-1852 - 20-12-1929) American composer

Joseph Babson
[ChessProblem.net]

Joseph Babson, 1882
[Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery]
Thanks to P.Hoffmann and Z.Kornin for the link

Joseph Babson composed mainly selfmates.
His name has remained forever associated to the task of the 4 reciprocal white and black promotions: he imagined this idea in 1913 and it was the theme of the Babson tourney in 1925. Tim Krabbé's article "Sons of Babson" is well remembered by chess problem aficionados and can be read here.

Babson, Joseph Ney
American Chess Bulletin, 1925

s#3

14 + 9

Monday, December 24, 2012

December 25th

William Anthony Shinkman (25-12-1847 - 25-05-1933) American composer

William Shinkman
[Wikipedia]

William Shinkman was a very prolific composer (more than 3,500 problems), 672 of them in "The Golden Argosy" which can be downloaded and read from here.
His surprising and paradoxical keys owed him the surname of "the Wizard of Grand Rapids". He composed many classics.
More about him on ChessProblem.net by Gary Kevin Ware.

Shinkman, William Anthony
Huddersfield College Magazine, Oct 1877
1^st Prize

#2

5 + 4

Shinkman, William Anthony
St. John's Globe, 1890
1^st Prize

#3

5 + 6

Shinkman, William Anthony
Deutsche Schachzeitung, Sep 1893

#4

5 + 2

Shinkman, William Anthony
Sunny South, 1891
2^nd Prize

s#3

7 + 8

Sunday, December 23, 2012

December 24th

Eduard Mazel (24-12-1859 - 27-12-1943) Czech composer

Eduard Mazel
[Wikimedia]

Eduard Mazel composed direct mates in the Bohemian style.

Mazel, Eduard
Paleček, 1882 (38)

#3

10 + 13

Saturday, December 22, 2012

December 23rd

Richard Teichmann (23-12-1868 - 12-06-1925) German composer

Richard Teichmann
[Wikipedia]

Richard Teichmann was a strong player at the beginning of the 20th century.
Edward Winter notices that his birthday was erroneously given as December 24th, but was corrected in various obituaries published in Germany, for example "Deutsches Wochenschach" 21 June 1925.
He also composed direct mates, sometimes in collaboration with Emanuel Lasker or with Maximilian Feigl.

Teichmann, Richard
Reprodukce, 1908

#3

10 + 9

Friday, December 21, 2012

December 22nd

Dawid Przepiórka (22-12-1880 - ~~27-08-1942~~ 04-1940) Polish composer and FIDE Master

Dawid Przepiórka
[Wikipedia]

Dawid Przepiórka was a chess player and composed mostly strategic moremovers. A compilation of his compositions was published by Henri Weenink in 1932 "D. Przepiórka: a Master of Strategy".
He collaborated with the Polish magazine "Swiat sachowy" from 1926 to 1935.

Przepiórka, Dawid
Teplitz-Schönauer Anzeiger, 1921
1^st Prize

#3

7 + 8

Thursday, December 20, 2012

December 21st

John Gilbert Nix (21-12-1843 - 17-02-1911) American composer

John Gilbert Nix sent this photo, inscribed 'At my daily work', on a postcard to Alain White.
[Cleveland Public Library Digital Gallery]

John Nix composed direct mates and selfmates.

Nix, John Gilbert
Dufresne: Sammlung leichterer Schachaufgaben (2. Teil)
1882 (96)

#3

6 + 6

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

December 20th

Karl Kaul (20-12-1906 - 21-04-1985) German composer

Karl Kaul
[Kartothek A-K page 156]

Karl Kaul composed direct mates and selfmates.

Kaul, Karl
Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1961

#3

6 + 1

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

December 19th

Johanna Ignatia Jacobia Sickinghe-Nepveu tot Ameijde (19-12-1858 - 03-03-1942) Dutch composer

Johanna Sickinghe was historically the second female chess composer after Edith Baird. She used the pseudonym Jowes. More about her on Wikipedia.
Harold van der Heijden published the article "Mrs. Jowes" in EG 168.

Sickinghe-Nepveu Tot Ameijde, Johanna Ignatia Jacobia
Groene Amsterdammer, 1917 (77)

+

3 + 6

Monday, December 17, 2012

December 18th

Edward Nathan Frankenstein (18-12-1839 – 13-03-1913) British composer

Edward Nathan Frankenstein
[New in Chess]

Edward Nathan Frankenstein was a chess player and composed direct mates and selfmates. His best works was reproduced in "The Chess Problem - A treatise on problems of all kinds, with 400 examples by H. J. C. Andrews, E. N. Frankenstein, B. G. Laws, and C. Planck." (1887).

A good warm-up for solvers:

Frankenstein, Edward Nathan
English Chess Problem, 1948

#3

6 + 7

Show Solution
Something more serious:

Frankenstein, Edward Nathan
The Bohemian, 1887
Prize

s#3

8 + 9

Sunday, December 16, 2012

December 17th

Willy Roscher (17-12-1900 – 23-12-1957) German composer

Willy Roscher learnt the game of chess during WWI as a soldier.
He was a chess historian and had a large collection of chess books and knowledge about the history of chess literature and chess composition. He was the editor of the “Arbeiter-Schachzeitung” and composed direct mates.

Roscher, Willy
Schach (magazine) 1954 (1867)
3^rd Prize

#2

12 + 11

Saturday, December 15, 2012

December 16th

George Hume (16-12-1862 - 14-01-1936) British composer

George Hume
[Changing Fashions; Scan by M. McDowell]

[Chess Antiquarian]

George Hume was one of the main actors of the "Good Companion" Chess Club. He collected twomovers and used this collection to detect anticipations.
He participated to the edition of many books of the White Christmas Series such as "Changing Fashions", "Valves and Bi-Valves", "Flights of Fancy in the Chess World" or "The Good Companion Two-Mover" published in 1922.

Hume, George
Good Companions (April Complete Blocks) 1922
3^rd Prize

#2*

8 + 6

Hume, George
Brighton Society, 1897
1^st Prize

s#2

8 + 9

Hume, George
Bristol Mercury, 1893
1^st Prize

s#3

8 + 9

Show Solution
Another good exercise for solvers:

Hume, George
Chess Monthly, 1895
1^st Prize

s#3

13 + 7

December 15th

Henry William Barry (15-12-1878 - 21-04-1933) American composer

Henry William Barry was a violin teacher of Irish descent. He was the problem editor of the "American Chess Bulletin" during 25 years.

Barry, Henry William
La Stratégie, 1901
1^st Prize

#2

8 + 8

Thursday, December 13, 2012

December 14th

Antonín Klír (14-12-1864 - 29-01-1939) Czech composer

Antonín Klír 1925
[Wikipedia]

Antonín Klír was a Bohemian-style composer.
More about him on Wikipedia (but his chess problem activity is not mentioned).

Klír, Antonín
Časopis českých šachistů 1907 (252)
1^st Prize

#3

7 + 7

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

December 13th

László Schór (13-12-1897 - 01-12-1984) Hungarian composer

László Schór
[magyarsakkszerzok]

László Schór composed mostly two- and threemovers. He was an International Judge.

Schór, László
Die Schwalbe, 1928 (150)
1^st Prize

#3

11 + 11

Schór, László
Good Companion, 1923
3^rd Prize

#3

11 + 7

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

December 12th

Friedrich Köhnlein (12.12.1879 – 5.7.1916) German composer

Friedrich Köhnlein was a chess player who composed direct mates. First interested in echo mates, he privileged afterwards a more strategic neo-German style.
Walter Fentze wrote a book dedicated to him in 1984: "Friedrich Köhnlein: Schachmeister und Problemkomponist".

Köhnlein, Friedrich
Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, 1905

#4

4 + 4

Köhnlein, Friedrich
Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, 1909

#8

3 + 5

Monday, December 10, 2012

December 11th

Erich Anselm Brunner (11-12-1885 - 16-05-1938) German-Swiss composer

Erich Brunner
[Surkovija [broken link] ]

Erich Brunner composed around 600 strategic multimovers. The best of his problems were compiled by Moritz Henneberger and Hans Klüver, who completed Erich Brunner's selection, in "Erich Brunner - ein Künstler und Deuter des Schachproblems". The book can be read and downloaded from here and the list of errata, by Anton Baumann, here.

Several themes are named after him or were researched by him, such as the Brunner-Turton, the Brunner-Dresdner, the Brunner-Plachutta, the Swiss theme, etc.
Turton doubling: a piece moves along a line (rank, file or diagonal), then a similarly-moving piece moves onto the same line in front of it, then this second piece moves again along this line, in the opposite direction to that of the firs
The Brunner Turton is differentiated from the Loyd Turton by the fact that the first piece moved is of greater value than the second in Loyd-Turton, while in the former the two pieces are of equal value.

Brunner, Erich Anselm
Akademisches Monatsheft für Schach, 1910

#3

11 + 5

Brunner, Erich Anselm
Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, 1912

#3

7 + 5

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