Edward Nathan Frankenstein (18-12-1839 – 13-03-1913) British composer
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
Show Solution1.Sf6-d5 ! (2.Qe8-h8/Bc1-b2#)
1...Ke5-d4 2.Qe8-h8+ Kd4-d3, Kd4xc5 3.Sd5-f4, Bc1-a3#
1...c6xd5 2.Qe8-h8+ Ke5-f4 3.Qh8-b8#
Something more serious:
Frankenstein, Edward Nathan
The Bohemian, 1887
Prize
Show Solution1. Sc5 ! (2. Qd1/Qe2 ~ 3. Qg4+ fxg4#)
1... Sc1 2. Sd3+ Sxd3 3. Qf2+ Sxf2#
1... Qh5/Qb7 2. Qf2+ Qf3+ 3. Qg3+ Qxg3#
1... Qd7,Qf7 2. Se6+ Qxe6 3. Qe4+ fxe4#
1... Bxh4 2. Qf2+ Qg5 3. Qxh4+ Qxh4#
A fine set of variations.
Paul Vătărescu (18-12-1928) Romanian-Israeli composer
Paul Vătărescu was editor of the twomover of the magazine "
Revista de Sah" since 1948.
Vătărescu, Paul
Baja CC, 1954
3
rd Prize
Show Solution1.Rh1-h3 ! (2.g6-g7 [3.Se5-g6#])
1...c4-c3 2.Bf2-e3+ d4xe3 3.Rh3-f3#
1...d4-d3 2.Rh3-f3+ e4xf3 3.Se5xd3#
1...e4-e3 2.Se5-d3+ c4xd3 3.Bf2xe3#
Secondary variation: 1...Bc5xd6 2.Re6-f6+ Kf4xe5 3.Rf6-f5#
Good play and exploitation of the third-pin on the 4th rank.
Manfred Schreck (18-12-1954) German composer
Manfred Schreck composes direct mates and helpmates.
Let's rest a little with two miniatures:
Schreck, Manfred
Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 2002
Show Solution1.Rc5-b5 !
1...b7-b6 2.Kb4-c4 2...b6xa5 3.Kc4-c5 a5-a4 4.Rb5-b6#
1...b7xc6 2.Rb5-b7 c6-c5+ 3.Kb4xc5 Ka6xa5 4.Rb7-a7#
Sacrifice of each white S.
Schreck, Manfred
Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, 1995
Show Solution1.Qe7-d8 ! ZZ
1...d5-d4 2.Ra6xb6+ Kc6-c5 3.Qd8-c7#
1...d5xc4 2.Ra6xb6+ Kc6-c5 3.Qd8-d6#
1...Kc6-c5 2.Qd8xb6+ Kc5xc4 3.Ra6-a4#
1...Kc6-b7 2.Ra6xb6+ Kb7-a7 3.Qd8-b8#
Four different mates.
Harold van der Heijden (18-12-1960) Dutch composer and FIDE Master
Harold van der Heijden composes endgame studies. His collection of endgame studies is probably the largest collection in the world (counting over 73,000 studies as of July 2008 and currently over 75,000) and he is often consulted by study judges concerning possible anticipations. He is an International Judge himself.
The HvdH endgame study database can be purchased from
his personal website.
He was editor (1989) and later chief editor (1993) of the magazine EBUR of the Dutch endgame circle ARVES. Since 2007 and the merger of EBUR with EG, he has been chief editor of
EG.
More about him can be learnt
on his personal site.
Van Der Heijden, Harold
Probleemblad, 2001 (44)
1
st Prize
Show Solution1. Sf7
{1. Kd6 ? f4 ; 1. Kd5 ? Kxg6; 1. Sb7 ? Kxg6 2. Kd5 Kg5 3. Sd6 f4 ! 4. Ke4 Kg4 5. Sc4 Bc3 6. Kd3 d5 7. Sb6 d4}
1... Kxg6 !
{1... f4 2. Kd4}
2. Sxh8+ Kf6
{2... Kg7 3. Kd5 ; 2... Kg5 3. Kd5}
3. Kd4 !
{3. Kd6 ? f4; 3. Kd5 ? d6 ! 4. Kxd6 f4 -+ or 4. Kd4 Kg7 5. Ke3 d5 ! 6. Kf4 d4 -+}
3... d6
{3... f4 4. Ke4; 3... Kg7 4. Ke5}
4. Kd5 Kg7 5. Ke6 ! f4
{5... Kxh8 6. Kxf5}
6. Sf7 f3 7. Sxd6 f2 8. Sf5+ Kg6 9. Se3/Sg3 =
Van Der Heijden, Harold
ЮК Ю.Рослов-40, Задачи и этюды 2003
Prize
Show SolutionIn order to understand the solution, one must first look at the tries. They make clear where White fails:
1. h4 ? Rh3 2. Kg5 Kb3 3. h5 Kc4 4. h6 Kd5 5. Kg6 (5. d4 Ke6 6. d5+ Kf7 and Black controls everything) 5... Ke6 6. Kg7 Ke7 7. h7 Rg3+ 8. Kh8 (8. Kh6 Kf7 9. h8=S+ Kf6) 8... Kf7 9. d4 Re3 10. d5 Re8# : after 8...Kf7 White would be stalemated if he hadn't kept his d-pawn.
1. d4 ? Rh3 2. d5 Kb3 3. d6 Kc4 -+
Finally, 1. Kg4 ? Rb1 ! 2. h4 Kb3 3. h5 Kc4 4. h6 Kd5 -+
Hence something paradoxical is necessary:
1. d3 ! sacrificing one of the pawns
1... Rxd3
{1... Rb1 2. h4 ! Kb3 3. h5 Rh1 4. Kg5}
{1... Rb4+ 2. Kg5 (2. d4 ? Kb3 3. h4 Kc4 4. h5 Kd5)}
{1... Rb5 2. h4 Kb3 3. Kg4 Kc3 4. h5 Kd4 5. h6 Ke5 6. h7 Rb8 7. Kg5 Ke6 8. Kg6}
2. h4
{2. Kg4 ? Kb3}
2... Kb3
{2... Rh3 3. Kg4}
3. h5
{3. Kg4 ? Kc4}
3... Kc4
{3... Rh3 4. Kg4}
4. h6
{4. Kf5 or Kd5 5. h6 !}
4... Kd5 5. Kf5 !
{5. Kg5 ? Ke6 ! 6. Kg6 Rg3+ 7. Kh7 Kf7 -+}
5... Rh3
{5... Rf3+ 6. Kg6 Ke6 7. Kg7 !}
6. Kg6 Ke6 7. Kg7 !
{7. h7 ? Rg3+}
7... Rg3+ 8. Kf8 ! Rh3 9. Kg7 Ke7 10. h7 Rg3+ 11. Kh8 Kf7 =
Yosi Retter (18-12-1934 - 20-08-2022) Israeli composer and International Master
Yosi Retter - Arieh Grinblat - Mark Erenburg
[rubriky.net] |
Yosi was one of the best Israeli composers, an International Master of chess composition, a very versatile composer in many fields but mainly two-movers and three-movers.
Yosi was also a strong solver participating several times in the Israeli teams to WCSC (winning 2nd place in 1985).
Yosi served for many years in the managerial team of the Israeli Chess problem society and promoted in israel several composing competitions for young composers.
As Marjan Kovacevic noted
on Mat Plus Forum, Yosi Retter's "skills in constructing most difficult thematic combinations were amazing".
More about him can be read in
Variantim 87, August 2022.
Retter, Yosi
Match Israel - Sweden, 1986
1
st Place
Show SolutionTry:
1.♗×g6? (2.h8=♘ ~ 3.♘f7#)
1...♘b4/♘c7
a 2.♘e8+
A ♔e4 3.♘(×)c7#
1...♖×b6
b 2.♘d7+
B ♔d5 3.♘×b6#
1...♕×g3
c 2.♘g4+
C ♔d5 3.♘e3#
1...♖×d6
d 2.♘×h5+
D ♔d5 3.♘f4#
but 1...♖g4! refutes the try.
Actual play:
1.♗×e6! (2.h8=♘ ~ 3.♘f7#)
1...♘b4/♘c7
a 2.♘d7+
B ♔e4 3.♘×c5#
1...♖×b6
b 2.♘g4+
C ♔e4 3.♘×f2#
1...♕×g3
c 2.♘×h5+
D ♔e4 3.♘×g3#
1...♖×d6
d 2.♘e8+
A ♔e4 3.♘×d6#
Siers battery and fourfold
Lacny cycle.
Retter, Yosi
Y. Blaustein MT, 1976
3
rd Prize
Show Solution
1.♘d3 ♖c3 2.♘e1 ♗c1#
1.♖a7 ♗c1 2.♖b7 ♖a6#
1.♖e3 ♖a6 2.b3 ♗d6#
1.♖g3 ♗d6 2.♖g7 ♖c3#
Cycle of White moves and black line closing.
Harold van der Heijden:
ReplyDeleteFIDE International Judge of Chess Composition (Studies), 2001
FIDE Master of Chess Composition, 2012
The IJ title was mentioned from the start and the FM title had already been added in the meantime :-)
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