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| József Szén |
József Szén was a strong player and his strength deployed itself all the better in the endgame.
He discovered what is now called the Szén position, a defensive drawing position in K+R vs K+R+B endgame. "Szén's position is the most important for over-the-board players. Compared to the Philidor Position, the kings are not opposite each other and the defending rook can prevent checkmate. The position is a draw only if there is enough room for the defending king on the side with the rooks" (Wikipedia).
More info about Szén can be found on edochess.ca and on the blog of Impala Publications. James O'Fee quotes "The Oxford Companion to Chess" (1984) by Hooper and Whyld and we can thus learn that József Szén had discovered all the mysteries of the "Three Pawns Problem" (initial position wKd1, Pa2, b2, c2 vs bKe8, Pf7, g7, h7) when he played it against Saint Amand and other French players in 1836. The verdict is that whoever plays first wins, for instance 1 Ke2 Kd7 2 Kf3 Kc6 3 a4 h5 4 c4 f5 5 Kg3 Kb6 6 b4 g5 7 a5+ Ka7 8 c5 h4+ 9 Kh2 Kb8 10 b5 f4 11 Kg2 g4 12 Kg1 g3 13 Kg2 Kb7 14 b6 +- (White sets up the last of four successive zugzwangs after which Black can no longer hold up White's pawns.) 14 ... Kb8 15 a6 Kc8 16 c6 Kb8 17 a7+ Ka8 18 c7 +-
The solution was published in 1838 by G. Walker and the English problemist William Bone.
Here is a conditional problem composed by him:
Szén, József
Le Palamède, 1836
Le Palamède, 1836
| #8 with bK mated on d5 | 3 + 1 |
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