Rundlaufs: The Merry-go-rounds
Chess is very often compared to solid
geometry. The player must change, build, move about mentally and use the board as a field for
placement of chessmen according to a plan. But the problemist also uses the
geometry of the board and Rundlauf is one such concept.
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When Black sees stars!
Star-flights, the four diagonal moves of the black king, are as old as the hills but the variety of changed mates after these
flights and the combination with other themes still add charm to this worn
out theme. |
Exciting ways to draw
In analytical end-game studies featuring draws, white mobilises his resources to obtain parity in material or forces stalemate
positions, sometimes even with unexpected sacrifices. In the study below the
Russian composer mixes these strategies to lend a modern touch to a classic
composition.
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The Siers combination
In a Siers battery, readers may be aware that, the frontal
piece of a white battery eventually delivers the mate after the black king
moves to adjacent flight squares. The familiar....... |
The Munich
theme
The tries, the very close moves which appear to solve the problem
but for a particular black defence, contribute greatly to the strategic
content of a chess problem...... |
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The
Siers battery
White batteries are inherent part of many chess problems and some
more-move themes like Siers and Rossel revolve around battery play by
white. What is a battery?........ |
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Obstruction
in more-movers
Obstruction of black pieces either by white or black has been used
in varied ways in the problems of extended length. In the two-mover
such obstructions are restricted to self-blocks near the king's field
which deny the king the escape square........ |
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The Miniature
Marvels
Conventionally all problems with seven pieces or less are called miniatures but there is more than mere limitation to the number of pieces in this category of problem composition....... |
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Memorable Mutates
In complete block problems, all the possible black moves are provided with mates and white requires only a passive move as key to hold the position. In certain problems of this kind the set mates cannot be retained by white and he has to necessarily abandon one or more mates for new ones......... |
The merry-go-round in problem chess
Chess is very often compared to solid geometry. But the problemist also uses the geometry of the board to control the paths traversed by different pieces and RUNDLAUF is one such conception... |
Zagoruyko,
the multi-phase concept
The
concept of 'virtual play', 'play' following the 'try', and 'set play',
the mates provided for certain black moves in the diagram
position, revolutionised the two-mover in the middle of the last
century...... |
Black
refutations in try play
Tries are called ‘almosts’ as they nearly solve a problem but for a single black move which is known as ‘refutation’ to the try. The try play can be varied with many white piece acting towards a common
objective, tries with a common aim, defeated in varied ways by black men... |
Tries with common error
The artistic element of difficulty in a problem is the ‘try'. The composer may arrange pieces in a suggestive grouping so that one method of attack draws the solver’s attention and obscures the real solution... |
The
Ideal Rukhlis
Problem
jargons are of two types-the first type such as interference,
self-blocks which are frequently used to identify the nature of black
defences and white mates and the second named more often after a
composer who has worked on a theme fairly systematically and produced
good examples... |
Rukhlis,
a combination theme
In
the last two editions in our problem corner I presented changed mate
and mate transference which were modern two-move concepts fully
experimented in the middle of the last century. The Rukhlis ,named
after a great Russian composer... |
The mate transference
In changed mate problems, it was illustrated in an
earlier article as to how white provides new mates for all or specified
black defences or moves. In mate transference it is the turn of the black
defences to change for a set of white mates. |
The mate change
Sam Loyd, the American wizard,once wrote "My idea of a key-move is what 999 out
of 1000 players would look for" and his most popular problems proved this point. |
The elegant
Cross-check
The cross-check by
ancient definition has two components, a check by black given by discovery and the
resultant white mate not involving the capture of the checking black piece... |
Black promotion in two-movers
The promotion by white pawn is more frequently used than black
promotion in two-movers and is restricted only to two lines of
play, the differentiation between the queen and knight promotions
leading to distinct mates..... |
The
tantalising half-battery
White battery is an attractive and indispensable artillery in the
problemist's armoury and countles number of problems featuring batteries have been
composed... |
Two ways of
unpinning white
A white piece can be set at liberty by black but there can be two of this kind which hold
their own charm in chess problems.A black line piece may unpin by withdrawal or in a more
subtle way when another black man intervenes on the pinning line...
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The
deceptive self-pins
Why should black self-pin voluntarily while defending? This might apparently appear
suicidal to a novice, but there are artistic elements coming into play following such
pins...
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Black
interference defences
When a black piece interferes with one of his own pieces then white can mate taking
advantage of this interference. Every black piece is adapted to interference play, either
as an interfering piece or as a piece interfered...
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The
self-block mechanism
Self-block is a simple strategy which serves as a graceful embellishment to many a problem
and can make an attractive theme by itself. Here black moves a man to a square next to his
king, while defending...
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Chess
problem - the art
Chess problem ideas have inherent beauty in their mating techniques seldom encountered in
actual games. But to appreciate the problem, the beginner requires basic knowledge of
problem terminologies used by problemists...
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