Award JF-2022/I (V.Crisan)

AWARD of Julia’s Fairies 2022-I
Informal Tournament (1.1.2022-30.6.2022)
Judge: Vlaicu Crişan

The overall quality of the tournament is rather high, as in the first draft of the award I retained more than half of the competing entries. Then I decided to change my approach and proceed in a different way by establishing the rank level for each composition:

  • Prize: Must be in the FIDE Album
  • Honorable Mention: Should be in the FIDE Album
  • Commendation: Could be in the FIDE Album

The prize winners stuck in my memory long time after viewing all the problems. All are simply outstanding pieces of work – clearly the best in their categories – and produce sheer enjoyment.


Happy New Year 2024!

Dear JF’s community,

I wish a Happy New Year to all of you!
Let’s support each other with a warm smile, a nice comment, a clever composition, with all what we do!

Yesterday I’ve got one more gift for all of you, the Award of JF-2022/I by Vlaicu Crișan! I will present it to you very soon!

This year I hope to meet many of you at WCCC 2024 in Jurmala. Our good time is in our hands. Let’s have fun!


I’m sorry, I will be rather busy in January. Please consider your originals for the periods starting February. – Julia


Originals December 2023

JF Original Problems | December, 2023

The judge of JF-2023: K. Seetharaman
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2023-2024: Thierry Le Gleuher

JF’s waiting list:
Daniel Papack, Vlaicu Crișan & Klaus Wenda

I would like to remind that I give a priority to the problems I can publish faster, so please consider either using the submission form or to provide all required information in your email sending.

Conflictio No.49 (28.12.2023) by Juraj Lörinc is added to Articles page.

  • (30.12) No.1796 (-4 & #1 Pacific Retractor) – N.Shankar Ram. “A belated dedication to Vlaicu, for his 50th birthday on 26-Aug-23. ” (Author). The solution for animation is written by Shankar, before I never had Retractors animated!
  • (30.12) No.1795 (h#3.5 ; Masand) – Oleg Paradzinskij. Just 4 pieces, enjoy solving!
  • (30.12) No.1794 (ser-!#8 ; Breton Adverse) – Gunter Jordan. “Excelsior, minor promotion, change of function…” (Author)
  • (30.12) No.1793 (#3 ; Camel, Fers, Wazir) – Zach Smith. “Zach Smith is a Short Fiction Writer and Chess Composer from Pennsylvania.” (Author). Welcome to Zach in Original problems section of JF!
  • (30.12) No.1792 (ser-h=31 ; Circe) – Paul Rãican. “This is a correction of a cooked problem sent to Heinonen MT, fairy section” (Author)
  • (22.12) No.1791 (s#10 ; PWC) – Sergey Smotrov. “Berlin Theme.” (Author)
  • (22.12) No.1790 (#2 ; LEO, PAO, VAO, NAO) – Brian D. Stephenson & Jacques Rotenberg. “… 3 black moves on the same square” (Authors)
  • (22.12) No.1789 (#2 ; Nightrider, Grasshopper ; Antipodean Circe) – Michael Barth. “Ukrainian cycle, Zagoruiko” (Author)
  • (22.12) No.1788 (ser-hs=10) – Gábor Tar. A long series to remove single obstacle.

Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson


FCCP: November 2023 Update!

The “new and improved” interface to FCCP is ready!
Viewers can access it at: https://tinyurl.com/fccp-new

Features

  • A hierarchical indented tree that can be easily navigated
  • A separate page linked to each element, opening in a split window, with definitions and other details like history, software support, and importantly, an example problem with solution
  • Provision for alternate classifications for the same element
  • Links and backlinks to associate parent, child, and related elements
  • Search function and alphabetical index
  • Feedback form (though viewers can use the JF comments section too!)

Currently, only the main Stipulations group is covered. Other groups and elements will be added in a phased manner.

Corrections and additions to the existing content will be done as required and the changes can be viewed immediately.

Happy viewing!

Shankar Ram


Conflictio @ Articles

The issues of Conflictio by Juraj Lörinc can be found in the ARTICLES menu of JF, Conflictio section.

Conflictio No.48 (Nov.23): “For some time, I have neglected looking into PAT A MAT issues. It was possible thanks to the fact that I have been receiving a lot of input from other authors of articles. Now the time has come to review three PAT A MAT issues at once 123-125.” (J.L.)


Originals November 2023

JF Original Problems | November, 2023

The judge of JF-2023: K. Seetharaman
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2023-2024: Thierry Le Gleuher

JF’s waiting list (to be published in December):
Received in October-November: Gábor Tar, Brian D. Stephenson & Jacques Rotenberg, Michael Barth, Sergey Smotrov.
I would like to remind that I give a priority to the problems I can publish faster, so please consider either using the submission form or to provide all required information in your email sending.

The order of publication might be not the same as in the waiting list: the problems correctly sent using the submission form, easy to test and to animate, C+, without additional questions to composers will go first.

  • (29.11) No.1787 (hs#4 duplex; Superguards) – Vlaicu Crişan. “A Wenigsteiner with SuperGuards” (Author)
  • (29.11) No.1786 (#3 ; Grasshopper, Nightrider ; AntiCirce Cheylan, BlackMustCapture) – Aliaksandr Bulauka. Two triplets of black promotions.
  • (29.11) No.1785 (hs#4) – ‘Robert Sharp‘. “Double battery transformation” (Author).
  • (29.11) No.1771.1 (pser-s#9 ; AntiCirce) – Kjell Widlert & Arno Tüngler. “To my astonishment, my old friend Arno found that a fourth corner-to-corner move can be added to my 1771 at very little extra cost.” (K.W.)
  • (29.11) No.1784 (hdp=3.5) – James Malcom & Andrew Buchanan. Help dead position (hdp). “Testing DP & particularly hdp problems has been notoriously challenging. After 20 years of wandering around in the dark….” (Authors)
  • (29.11) No.1783 (h#2 ; Shrinking Men) – Andreas Thoma. “Dedicated to Bernd Gräfrath on his 65th birthday” (Author)
  • (29.11) No.1782 (PG 11 ; Chess960 + #Colour) – Paul Rãican. “This version seems sound. The last 8 moves was actually checked.” (Author)
  • (12.11) No.1781 (hs#4) – Nikola Petković. Exchange of functions and something more on the same square.
  • (12.11) No.1780 (hs#3.5) – Menachem Witztum. Enjoy some solving! 🙂
  • (12.11) No.1779 (h#2 ; SeriesCapture) – Menachem Witztum & Ricardo de Mattos Vieira. Warm welcome to Ricardo!
  • (05.11) No.1778 (h#2 ; PAO, Grasshopper, Camel) – Hiroaki Maeshima“Inspired by Stefan Milewski-80 JT’s Theme ‘Mate by a pinned piece.’ ” (Author)
  • (05.11) No.1777 (h#2 ; VAO, PAO, NAO) – Georgy Evseev & Boris Shorokhov“Dedicated to 21st Tzuica TT” (Authors
  • (05.11) No.1776 (=2) – Gerhard Maleika.
  • (05.11) No.1775 (s#6 ; Grasshopper ; Maximummer) – Henri Nouguier.
  • (05.11) No.1774 (h#7 ; Horizontal cylinder) – Ya’aqov Mintz & Hans Gruber“This is one of our joint compositions with which we are investigating possibilities to create an AUW on cylindrical boards.” (Authors)

Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson


SEETHARAMAN-75 JUBILEE TOURNEY FOR SUPERGUARDS

I am happy to announce a Jubilee Tourney to celebrate my 75th birthday. Send computer tested (Popeye or Winchloe) entries to N.Shankar Ram (email: nshram@gmail.com). The closing date for entries is March 31st 2024. The winners will receive book prizes. The award (to be judged by me) could be divided into different sections if justified and will be published in The Problemist.” – K.Seetharaman

Superguards: a unit (including K) cannot be captured if it is observed by a unit of its own colour.


    Tadashi Wakashima 70 JT Award

    When Toshi-san invited us to judge the tournament organized for Tadashi-san’s Jubilee, we almost instantly accepted. We have known Tadashi for more than 20 years and developed a strong friendship during the years. The Japanese Sake tournament was an inspiration for us to organize the Romanian Tzuica tournament.
    We eagerly expected to see many interesting compositions submitted for the jubilee tournament. From a quantitative perspective, the number of entries was rather high: 21 in section A and 58 in section B.

    Judges: Vlaicu Crișan and Eric Huber (Romania)

    I’m glad to see two references to JF10JT:


    Originals October 2023

    JF Original Problems | October, 2023

    The judge of JF-2023: K. Seetharaman
    The judge of Retro & PG problems 2023-2024: Thierry Le Gleuher

    JF’s waiting list (to be published in October): Henri Nouguier, James Malcom & Andrew Buchanan, Paul Rãican, Ya’aqov Mintz & Hans Gruber, Menachem Witztym, Georgy Evseev & Boris Shorokhov, Gerhard Maleika

    The order of publication might be not the same as in the waiting list: the problems correctly sent using the submission form, easy to test and to animate, C+, without additional questions to composers will go first.

    • (22.10) No.1773 (#6 ; Madrasi) – S.N.Ravi Shankar – “Inspired by Werner Keym, Die Schwalbe, 2016 (V)” (SNRS).
    • (22.10) No.1772 (ser-h=8 ; ChecklessChess) – Zoltán Laborczi – “4 lion promotions” (ZL).

    Thanks a lot to all composers in the list below for using the submission form and making my work much faster! ❤

    • (22.10) No.1771 (pser-s#7 ; AntiCirce) – Kjell Widlert“I have been experimenting with more thematically interesting parry-series-selfmates than we usually see in magazines these days. I wasn’t completely unhappy when I found this.” (KW)
      Normally I don’t publish several problems of the same composer in a row. But Kjell is always an exception!
    • (22.10) No.1770 (-15 & S#1 Proca Retractor ; Circe Assassin) – Vlaicu Crişan & Paul Răican – “Two draw pendulums in Proca Circe Assassin” (VC&PR)
    • (22.10) No.1769 (h#2 ; Neutral piece) – Kjell Widlert“…. just to let the black K through” (KW)
    • (22.10) No.1768 (h#2 ; Neutral piece ; Take&Make) – Ralf Danckafter Georgy Evseev [No. 1761]
    • (22.10) No.1766.1 (hs#4) – Nikola Petković & Georgy Evseev – A result of joint effort, an improvement to no.1766, published on the same page.
    • (08.10) No.1767 (hs#3.5 ; NAO, PAO, VAO) – Georgy Evseev – Yet another test of the submission form! And more than that!
    • (08.10) No.1766 (hs#4) – Nikola Petković – I am always glad to see new composers on JF! And here it is, another problem I give a priority today, welcoming Nikola in Original problems section of JF and thanking for his first submission nicely done!
    • (08.10) No.1765 (Mixed #3) – N.Shankar Ram – Similar to JF 1760, Mixed stipulation not programmed in Popeye/WinChloe. I gladly publish this problem out of the order as Shankar was the first one who had tested the submission form! Thank you for the support, Shankar!

    Animated diagrams use Py2Web by Dmitri Turevski and WinChloe‘s graphics, Christian Poisson


    Conflictio 46 & 47

    A bit too late information, but still please take a note that Conflictio no.46 & no.47 by Juraj Lörinc are added to the Articles page, the Conflictio section. What I would like to specially mention is the Award of Conflictio 2022 by the tireless Shankar Ram and a tasty birthday cake dedicated to Bedrich Formánek’s 90 (The point is that fairy piece grasshopper is called cvrček in Slovak, what is in fact Czech translation of cricket, while in Slovak this insect is called svrček. (Photo by Ivan Jarolín.)) in no.46.