Originals February 2022

JF Original Problems | February, 2022

The judge of JF-2022/I: Vlaicu Crişan
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2021-2022: Thomas Brand

Coming soon: nobody in the waiting list. Next originals will be published starting the 2nd week of March.


  • (26.02.) No.1694 (h==15.5 ; Haaner Chess, ABC for white, ABC inverse for black) – Sébastien Luce (France). This problem was initially published on the same page with No.1690 as variation of the theme. But moved to be presented as a separate original problem by author’s request.
  • (28.02) No.1693 (h=8) – Ya’aqov Mintz (Israel) & Hans Gruber (Germany). “Black Allumwandlung, white Excelsior.” (Authors). Warm welcome to Hans!
  • (28.02) No.1684.1 (h=2 ; legality / shadow solution?) – János Csák & Béla Majoros (Hungary). Authors say that the new version fixes the bug in No.1684.
  • (28.02) No.1692 (ser-s#8 ; Anti-Circe) – Gábor Tar (Hungary).
  • (27.02) No.1691 (ser-h#10 ; Camel, Rose, Ibis) – Manfred Rittirsch (Germany). “Cyclic change of fairy promotions.”
    Dedicated to Petko A. Petkov for his 80th birthday

    HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PETKO!!!
  • (26.02.) No.1690 (h==14.5 ; Haaner Chess, ABC for white, ABC inverse for black) – Sébastien Luce (France).

I would gladly publish your problems partly featuring JF10JT theme (not included into the tournament because of number of pieces or fairy element used), but after May 15th, when the Award of JF10JT is published.
Thank you for your understanding!


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


Fairy Eater Chess – a fairy chess variant by Vadrya Pokshtya

My name is Sergey Kulelyaev (my pen name Vadrya Pokshtya). I am chess variants inventor and chess composer. Not so long ago, I managed to implement one of my most successful variants of fairy chess in terms of tactics, strategy and game dynamics – Fairy Eater Chess.

With a gratitude to P. A. Stonemann for a help with publishing my chess variants at Game Courier.

Vadrya Pokshtya (Sergey Kulelyaev)

The battlefield is an odd 9×9 board, on which two opposing sides have gathered, consisting of both classic fairy chess pieces and two new ones to reveal the strongest.

The original names of the pieces create the appropriate atmosphere of the game and immerse us in the world of dark fantasy, giving the necessary flavor to everything that happens on the board. It would seem that with such a crowded initial arrangement, the gameplay is impossible, but in reality it turns out the opposite: the pieces begin to behave super-aggressively, quickly devouring each other in these conditions of a confined space. The game is replete with mind-blowing combinations and incredible possibilities, which distinguishes it from all other variants of fairy chess.

Let’s take for example the following position from a practical game, which shows the amazing world of Fairy Eater Chess in the best possible way.

White to move and mate in one.

Nightrider’s non-obvious rebound from square d3 to h1 decides the outcome of the battle in favor of White. Black cannot close with the Shield on e7 from the Ghost (Skull) on d1, since the Nightrider on h1 does not allow to do it. Also note that Black’s Sorcerer cannot retreat to e9 because this square is under attack by the white Nightrider on a1.


JF10JT: a week to the deadline

a week to the deadline… 10.02.22

Dear friends, I know about some of you, and I hope if I don’t know 🙂 that you do compose for JF’s jubilee tournament.


Update final 10.02.22: Accepted 59 entries by the section: A=10, B=32, C=17.

Thanks a lot to all of you who take part! I’ve enjoyed your compositions very much and now I’m glad to pass it to the judge, Kjell Widlert. The tournament is anonymous.

Results and prize giving: May 15th 2022 in Riga, at the closing ceremony of the 15th ECSC and published the same day on JF, of course.