Originals January 2023

JF Original Problems | January, 2023

The judge of JF-2023: N/A
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2023-2024: N/A

Dear composers, the new informal tournament, JF-2023, is opened now! I still have no judge for it, and I’d be grateful to the one who is willing to accept this job. Well, I’m thinking about no split of the year into 2 tournaments. Partly because it is very hard to find 2 judges in a year, secondly, because most probably I will not be able to publish too many problems this year.

To be published in January – February: Velmurugan Nallusamy, Armin Geister & Daniel Papack, Paul Rãican, Henri Nouguier, Michal Dragoun, Daniel Novomesky

  • (22.01) No.1730 (ep 104) – James Malcom – White forces an en passant capture to take place; C-.
  • (15.01) No.1729 (h#2 ; Breton Py) – Thomas Maeder“… The French have coined the term “Breton Py” for the way Popeye does things”(TM)
  • (15.01) No.1728 (pser-s#37) – Ľuboš Kekely“Perhaps the longest pser-s# without fairy pieces and conditions” (LK)
  • (15.01) No.1727 (h=8) – Kurt Keller. Warm welcome to Kurt with his first appearance on JF, the “Kindergarten” problem!
  • (13.01) No.1726 (ser-=14 ; Rookhopper ; PWC) – Václav Kotěšovec. This problem was dedicated to my jubilee in September 2022. Plus it was so nicely prepared for me, so much “animation-friendly”, so I feel double sorry to publish it so late, and very much grateful to Václav! (JV, Editor)

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


Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2023!

Dear Friends,
I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Let the cold and snow outside brings only the beauty. And the Christmas lights warm our hearts.

I have to apologize for a very quiet 2nd part of 2022 on JF. I’m sorry, this year turned to be too social for me! 🙂 Organizing ECSC in Riga in May, and taking active part in the organizing of WCSC in Fujairah in November; 6.YCCC; and now some work around the presentation of WFCC on social medias….
After all, the gift I’ve made to myself, the grey Arabian beauty from the photo who asks for my time too.

What to do now? In any case, there are no chances anymore to have the informal competition in this half-year. I haven’t published any problem after the end of JF-2022/I, but have got many of your problems. For some time I really hoped to be able to publish them this year. Now I have to ask all of you who sent me originals in September-December, if you’d accept to be published in January,2023? (I will be writing personal emails as well).

No, no, JF will not stop working. Let it be active again in 2023! The same time, I might need helpers in the future if continue to take part in some other activities of WFCC.

Be happy, creative, smiling, celebrating, composing, solving, producing, helping, … whatever brings you joy! – Julia


Originals September 2022

JF Original Problems | September, 2022

The judge of JF-2022/II: not appointed yet
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2021-2022: Thomas Brand

Dear composers, I’m very sorry for a delay in publication of your original problems! I’m involved in several projects at the moment, being a director of the youth composing competition 6.YCCC in the frames of WCCC, being in the organizing committee of WCCC 2022, including the website and registrations… plus some important updates for the WFCC website about the World Solving Cup, WCCI, WCCT.

The next days I’ll give a list of composers whom I will try to publish in September-October. But I have to say that practically up to the end of year I seem to be very much overloaded, considering preparations for the Congress, the time there, and office work upon arrival.


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


WCCI 2019-2021: Results

The RESULTS of the 8th World Championship in Composing for Individuals WCCI 2019-2021 are published on the WFCC official website!

AUGUST 29, 2022 | CATEGORY: WCCI

Congratulations to the winners!

A Twomovers: Vasyl Dyachuk, Pavel Murashev, Marjan Kovačević
B Threemovers: Aleksandr Kuzovkov, Mikhail Marandyuk, Igor Agapov
C Moremovers: Aleksandr Kuzovkov, Mikhail Marandyuk, Valery Shavyrin
D Endgame studies: Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen, Oleg Pervakov, Serhiy Didukh
E Helpmates: Mykola Kolesnik, Aleksandr Semenenko, Viktoras Paliulionis
F Selfmates: Andrey Selivanov, Zoran Gavrilovski, Gennadiy Koziura
G Fairies: Petko Petkov, Valery Semenenko, Václav Kotěšovec
H Retros: Silvio Baier, Dmitrij Baibikov, Kostas Prentos


FCCP: August 2022 Update!

FCCP project as of August 2022

This time, we have:

  1. A revised version of the “Tree and Leaf” article, based on additional information from Peter Wong
  2. Maryan Kerhuel’s revised documents on the classification of fairy conditions: document, Spreadsheet with list of elements
  3. Maryan Kerhuel’s documents on the classification of fairy pieces: document, Spreadsheet with list of elements
  4. A sneak peek at the future unified model (see the image!), with multiple categories for the same element or group.

Happy Reading! – Shankar Ram


Günter Büsing 75 Jubilee Tourney

Die Schwalbe and feenschach announce a joint

Günter-Büsing-75 Jubilee Tourney

Stipulated theme: Helpmate with at least three moves presenting a “helpmate of the future” (at least two pairs of solutions, each pair showing a separate theme).

Two sections: I) orthodox; II) with any fairy elements.

Send your contributions to the controller Thomas Brand (t.brand@gmx.net), closing date is March 31, 2023.

Judges: Hans Gruber & Ulrich Ring | Prizes: 300 EUR.

Examples can be found here: https://www.dieschwalbe.de/kompositionsturniere.htm


18th TT by Phénix (C 25.12.2022)

Announcement of the 18th thematic tourney by Phénix

ANNONCE DU 18ème CONCOURS THÉMATIQUE

On the occasion of Rex Multiplex 40 years anniversary the editorial staff of Phénix is organizing the
fairy composition tournament Rex Multiplex-40.

  • Section I «Opposition». Judge : Bruno Kampmann
  • Section II «Coopération». Judge : Hans Gruber
  • Section III «Tanagras». Judge: Maryan Kerhuel
  • Section IV «Rétros». Judge: Thierry Le Gleuher

Final date of entries is December 25th 2022 | Announcement with examples | The problems must be sent to the tourney Director : Laurent Riguet, travailphenix@gmail.com