Originals January 2022

Julia's Fairies original problems Leave a comment

JF Original Problems | January, 2022

The judge of JF-2022/I: Vlaicu Crişan. The 3rd time judging JF tournaments, after JF-2014-I (Award) and the recent retro JF-R2019-20 (Award). A very positive and helpful person, a very experienced judge I’m glad to welcome on JF again! 

The judge of Retro & PG problems 2021-2022: Thomas Brand.

  • (31.01) No.1689 (h=10 ; Grasshopper) Vaclav Kotěšovec (Czech Republic). Dedicated to Sébastien Luce “4-fold exact echo in 4 corners of chessboard”. (Author)
  • (31.01) No.1688 (ser-h#8 ; Mars Circe) Armin Geister & Daniel Papack (Germany). A logical try on the 1st move comes as a solution on the 8th.
  • (28.01) No.1687 (ser-h#8* ; Take&Make, Circe Equipollents) Chris Feather (England). “The inventor of Take&Make intended that it should take priority over any other fairy condition with which is is combined…” (Author)
  • (26.01) No.1686 (h#3 ; Neutral Berolina Super Pawn ; Circe, Take&Make) János Mikitovics (Hungary). Mates by Berolina Super Pawn or its promotions.
  • (25.01) No.1685 (h#2.5 ; Neutral VAO,PAO,MAO) Kenneth Solja (Finland). The only Kings are not neutral.
  • (25.01) No.1684 (h#2 ; legality / shadow solution?) János Csák & Béla Majoros (Hungary).  Warm welcome to Béla! 
    “Yes, the chess problem problem (H#2) and the solution is orthodox. However, the chess problem is not considered orthodox…” (Authors). For now the problem included in the Retro competition because of the question of legality. But the judges might see it differently.
  • (19.01) No.1683 (h=3 ; PAO ; ChecklessChess) Ľuboš Kekely (Slovakia). “Model pin stalemates.” (Author)
  • (17.01) No.1551.4 (Ser-S#23 ; Circe Rex Inclusiv) Dirk Borst (Netherlands). Accepted by Hans Gruber, the judge of JF-2020/II, as the award is not completed yet. “This 4th correction is dedicated to Arno in gratitude of his help.” (Author)
  • (15.01) No.1682 (#6 ; Rokagogo) Andrew Buchanan (Singapore) & James Malcom (USA). “This composition is intended as an economy record for the Rokagogo/Staugaard excelsior. If someone can produce the same effect with lighter material, we would be very pleased to see it.” (Authors)
  • (15.01) No.1681 (hs#3.5 ; LEO, PAO, VAO, NAO) Igor Kochulov (Russia).
  • (15.01) No.1680 (h++1* ; Circe Couscous, Promotion before rebirth) Joost de Heer (Netherlands). An improvement of No.1607 (previous period, but not included in the Award JF-2021/I). “No idea why I didn’t see that when I composed 1607.” (Author)
  • (15.01) First of all, I’d like to include into this tournament the problem No.1630 (#3 ;  Equileaper, Wazir, Zebra, Right Zebra ; Diagram Circe, Black must capture) by Shankar Ram, originally belonging to JF-2021/II , which was later accepted by Shankar to judge.

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

Unpin in JF10JT: important clarification

Tournamens, JF 29 Comments

Unpin in JF10JT:
important clarification

We’re grateful to all of you for your comments and questions regarding pin/unpin definition for this tournament!

After some thoughts and discussions we decided to allow almost any interpretation of the given definition of a fairy unpin. We are not trying to produce the final definitions of pin and unpin here, we are running a tourney! Still, we would not like to call a normal un-paralysing move an unpin (in a problem using paralyzing pieces, or Madrasi, etc), and even less an ordinary line-opening… The same time we would allow the fairy concepts of self-unpin.

So, please see an update to previously given definition of unpin for this tournament:

Theme: Unpin of any kind. The unpinned piece may be white, black or neutral, and unpinning may be done by any side, in any way: interposition, withdrawal, K move, etc. For this tourney, we define a pin to be a situation where a random move by one piece would cause its own K to be in check from one or more enemy pieces = the pinner(s). An unpin is any move that eliminates this situation, including self-unpin (the pinned piece makes a move that eliminates the pin) but excluding captures of the pinned piece that remove it from the board. 

This means that we now allow self-unpins where the pinned piece captures the pinner, and also allow captures of the pinned piece as long as it is reborn somewhere else on the board (so it is now unpinned).

The tourney may provide material for a future discussion about how best to define pin and unpin in the fairy field.

To give you a better idea here are three examples provided by Ricardo Vieira:

1.Bf6 Sxf6[Bf8] – thematic!
First, 1.Bf6 move may be treated as allowing Sg8 to move.
Second, 1…Sxf6[Bf8] move may be treated as self-unpin.

After Sa1 fxe5 is legal
After Sc1 fxg5 is legal
not thematic because random move by Pf6 won’t be self-check. 

1.Bxd3[Bf1] not thematic, as opposed to the definition (doesn’t eliminate the situation of pin)

Welcome to participate! – Julia Vysotska (tournament director) & Kjell Widlert (judge)

Deadline: February 10th 2022
Please, send computer tested problems only (indicate the program used for testing), to julia@juliasfairies.com

Results and prize giving: May 15th 2022 in Riga, at the closing ceremony of the 15th ECSC.

Prize fund €450 : Three prizes in each section, each prize €50.

See Examples in the updated PDF announcement JF10JT (the version includes just published clarifications)

FCCP Update! (06.01.2022)

Fairy Classification 1 comment

Our project has now covered more than 90% of the top frequently used elements in WinChloe and almost all the elements in Popeye, as well as other unsupported ones. We are taking a break while we continue adding new elements and also work on modifying the visual interface to show alternative classifications of elements and groups, as also other related information like history and example problems. This may take some more time.

Till then, for your reading pleasure, we present one more “by-product” article and a listing of matplus forum posts on fairy definition and classification related content (with hyperlinks to each post)! – Shankar Ram, FCCP project

 

Jubilee Theme Tourney by Hungarian Chess Composers website

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The Hungarian Chess Composers website on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the introduction of the site, announces a Jubilee Theme Tourney in Orthodox and Fairy sections.

Theme: Helpmate in 3 or more moves, which including battery creation with three or more solutions.
I.) In solutions a) and b), A and B form two-way batteries, then give battery mates. The front piece cannot attack the king in the mate position.
II.) In solution c), after the front piece (A) of the battery that has been created is captured, the long-range piece (B) of the battery gives mate.

Judges: I. Orthodox section: Ladislav Packa |  II. Fairy section: Vlaicu CRISAN 
Fairy pieces and fairy conditions are allowed.

Please, send computer tested problems only (indicate the program used for testing), to tournament director János Mikitovics, j.mikitovics@gmail.com, till September 30, 2022.
Number of entries per composer: no limit | Joint problems: no limit | The prize money pool is: € 1,000.
The Premilinary and Final Award will be published on the Hungarian Chess Composers website.

 

Armin Geister 70 JT

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Armin Geister 70 JT

In honor of Armin Geister’s 70th birthday the Czech magazine Sachova Skladba (No. 152, 10/2021) announces a tourney for orthodox twinnings:
a) helpmate [h#]
b) helpstalemate [h=].
Entries to be sent to Jiri Jelinek by e-mail: jjelinek@atlas.cz
C 19.7.2022, Judge: Armin Geister, book prizes.

← Example problem:
a) 1.Qg3 Rf7 2.Ke5 Bf6+ 3.Kf4 Bd4# ; b) 1.Qc1 Bxc1 2.Rg4 Rd2+ 3.Ke3 Kxg4=

 

Danka Petkova 100 MT Award by Petko Petkov

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Award Danka Petkova 100 MT

Dear Friends,
With great delay I publish the award of the tournament Danka Petkova 100 MT2020-2021, due to my long illness after a very unsuccessful and dangerous vaccination against Covid. I apologize to everyone who waited for this material. Many thanks to the participants in the tournament, to the winners – world-famous masters, as well as to the readers who will look with interest at the tournament problems!
Be Valium healthy, cheerful and happy in the New 2022
Yours: Petko Petkov

Award JF 2021/II (Shankar Ram)

Awards, JF 6 Comments

Do you believe in Santa? You have to, as a real miracle has happened on this New Year’s night! 

And here is him, with a surprising gift to all of you – Shankar Ram with the Award JF-2021/II (July-December 2021!)

Award JF-2021/II (fully prepared by Shankar Ram)

What can I say? I’m amazed! I feel I’ve got so wonderful gifts for this New year: two JF’s awards of 2021 (Ofer Comay and Shankar Ram) and also the acceptance to judge the next fairy tournament – JF-2022/I – from Vlaicu Crișan!
This is something what gives me energy and wish to do this work, to smile and to be glad and proud about so wonderful members of our society! Let’s spend the New year 2022 as we have started it!

Award JF 2021/I (Ofer Comay)

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Dear Friends, Ofer Comay was hurrying to make it for you this year, and I was hurrying to prepare it for the publication today… as a New year’s gift to all of you!

With sincere congratulations and with the best New Year’s wishes – the Award JF 2021/I

Award JF-2021/I

Please, don’t worry about possible mistakes in diagrams/solutions, I’ll correct everything later, will go through the whole document again tomorrow, but now I have no more time – some more champagne and the gifts are waiting! 🙂

Happy New year to all of you! Thank you for your best compositions! Stay creative and enjoy what you do!

Originals December 2021(2)

Julia's Fairies original problems Leave a comment

JF Original Problems | December, 2021 (2)

The judge of JF-2021/II: Shankar Ram
The judge of Retro & PG problems 2021-2022: Thomas Brand.

Happy New Year 2022!

  • (31.12) No.1679 (hs#3 ; BUL PAO, BUL VAO, BUL Lion) Vlaicu Crişan (Romania). “Probably this is one the first examples using Bulgarian pieces of the very difficult “Avant-Garde Indian theme” invented by Petko Petkov.” (Author)
  • (30.12) No.1666.1 (h=17 ; Circe Mirror) Sergey Shumeiko (Russia). The correction to No.1666.
  • (28.12) No.1678 (ser-#40 ; White Maximummer) Kıvanç Çefle (Turkey).
  • (28.12) No.1677 (PG 19,5) Velmurugan Nallusamy (India).

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

The Hopper is out!

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Welcome to THE HOPPER – a new chess problem magazine
from Singapore!

The team – Andrew Buchanan, Anirudh Daga and James Quah – has created something you’ve never seen before.