Award JF Retro&PG 2019-20 (Vlaicu Crișan)

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It’s not only my effort bringing to you all those good news in the beginning of the spring 🙂
No, not at all! It’s about the great collaborators we have here! 

One more award on JF! By the one who has already judged JF Fairy section in 2014 (JF-2014-I / Award), but now will show himself in Retro & PG problems. The one who brings so much of positive attitude mixed together with a deep analysis to everything he touches, the one having the sun inside… this time delivers JF Retro&PG 2019-20 Award in a very short time after the end of the tournament, for your nice Sunday’s time!

click to see the Award in PDF, 16 pages

My gratitude to Vlaicu, congratulations to the winners, and best wishes to all participants!
Your fine works are always welcome to JF!

Some more words about the awards on JF: as you can see in the Tournaments section, I have two delayed awards. The good news are that Tadashi Wakashima (JF-2017-I) expects his award to be ready by the end of May, so you might see it in June! The bad news are that after some years of promises Diyan Kostadinov (JF-2013-II) keeps silence, and I’m sorry for now I couldn’t answer your questions about this too late award.

 

 

Ofer Comay – the judge of JF-2021/I

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Dear composers, now I’m glad to announce to you that our fairy judge for JF-2021-I (01.01.2021-30.06.2021) will be Ofer Comay!

It was not so long ago, August 2015, when Ofer accepted to be the judge of JF-2015-II. In the tournaments section you can find a great work done by Ofer with over 100 problems of that tournament:

JF-2015-II f 2015-07-01 2015-12-31 Ofer Comay ->See the Award!

To my words from before I’d like to add I’m very grateful to Ofer for supporting JF (and me) the 2nd time, for his positive, objective and human  approach, for the nice personality and great experience we will enjoy on JF again! Well, I believe other editors understand how I feel. They know how it is not easy to look for the judges, to ask for such a big work… and then not really knowing how to find words for being thankful enough.

Important information from the judge to the composers: “I will split the tournament to two sections: 1) problems like hs, serial, with no fairy pieces and conditions;
2) problems with fairy pieces and/or fairy conditions.”

Manfred Rittirsch 60 JT by the Schwalbe

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schwalbe-logo230th theme tourney of the Schwalbe

To celebrate the 60th anniversary of Manfred Rittirsch,
the Schwalbe announces a THEME TOURNEY.

For problems with any stipulation on the standard 8×8 board using a combination of 1) Eiffelchess plus 2a) chameleons/chameleonchess and/or 2b) neutral pieces (not halfneutral). No other fairy conditions/pieces are allowed. 
Tourney director: Arnold Beine, Grund 15, 65366 Geisenheim, Germany; arnold.beine@web.de
Judge: Manfred Rittirsch | Closing date: 30.11.2021 | Prize money: 200 €

Award JF 2018/II (Kjell Widlert)

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I believe, announcing an award is one of the most enjoyable jobs for any editor. And the one I’m glad to present to you is also so carefully made, including detailed analysis of problems and versions, written in a pleasant style of sharing opinions, and fully prepared for publication after all… not leaving any work for me (except writing these few words I couldn’t really find to express my delight and gratitude)!

Dear authors, readers, enjoy some wonderful reading for Easter holidays! My warmest congratulations to the winners! And my deepest appreciation to one of the JF’s most faithful contributors Kjell Widlert, the 2nd time overtaking this hard work – for me, for JF, and for all of you!

click to see the Award in PDF, 25 pages

Well, I have to admit I’m very happy about my own results as well. For about 5 years of composing not more than 3-5 problems per year, when catching some time from other jobs, when getting some inspiration stronger than the guilt about all my waiting lists 🙂  And now, not only happy about the distinctions, but also appreciating Kjell’s comments very much, good words and wise observations by the high class judge and composer.

18th TZUICA TOURNEY AWARD – 2020

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18th TZUICA TOURNEY AWARD – 2020

ORTHODOX SECTION: Almost half of the received entries were orthodox. We had 19 entries from 13 composers from 10 countries. The overall level of the section was average, with no really outstanding compositions. We hoped to see more Schnoebelen promotions in Rook and Bishop, but alas, the Queen and Knight promotions prevailed. Due to the lack of surprise element, we decided to start our award from Honourable Mentions.

FAIRY SECTION: We must admit this section exceeded our expectations, due to the out-of-the-box interpretations of the theme. In spite of the rather reduced participation (23 entries from 19 composers from 9 countries), the level of the tournament was quite high, with many problems worth retaining. We could hardly refrain ourselves from including all of them in the award!

Dawson Triathlon M.T. 2021

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Dawson Triathlon M.T. 2021

In honour of the 70th anniversary of the death of the English composing genius Thomas Rayner Dawson (1889-1951) – the father of Fairy chess – the British Chess Problem Society announces a Dawson Fairy Triathlon Memorial Tourney 2021.

The conditions are as follows:

  1. 1. The Triathlon includes three tournaments, with a separate ranking for each (Prizes, HM, Comm).
    1. Direct mates in 2 moves. Judge: Ofer Comay.
    2. Helpmates in 2 moves with at least 2 phases (2 solutions, set and solution, twins, duplex, but no zeropositions). Judge: Sven Trommler.
    3. Helpselfmates in 2 to 5 moves (2 solutions, set and solution, etc). Judge: Eric Huber.
  2. All sections have a free theme, but with the presence of at least one Grasshopper and at least one Nightrider. The combined play of these most famous pieces invented by Dawson must have a thematic significance.
  3. The use of other fairy pieces, royal units, or units with neutral or half-neutral colour is not permitted.
  4. Fairy conditions are allowed, but not those that add other fairy pieces or neutral/semi-neutral pieces.
  5. Each author may send a maximum of two problems per section, but…. -> PDF announcement for more details

Champagne Tourney 2020

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Theme : Capture in the air
Fairy conditions (but not fairy pieces) allowed in both sections. Maximum 2 entries per composer per section (collaboration counts for 1 full entry). Maximum 1 non computer tested entry per composer in section A.

Prizes in each section : subscription to Phénix 2021 for the first place, Winchloé light for the second place

This year, Champagne Tourney is without Champagne… Thanks to Laurent Riguet and Christian Poisson for providing the Prizes.

Entries to the director Eric Pichouron, by Sunday 18th October 24:00 PM,
e-mail : chess.champagne2020@gmail.com
who will transmit problems to the judge Michel Caillaud in anonymous form.

18th Romanian Tzuica Tourney – C 7.10.2020

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18th Romanian Tzuica Tourney
Judges: Vlaicu Crişan & Eric Huber (Romania)

Theme: Helpself compositions (hs#n/hs=n) with at least 2 solutions showing the Schnoebelen theme.  This year’s tourney is dedicated to Guy Sobrecases.

Please take in consideration the following definitions:
1. In a help-selfmate problem in ‘n’ moves (denoted hs#n), White starts and Black collaborates with White in order to reach a position of s#1 (selfmate in one move) at move ‘n’ (the last move). Helpselfstalemates are also accepted.
2. Schnoebelen theme: A promoted unit, which has not played after its promotion, is captured on its promotion square.

  • Problems with twins or zeroposition are allowed.
  • All fairy pieces and conditions are accepted, provided that the problem is checked by a known solving program.
  • Annoucement in PDF

Prizes: bottles of Tzuica, hopefully deliverable during 2021 WCCC. The tourney is open worldwide, however the prizes will be for 2021 congress participants only.

Deadline: October 7th, 8 p.m | Send to: Eric Huber, hubereric@yahoo.fr

Welcome to JF-2020/II !

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Welcome to JF-2020/II !

Dear composers, thank you for your patience in waiting for me to get ready for the next step after the weeks I devoted to adjusting JF website to the upgrades made by the hoster.
Now I’m glad to welcome your works for the next fairy tournament, JF-2020/II (July – December,2020)!
Let’s welcome our judge, who will be judging JF’s competition already for the 2nd time, previously it was Retro and PG problems 2013-2014:

The judge: Hans Gruber – German composer, solver, judge and organizer, specialized in fairy chess and retro problems, long lasting collaborator of the fairy chess magazine feenschach, and the president of Die Schwalbe, the German association of problemists. Hans has been doing a great service to chess composition, as an International Judge (since 1985) in not less than seven genres: moremovers, endgames, selfmates, helpmates, fairies, retro and mathematical problems!

I’m deeply grateful to Hans for accepting my invitation!