Category: Tournamens, JF

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:

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

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

An important update to JF 10 JT

Maximum number of pieces: 15
The discount works up to the deadline for submissions, 10.02.2022 🙂
The maximum number of pieces changed from 12 to 15 considering some further thoughts and some of your comments.

The Jubilee composing tournament JF 10 JT dedicated to 10 years of JF (10.04.2012-10.04.2022) | announcement in PDF

Let’s find and show something the best of what we know the best!

JF 10 JT

Julia’s Fairies is pleased to announce the Jubilee composing tournament JF 10 JT
Dedicated to 10 years of JF (10.04.2012-10.04.2022)

Let’s find and show something the best of what we know the best!

The background: on April 10th, 2022 the JF website will celebrate its 10 years. see/hide more…

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). (update 08.01.2022)

Stipulations for three sections: (A) #2-4; (B) h#2-4; (C) hs#3-4
Maximum number of pieces: 15

Fairy pieces and conditions: The idea of the tournament is to present most popular fairy pieces and conditions of the last 10 years. Problems should have at least one fairy piece or fairy condition, and at most two different fairy pieces/families, and/or at most two different fairy conditions from the lists below. Any other fairy pieces or conditions are not allowed.

See/hide accepted fairy pieces and conditions

Number of entries per composer: 3 entries per composer in total, in one section only or spread over several sections.

Joint problems: Allowed; a joint work counts as 1 for the group of composers, and less than 1 for each of them (if there are 2 composers of the joint problem, it’s counted as 0.5 entry for each).

Deadline: February 10^th 2022

Judge: Kjell Widlert

Tournament director: Julia Vysotska
Please, send computer tested problems only (indicate the program used for testing), to julia@juliasfairies.com

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

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

See Examples in the PDF announcement JF10JT. Welcome to take part!!! – Julia

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:

To my words from before I’d like to add I’m very grateful to Ofer for supporting JF (and me) the 2^nd 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.”

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 2^nd 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!

JF-2020/I complete!

Dear Friends,

So time goes fast and one more informal tournament on JF is over. And as any finished project it brings some thoughts and some emotions too… Half of this period was hard for all of us, but the summer coming with its light, and warmth and hopes for the best!

There’re general things we can think about and there’re also relatively little things, but those which can make our days. So, before thanking all of you who participated in JF-2020/I, who were patient and supportive, who were writing nice and instructive comments… I’d like to say a special THANKS to Shankar Ram! And not only for one more index page of the tournament, or for his statistics you can see on the top, but for bringing me smile every time when I read his mails! 

Dear Eric, now the competition is in your hands! I hope you’ll enjoy the work! 
Dear composers, please check one more time if your problems are included in the list of Fairy problems  JF-2020/I.

What to say more? Talking about the rational things, I have to mention that I still don’t have a judge for the next fairy competition, and that I still need to make some technical work for JF to keep it working in the future… so, I’d like to ask you to be patient and wait for me for several weeks. And if about irrational things.. I have to say at this period of isolation, of some unclearness in the air, I’m also moody, maybe more emotional about the both, positive and negative things, maybe less creative, but the same time more hardworking… Wishing to all of us to survive this emotional pressure and to support each other with our smiles! – Julia, your editor