229^th theme tourney of the Schwalbe

To celebrate the 70^th anniversary of Franz Pachl,
the Schwalbe announces a THEME TOURNEY.

Required are helpselfmates in 2-4 moves where the mating move is performed by a neutral piece (not by a semi-neutral one!). Fairy pieces and conditions are allowed. Twins (including zero positions) and multiple solutions are allowed, but all phases must be thematic.
Tourney director: Rainer Kuhn, e-mail: rainer.kuhn@web.de | Judge: Franz Pachl (Ludwigshafen) | Prize money: 200 €
Closing date: July 08, 2020 (postmark or date of email) | The award will be published in the February issue of Die Schwalbe 2021.

ANATOLE F. IANOVCIC MT

The Romanian magazine Componist-Buletin Problemistic is announcing the Memorial Tournament dedicated to Anatole F. Ianovcic, in order to commemorate 35 years from his passing away.

The tourney is for direct problems with mate in 2 moves, containing at least one grasshopper and/or at least one nightrider (other fairy pieces/conditions are not allowed), showing the Ianovcic theme: in the initial position, two black pieces A and B are half-pinned; after the key, a white line-piece C (= Q, R, B, G, N) is pinned by B (it could be already pinned); in the thematic variation, A plays, self-pinning B and, due to a black interference, allows C to give mate with a Pelle move (a move on the pin-line).

Entries should be sent until November 1^st 2020, at the tournament director Dinu-Ioan Nicula, e-mail: nicudin004@yahoo.com
Announcement with examples in PDF | Prizes in chess literature.

Quick Composing TT-240 by SuperProblem

Tourney name: “Pata morgana“
Stipulation: =N, ser-=N, h=N.5, hs=N.5, ser-hs=N
Theme: in a diagram position of =N, ser-=N, h=N.5 (hs=N.5, ser-hs=N) problem, Black (White) is stalemated. But White (Black) begins a play and, due to absence of waiting moves, he is forced to destroy this stalemate.
In solution, a structure of final stalemate can be the same or different compare to the one in the diagram position.
Any kinds of twins are allowed if its are thematic. Fairy pieces and conditions are not allowed.
Depending on quantity and quality of sent problems, the judge can divided an award into several subsections or, vice versa, can combine several sections into the one.
Judge: Aleksey Oganesjan. | Closing date: May 7, 2020 | Download the announcement (pdf, 220 KB)
Entries to Aleksey Oganesjan via e-mail: alexeioganesyan@gmail.com
Award will be published on the website http://superproblem.ru

Announcement Munich Fairy Chess Tourney 2020

h#2 Point Reflection

The mpk-Blätter announce the Munich Fairy Tourney 2020 in two sections:
A) h#2 with the fairy condition Point Reflection
B) h#2 with the fairy condition Point Reflection plus one of the conditions Circe or Anticirce

The theme is free. Fairy pieces and/or further fairy conditions are not accepted. Problems in more than one phase are allowed, whether with set play, multiple solutions, twinnings or some combination of those methods.

In the case of low participation, the judge reserves the right to merge both sections into one single award.

Judge: Thomas Brand | Tournament director: Rolf Kohring | Closing date: October 10th, 2020 | Announcement in PDF

Submissions should be sent to mpk-blaetter@gmx.de (preferred) or Rolf Kohring, Bolkamer Straße 5a, D-83104 Tuntenhausen, Germany. The definition of the fairy condition Point Reflection can be looked up in the fairy chess lexicon of  ’Schwalbe’ as well as in the award of the 19. Sake tourney at WCCC 2019 

Quick Composing TT-238 by SuperProblem

Tourney name: “Full-length reflex defense“
Stipulation: r#n (n>=3)
Theme: required to compose Reflexmate in 3-n moves with:
– full-length threat, i. e. with the threat that ends with a mate to White King on n-th Black move exactly;
– at least one “full-length reflex defense”, i. e. with at least one variation that defenses from the threat and has a White try that starts on 2nd move and ends with a mate to Black King on nth White move exactly. At that, in this try 2nd, 3rd, … and (n-1)-th White moves must coincide with the same ones in the full-length threat.
Any kinds of twins are not allowed. Fairy pieces and conditions are not allowed.
Judge: Miodrag Mladenović. | Closing date: March 19, 2020 | Download the announcement (pdf, 228 KB)
Entries to Aleksey Oganesjan via e-mail: alexeioganesyan@gmail.com
All received problems will be presented to the judge in anonymous form.
Award will be published on the website http://superproblem.ru

Jubilee tourney “Sergey Smotrov – 50”

Stipulation: s#12-N
Theme: logical selfmate in 12 or more moves.
Both orthodox selfmates and selfmates with any quantity of fairy pieces and/or conditions are allowed. Depending on quantity and quality of sent problems, the judge can divided an award into several subsections or, vice versa, can combine several sections into the one.
Judge: Sergey Smotrov | Send entries to the judge sergsmotrov@yandex.ru | Closing date: February 4^th, 2020
Award will be published on the website http://superproblem.ru

Jubilee Tourney Lennart Werner 50 years

To celebrate the 50^th birthday of FIDE Master Lennart Werner on July 16, 2019, the Swedish Chess Problem Club and the magazine Springaren announce a jubilee tourney.

Theme: h#3–n Circe with 2 or more phases (solutions, twins, set-play) (no fairy pieces or other fairy conditions)

Closing date: May 1, 2020 | Judge: Lennart Werner | Prize fund: € 100 | Examples in PDF

Address: Rolf Uppström, rolf.uppstrom@springaren.se  | Godhemsgatan 24c, SE-41468 Göteborg, Sweden

5^th Retroblog TT on Fuddled Men proofgames

With “Fuddled Men”, no unit can make two moves in succession. This restriction also holds for the effect on the opponent’s king.

In an article Bernd Gräfrath demonstrates this fairy condition with six original proof games, and in order to encourage the further exploration of this thematic field, the Retroblog announces a thematic tourney for proof games with Fuddled Men. Both article and announcement of the thematic tourney you will find at
https://www.thbrand.de/downloads/5rbtt_fuddled.pdf

Please send you entries until March 31, 2020 to me; Bernd will judge the tourney. Much fun and good luck! – Thomas Brand

Quick Composing TT-232 by SuperProblem

Tourney name: “…and now it’s time for half-neutrals!“
Stipulation: #2 (fairy)
Theme: In the initial position or after the key move of #2, there is at least one orthodox half-neutral piece in neutral phase.
The thematic half-neutral piece should play at least 4 times, in the following way:
1) it should be played by White to give at least two mates on different squares.
and
2) it should be played by Black to at least two different squares, leading to different mates by White.
The thematic variations can be split between phases (set play, tries, actual play, twins) but zero-positions are not allowed.
It is also allowed to use the thematic piece as front piece of a battery.
No other fairy pieces and conditions are allowed, except orthodox half-neutral pieces.
Judges: Vlaicu Crişan, Julia Vysotska, Marjan Kovačević. | Closing date: October 24, 2019 | Download the announcement in English
Entries to Aleksey Oganesjan via e-mail: alexeioganesyan@gmail.com. All received problems will be presented to the judge in anonymous form. Award will be published on the website http://superproblem.ru.

feenschach-70 Jubilee Tourney

feenschach turns 70 this year, and so feenschach editorial team announced a Jubilee Tourney dealing with the new fairy condition make&take invented at Andernach 2019.

Stipulated are problems with the condition “make&take”. Additional fairy pieces and/or conditions will be accepted.

Closing date: February 29, 2020. | Judges: Thomas Brand, bernd ellinghoven, Hans Gruber.
Controller: Ulrich Ring – please send your contributions via email to feenschach-70@rxng.de
“Internal duals” (ambiguous paths to the capture target) should be avoided. The extent to which they reduce the value is decided by the judges on a case-by-case basis.
Prizes: feenschach subscriptions or FEE=NIX books (if still available) | Announcement in PDF in German / English.