Photo: Eddy van Beers (Belgium, bronze), Kacper Piorun (Poland, gold) and Piotr Murdzia (Poland, silver)

The season of the official solving competitions organized by the World Federation for Chess Composition is getting closer to its final and the most important stage: the 46th World Chess Solving Championship in Batumi (September 2-9). The 16th European Chess Solving Championship is in the books, and only four more legs of the World Solving Cup 2022/23 remain.

The European Chess Solving Championship brought together 75 solvers from 18 countries in sunny and friendly Bratislava at the entrance to the Old City. As usual, the ECSC festival included several solving and composing tournaments. 

The major event, European Team and Individual Championship, went smoothly, officiated by experienced FIDE Solving Judge Marko Klasinc from Slovenia. Being FIDE Master for Chess Composition and FIDE Solving Master helped him to select a set of 18 solver-friendly compositions of high artistic quality. None of them was too difficult, but all together, they were tough enough to prevent even the best solvers from scoring the maximum of 90 points.

Waiting for the new set of problems to solve

The problems were spread over six rounds, each including three entries from different genres: 1. twomovers (20 minutes), 2. threemovers (60 minutes), 3. endgames (100 minutes), 4.selfmates (50 minutes), 5. moremovers (80 minutes) and 6. helpmates (50 minutes).

The main favourites, multiple world champions Piotr Murdzia and Kacper Piorun, cruised through the first day with perfect results, the same as the 4th seed Marko Filipović from Croatia. The challenges and tension started mounting on the second day. Filipović lost 5 points on selfmates and gave up third place to Vladimir Podinić from Serbia, who in turn lost all 15 points in the next round of moremovers.

Meanwhile, the Polish duo kept their cool and had perfect results all the way to the final round. Before three helpmates, later easily solved by several solvers (the shortest time was only 23 out of 50 minutes), Murdzia had a slight advantage in time over Piorun (250:259 minutes) and an excellent chance to win. 

The last round proved that tension affects even the best of the best. It all came down to the last two problems. The first one was a helpmate in four moves with two intended solutions.

1

Helpmate in 4 moves, 2 solutions

Both leaders found only one solution, each of them missing a different one. Since both spent a maximum of 50 minutes and missed one solution each, it looked as if Murdzia won on time tiebreak, but see what happened with one of his solutions in helpmate in 2 moves:

 2

Helpmate in 2 moves, 3 solutions

This complex position, with three different pawn batteries set to open the lines of wB, wR and wQ, hides unusual regrouping of white guns in each solution. Probably, the trickiest solution is 1.Kf4 Rc4 2.Bxg7! e5#

Eight-minute difference decided the tight race between the two favourites in the 2023 Polish Championship, but this time around 9 minutes had no importance as, in a hurry, the 8-time World champion switched the order of two black moves and wrote 1.Bxg7, jumping over the wRc3 on the first move. This rarely-seen blunder (1.5 points) was enough for Kacper Piorun to finally celebrate his first European victory after already having five world champion titles under his belt. 

Eddy van Beers from Belgium won the bronze medal and completed the expected domination of the top three seeds.

Kamila Hryshchenko (GBR; below, center), Denisa-Andreea Bucur (ROU; below, left) and Daria Dvoeglazova (ISR; below, right) became the best female solvers (pictured with WFCC President Marjan Kovačević).

With the top two individual scores, the Polish solvers had a massive chance for team victory, but it was not guaranteed since the three best results of four team members count in each round. Piotr Górski, another ex-world champion, was the only team member to have perfect 45 points on the second day, while Jakub Marciniszyn contributed in the 2nd, 3rd and 6th rounds. This lucky combination explains the convincing Polish win with 260 out of possible 270 points: when one of the solvers had a bad round, the other three made up for that!

With their sixth European title, Polish solvers matched the record held by Serbian team, but in the meantime, new contenders for team medals emerged. Lithuanian solvers started their rise in 2018 when Martynas Limontas won the World Solving Cup and kept winning medals in this prestigious competition. Thanks to these impressive results, Lithuanian solvers got strong support on the governmental level, and this year another rising star was born. 

Aged under 18, Kevinas Kuznecovas reeled off several victories at the World Solving Cup to become the overall WSC leader after 13 out of 17 WSC legs. Given that his countryman Limontas holds 2nd WSC place, the silver medal for the Lithuanian team was no surprise, but the two WSC leaders wouldn’t have made it alone. Vidmantas Satkus became a hero of the team climbing to the 5th individual place, while Viktoras Paliulionis also contributed in a tense last round.

Checking solutions after a round

The bronze medal for the Slovakian team was a great satisfaction for the hosts and their organizing team. Having an average rating much lower than the 4th placed Serbian team, Tomáš Peitl, Richard Dobiáš, Juraj Lörinc and Marek Kolčák leapfrogged the defending champions and put the icing on the cake of their organizing efforts. Once again, the team’s success didn’t come from the sum of individual results but from a lucky match in each round, which usually comes with good team spirit.

In fact, Marek Kolčák and Tomáš Peitl weren’t solving only chess problems in Bratislava. They were among the main members of the ECSC organizing committee, together with Marián Križovenský, Tomáš Peitl, Ľubomír Širáň and Milan Šumný. As mentioned before, ECSC is a massive festival, and this time, the organizers had to take care of not less than four different solving events and two thematic tournaments in composing.

Marek Kolčák, an architect by profession, engaged several members of his artistically inclined family to help surf through the organizing duties. His daughter Nela Kolčák was on registering desk, his brother-in-low Erik Rothenstein was performing a musical program on saxophone during ceremonies, and his mother Běla Kolčáková inspired the official banner with one of her chess paintings from the collection of Nitra Gallery. A well-known artist, Běla Kolčáková, was often inspired by chess motives, and this one she called “Selfmate”:

Běla Kolčáková: “Selfmate” (from the collection of the Nitra Gallery)

Among the parallel ECSC events, Bratislava Open was an important leg of the World Solving Cup 2022/23. The field, with most of the ECSC participants, reached the 2nd WSC category (top 10 average rating of 2.558). The winner Piotr Murdzia netted 41 points and came out on top, ahead of Jonathan Mestel and Eddy van Beers. This win placed Murdzia in the top 3 of the WSC 2022/23 Standings, despite taking part in only two out of six possible competitions.

Baltic Combined was another interesting event that united composing and solving skills. Each participant had to compose one original helpmate in 2 moves with a single solution. Next, they solved problems composed by others and got additional points from those who didn’t solve their own composition. 

Ulrich Voigt solved all 16 entries and got points from 9 participants who didn’t solve the problem he composed. Vidmantas Satkus had the same sum with 15+10 points, but the longer solving time gave an advantage to Voight (103 minutes). The same tiebreaker favoured Ilija Serafimović, who netted 15+7 points and spent less time than Peter van der Heuvel (15+7). 

One of the unlucky composers was the well-known GM Jonathan Mestel, the ex-World Champion in solving and now European champion among seniors (60+). He had perfect solving results, but his helpmate proved to be easier than those of the winners, and his score of 16+4 was enough only for 6th place. If you want to test yourself, you can find all the problems here.

The festival was organized by the Slovak Organization for Chess Composition, and supported by the Slovak Chess Federation. The SCF President Milan Roman and Vice-President Štefan Blaho took part in the opening and closing ceremonies, together with the WFCC President Marjan Kovačević.

After the 16th ECSC, the results of the 45th German Solving Championship didn’t change much on the top of the WSC Standings. It was a 6th WSC Category event, and the most important points (23, 19, and 16) were collected by the domestic solvers Ulrich Voigt, Boris Tummes and Arno Zude. 

This tournament was officiated by the busiest FIDE Solving Arbiter Axel Steinbrink, the assistant in both solving events in Bratislava before that. His selections often hide some hard nuts to crack, and this time the hardest one was the next innocently looking endgame:

3

White to play and draw

How to start? The nine best solvers in Gera didn’t get a single point here, stumbling right at the first white move!

There are three more national championships inside the WSC 2022/23, two of them this weekend: in Azerbaijan (June 24-25), and Israel (June 25). The last national championship in 2023 will be held in the Czech Republic (August 26-27). 

Whatever happens there, Batumi open (September 4) will be the decisive event, with at least 41 WSC points to grab for the 1st place, or even 46, if the field reaches 1st WCSC Category (top ten average rating over 2.600). The strongest possible field is expected, as the Batumi open comes as an introduction to the 46th World Chess Solving Championship (September 5-6).

Solutions:

1. Marko Klasinc, Original after Tivadar Kardos (version)

A) 1.Qxd5 Kxe3 2.Kb3 Kd2 3.Ka4 Kc3 4.Qb5 b3#;

B) 1.Na7 Bxc6 2.Qxb2+ Kd1 3.Qa1+ Kc2 4.Bc8 Bd5#

2. Dan Meinking 15th Place 5th WCCT 1993-97

A) 1.Ke2 Qc4 2.Rf7 d4#;

B) 1.Kf4 Rc4 2.Bxg7 e5#;

C) 1.Kxg4 Bxd7 2.Qxc3 fxg6#

3. Volker Hergert, Original for Die Schwalbe 2023

1.e4! Bxe4 2.a5! Kg5 3.d5! Bxd5 4.c6! Be4 5.a6 Bd3+ 6.Ka5 Be4 7.Kb5 =

Text: Marjan Kovačević, WFCC President

Photos: Julia Vysotska

Official website: WFCC – World Federation for Chess Composition

Photo above: Solving hall in the old building of the Nottingham High School | Photo: British Chess News / John Upham Photography 

A perfect month of the World Solving Cup 2022/23 events is behind us, with six national championships held in less than 30 days. After 11 out of 17 competitions, differing in the average Solvers rating from 4th to 12th Category the top two places in the WSC Standings are still in the firm hold of Lithuanian solvers, but they switched their places, thanks to a series of outstanding results by Kevinas Kuznecovas. 

The 18-years old has been rolling this year, reaching the top 5 places in all nine tournaments he entered. The icing on the cake was his back-to-back wins in Slovakia, Great Britain and France. On the way to it, Kevinas has instantly completed norms for solving titles of FIDE Master and International Master. His Next goal is the title of Grandmaster, and the next station is the European Chess Solving Championship in Bratislava (June 2-4).

Martynas Limontas is still in a good position to regain the top place since he hasn’t used the quota of six tournaments yet. In fact, nobody else except the leader has done it, and the final standings will heavily depend on two main yearly events: the Bratislava ECSC (June 1), and the World Chess Solving Championship in Batumi (September 4).

According to the WSC Rules, the number of points in a competition correlates with the average rating of the ten best participants. In the lowest, 14th Category, the winner gets only 2 WSC points, while the win in the 1st Category event scores 46 points. That explains the high positions of the five solvers who took part in only one WSC leg and still made it in the top 10! 

The Open Solving Championship of Serbia was the strongest national competition since 2019, with seven solving grandmasters taking part and an average rating of 2477. Danila Pavlov, double World and European Solving Champion pulled off a convincing victory that brought him 31 points – enough for the current third position in the WSC race. The 2nd and 3rd places in Belgrade secured the top 10 WSC positions for GM Solver Marko Filipović (on his successful return after several years) and to the double Grandmaster (in chess and solving) Bojan Vučković, the Serbian champion once again.

Winners in Belgrade Bojan Vučković, Danila Pavlov & Marko Filipović 

This solving competition was a part of the program of the traditional Belgrade Problem Chess Festival revitalized after three years of the COVID break. With B Category for juniors, composing tournament and lectures, it was held in the Chess Club Beograd, on the top of the Football Stadium OFK Beograd. This is where all gatherings of Serbian chess problemists as well as literary evenings devoted to the great chess personalities and events, happen.

The week after, the 44th Lithuanian Chess Problem Solving Championship was held in Kėdainiai, a small town on the banks of the Nevėžis River. Over the last two decades, the championship constantly pulsates between the capital and the countryside, occasionally wandering into the bigger cities – Klaipėda and Kaunas. At the end of the last millennium, the representatives of Kėdainiai began to dominate and, not less than 17 times, became the individual national champions. Curiously, the solving event had the same surrounding as in Belgrade – in the administrative building of the local football club.

The fight between the two WSC leaders ended with Martynas‘ scoring his eighth national victory. One of the most titled participants of the World Solving Cup, he won this event in 2017/2018, took second place in 2018/2019, and came third three times. The record holder Vidmantas Satkus, 11-time Lithuanian champion, earned the bronze medal. The biggest surprise happened in the team competition, where the Vilnius II team (A.Mockus, K.Kuznecovas and V.Paliulionis) ended the eternal rivalry between Vilnius and Kėdainiai main chess problem-solving teams.

Winners of the Lithuanian championship V. Satkus, M. Limontas and K. Kuznecovas with the arbiter R.Krolikowski | Photo: Vilimantas Satkus 

With the 16th European Chess Solving Championship ready to begin, the 31st Slovak Championship in Bratislava was of special importance as it served as a preparation stage for the solving hot team and the organizing squad. 

Among several parallel competitions, the Blind Solving was an interesting novelty in the 16th ECSC program. Using only the notation of the given problems, the top-rated Slovak GM Jerguš Pecháč dominated, the same as in Quick Solving where the shortest problems in 2 moves are presented on a big screen, one by one.

Blind Solving in Bratislava: the arbiter Ľubomír Širáň, Marek Kolčák (3rd place), the winner Jerguš Pecháč and Stasys Steponavičius (2nd place) | Photo Richard Dobiáš 

Although GM Jerguš Pecháč made his debut in a rated solving competition, he did very well in the 31st Slovak Championship, too. Only because of rushing during the moremovers round, when he spent only 30 out of 80 minutes, he missed the 3rd place. The tourney ended with the first out of three consecutive WSC wins for Kevinas Kuznecovas, ahead of Slovaks Tomáš Peitl, Marek Kolčák and Richard Dobiáš.

The main ECSC organizer Marek Kolčák has taken part in all 31 Slovak championships and holds the record with 9 national titles, 11 silver medals and 5 bronze ones. He made it to the podium again, despite all the demanding organizing work this year.

The final of the Winton British Chess Solving Championship 2022/23 was organized at Nottingham High School and had a very special atmosphere. The second back-to-back win by Kevinas Kuznecovas hardly surprised anyone, but the way he did it was really impressive. David Hodge was the first recipient of the Paul Valois Trophy, for the best British solver, presented by Paul’s sister Andrea Holt. The former World Champion in solving Jonathan Mestel finished only one point behind him, and the bronze went to  Kamila Hryshchenko.

David Hodge became the first recipient of the Paul Valois Trophy

Text: Marjan Kovačević, WFCC President

Official website: WFCC – World Federation for Chess Composition

Chess composition dates back to the first Arabic manuscripts on chess. Throughout history, the theory of composition has kept defining and collecting the patterns of chess beauty, record achievements, schools, styles, and fashions – as all the forms of art. 

One of the milestones was the first international chess tournament in London (1851), followed by the first international tourney in chess composition. Since then, composing competitions have become the driving force of chess composition. Composers compete with the achievements of their great predecessors to add some quality, intensity, elegancy, and originality… At the same time, they do it for the sake of chess solvers: to entertain, puzzle or amaze the coming generations. What would solvers do without new composers?

Over the last decades, the FIDE World Cup in Composing has been one of the most important events to inspire new masterpieces, and this year’s edition is no exception. In the next several weeks, until mid-June, chess composers worldwide will prepare and polish their creations for the 11th FIDE World Cup in Composing 2023. As usual, the competition will be held in eight different sections and judged by well-known experts in each genre.

The sections are:

A. Twomovers – Judge: Gerard Doukhan (France) 

B. Threemovers – Judge: Jean-Marc Loustau (France)

C. Moremovers – Judge: Ralf Krätschmer (Germany) 

D. Endgame studies – Judge:Branislav Djurašević (Serbia) 

E. Helpmates – Judge: János Csák (Hungary) 

F. Selfmates – Judge: Zoran Gavrilovski (North Macedonia)    

G. Fairies – Judge: Borislav Gadjanski (Serbia) 

H. Retros (Proofgames) – Judge: Thomas Brand (Germany)

There are no set themes. Each participant can submit only one entry per section to the tournament director Alexey Oganesjan (alexeioganesyan@gmail.com), until June 15, 2023. After careful checking and evaluating all anonymous entries, the judges will prepare preliminary awards by August 15, leaving two weeks for appeals before finalizing the awards for publication on the World Federation for Chess Composition website by September 1.

In each section, the Cup winner will receive a monetary prize of 500 Euro, a Cup, a medal, and a certificate. Composers taking 2nd and 3rd places will be awarded medals and respective certificates. The prizes and other distinctions will be presented to the winners at the World Congress of Chess Composition 2023 closing ceremony in Batumi (Georgia) on September 8.

The previous editions of the FIDE World Cup have inspired many memorable compositions. Here is one of them: 

Mirko Miljanić, 1st Prize 4th FIDE World Cup 2015

White to play and win

White has an advantage and attack, but Black may count on perpetual or – in the later stage – on stalemate:

1.c6+ Ka8 2.Nc7+! (2.Qxd7? Re2+! 3.Kf3 Qf8+ 4.K×e2 Qf3+! 5.Kxf3 stalemate) 2…Qxc7 3.Rg8+

3…Rf8! 4.Rxf8+ (3…Nf8 4.Qxc7; 3…Ka7 4.Qxd7 Rf4+ 5.Ke3 Rf7 6.Qd4+!) 4…Nb8.

5.Qh6! Qh7+! (5…Qe7+ 6.Kd5 Qb4 7.Qc1)

6.Rf5! Qxh6 7.Ra5+ Na6 8.Rxa6+ Kb8 9.c7+ Kxc7 10.Rxh6 +-

The comment by the judge of the FIDE World Cup 2015, the Grandmaster of the FIDE for chess composition Yochanan Afek:

“Brilliant sacrificial anti-stalemate play on an open board, with the heavy cannons absolutely free. The battery Rook-pawn is created already in the first move to trap the black queen by checking her king should he move to the sixth rank. Following an amazing journey highlighted by 6.Rf5!! the very same rook eventually lands on the other side of the very same line to complete the initial job by role exchanges with the pawn in regards to the enemy royal couple. A highly original concept presented in an exemplary setting. A remarkable achievement!”

While the most ambitious chess composers will be trying their best in the 11th FIDE World Cup, “Generation Z” will try to reach their own heights in the 7th Youth Chess Composing Challenge. This WFCC competition is open to all U23 composers (born in 2000 and later), matching the limit for juniors in the WFCC solving competition. There are three sections, two of them with the set thematic conditions (mate in 2 and endgame studies), and the 3rd one is open to all genres, with no restrictions in length and content. 

The YCCC Project includes a workshop mentored by some of the leading chess composers in the world. The deadline for the 7th YCCC is one month longer (July 15) than for the 11th FIDE World Cup (June 15), but the results will be announced at the same time, during the closing ceremony of the Batumi WCCC, on September 8, 2023.

Official website: https://www.wfcc.ch/ 

Text: Marjan Kovačević, WFCC President

Laura Rogule left all Latvian men behind; Martynas Limontas extends the lead in the World Solving Cup

Latvia is a country with a high percentage of women in top management and other important positions. In the world of chess, Latvian ladies are represented on the highest level by Dana Reizniece-Ozola, the Deputy Chair of FIDE Management Board. At the same time, another prominent Latvian lady has become a star of the World Federation for Chess Composition. 

Soon after her first steps in composing (2011), Julia Vysotska (Jūlija Visocka) quickly extended her activities in chess composition, first as the creator and editor of the highly popular website Julia’s Fairies (2012) and then as the Administrator of the WFCC website. Since 2016 she’s been directing the Youth Chess Composing Challenge, and later serving as the Latvian delegate and member of the WFCC Youth Committee. With all those duties, in 2021, Julia managed to become the first-ever woman with the title of the FIDE Master for Chess Compositions.

Julia Vysotska directs the 4th Youth Chess Composing Challenge

As the President of the Latvian Chess Problem Society, she’s been arranging lessons in chess composition for juniors and organizing all domestic solving competitions. To raise the bar even higher, she hosted and organized two European Chess Solving Championships in Riga back in 2017 and 2022. So, the Open Solving Championship of Latvia, the 5th leg of the World Solving Cup 2022/23, held this month, was just another evidence of her devotion to chess composition.

Latvian solving events are more than just competitions. They combine the beauty of chess art in the fittingly decorated ambient, with perfect conditions and a friendly atmosphere. This year’s edition, held in the heart of Art Nouveau district, in the Neo-Gothic building of the 4-star Monika Centrum Hotels in Riga, was no exception. 

Artistic surrounding for the chess art: solving in the heart of Art Nouveau district in Riga

The selection of problems made by Antons Gajevskis, the most experienced Latvian solving judge, also had a female touch. Five out of the 14 problems to be solved in four hours (two rounds of two hours each) were composed by women. Both two-movers were by Odette Vollenweider (1933-2021), the famous Swiss chess composer, writer and editor. The next one is very characteristic of Odette’s style: a surprising key move introduces attractive variations and intense tactics:

1

Mate in 2 moves

For many years Odette remained anonymous in the men’s world, using the pseudonym Gabriel Baumgartner. That’s how she signed the problem above and her first book Faszinierendes Schachproblem (1963). At the time of revealing her identity, she became a Swiss delegate in the WFCC and the editor of the chess problem section of the “Neue Zürcher Zeitung”. During the three decades of her caring and passionate editing, the NZZ column became famous. In 2017 she was granted the title of Honorary Master of Chess Composition.

One of the three-movers to be solved in Riga was authored by the Ukrainian chess composer Nadya (Nadezhda) Leontyeva (1928-2012). Nadya was born without both hands in the village of Andriyashivka, Sumi region, and lived most of her life in Rivne. She started composing in 1962, producing around 220 problems and endgames, mostly three-movers. In 1973 she earned the title of Candidate Master in chess composition and left a mark in the theory of #3 with the “Rivne theme”. Her three-mover presents two harmonious pairs of quiet moves by White after mutual obstructions by black pieces, completely solved only by four participants: 

2

Mate in 3 moves

The Riga selection also included a selfmate in two moves by Edith Baird (1859 – 1924). Mrs Baird (née Winter-Wood), was the most prolific chess composer in the world of her day, with over 2000 problems to her credit. She published two books with selected compositions and was sometimes referred to in the press as the “Queen of Chess”. Her daughter Lilian Edith also became a chess composer.

Finally, one of the two fairy problems (the trademarks of the Latvian Open Championships since 2018) was by the main organizer Julia Vysotska, specially composed for this event. It proved to be the most difficult of all 14 problems and was completely solved only by the overall winner of the Open section.

The outcome of the 49th Latvian Solving Championship deserves special attention, as perfectly fitting to the overall female contribution in Riga. It was the Woman Grandmaster Laura Rogule who left all the Latvian men behind, and it was no surprise at all. 

Laura Rogule in action

Latvia is probably the only country where a woman leads the overall rating list in any chess branch. The 12 times chess champion of Latvia for women is among the top 4 women in the World’s Solving List, and now she has won her second domestic solving title ahead of men. Her main rivals were the winners of the previous two domestic championships. The silver medal went to the 17-years old rising talent Emīls Tabors, the defending champion, and the winner from 2021 Emīls Miķelis Miķelsons ended in third place, closely followed by the ex-champion Rāviņš Modris.

Laura Rogule is not only a great champion, but she is also a skilled trainer, first in chess and then in chess composition, too. This time she prepared her daughter Lauma Mieriņa for the junior solving competition held at the same time. In her first appearance, 11-years old Lauma won the bronze medal, not so far behind the winner Mihails Pučinskis and runner-up, Mihails Šalašovs, both one year older than her. The boys should soon beware of a strong rival coming.

The event bridged the generational and historical gaps. It was nice to see the oldest participant Ēriks Priednieks (84), who won the silver medal in the 1st Latvian Chess Solving Championship in 1972 and was 12 times among the medallists.

Ēriks Priednieks (84) won silver medal in the 1st Latvian Chess Solving Championship (1972)

Back to the international event, the Open Solving Championship of Latvia was convincingly won by Martynas Limontas, with the maximal result of 70 points. The Solving Grandmaster from Lithuania has extended his lead in the World Solving Cup Standings 2022-23, and the 2nd ranked Kevinas Kuznecovas has become his main rival on the top. The domination of Lithuanian solvers in Riga was extended to all five top places: Vidmantas Satkus was the 3rd, Stasys Steponavičius 4th, and Arvydas Mockus got the 5th place.

Martynas Limontas and  Emīls Tabors busy in the first row

Among the harder nuts, the next endgame hides a surprising final position after White’s 8th move:

3

White to play and win

The next WSC legs will be the Open Solving Championships of Serbia (April 29-30) in Belgrade and Lithuania (May 6-7) in Kėdainiai. The Belgrade competition will see the first appearance of the reigning World and European Champion, Danila Pavlov, in the WSC 2022/23.  

Solutions:

1. Odette Vollenweider, Schweizerische Schachzeitung 1963: 1.Rf4! ~ 2.Rc4#, 1…exf4+ 2.Kf3#, 1…e4 2.Qc1#, 1…Nb6 2.Nxb3#, 1…Bd3 2.Kxd3#, 1…Be4 2.Kxe4#, 1…Rb4 2.axb4#

2. Nadya Leontyeva, Szachy 1976 (version): 1.Bc4! (-) 1…Bxg3 2.Qd6, 1…Bf2 2.Qb6, 1…Nxg3 2.e6, 1…Nf2 2.d5, etc.

3. Mirko Miljanić, Olimpiya dünyasi 2008 (version Politika 2015): 1.b7+ Kb8 2.cxd7 Qh8 3.Be8 Qh4 4.Ne6 d2 5.Bh5! Qxh5+ 6.Kb6! d1Q 7.d8Q+ Qxd8 8.Nxd8 +-

All results, problems, and solutions from Riga, as well as the WSC standings, are also presented in the World Solving Cup Calendar of the WFCC.

Text: Marjan Kovačević, WFCC President

Photos: Julia Vysotska

Official website: WFCC – World Federation for Chess Composition

In Poland, eight minutes decided the winner; in the Netherlands, one subtle endgame study made the difference.

The series of open national competitions for the World Solving Cup 2022/23 started in October 2022, with the Swiss championship won by Martinas Limontas (Lithuania). Then, in February, Dolf Wissmann (Netherlands) came out on top in Finland, and March began with the win for the Nikos Sidiropoulos of Greece in the Netherlands.

The Polish championship, held in Sękocin Stary, the suburbs of Warsaw, was the test for domestic pride. Will the most successful nation in chess solving, with 12 titles in World Championship (WCSC) and five in European (ECSC) since 2009, allow any foreigner to win on Polish soil?

It was the strongest national tournament since 2020, with 2425 points average solvers rating of the top ten, among the 28 participants from Great Britain, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Poland. Many titled solvers took part in this competition: Valery Kopyl, Martynas Limontas and Piotr Górski with single medals from World Chess Solving Championship, and two multi-medalists: Piotr Murdzia (8 times World champion, 16 medals altogether) and Kacper Piorun (5 times World champion, nine medals altogether). Vasil Ďačuk from Ukraine, the current individual World champion in composing, selected the 18 problems to be solved during six rounds and conducted the competition.

Solvers focused before the first round: Kacper Piorun (left) and Piotr Górski (right) in the first rows | Photo: Piotr Górski

In the end, as many expected, it boiled down to the battle of Murdzia and Piorun. On the 1st day, both gained equal points after solving all the two-movers and three-movers perfectly and getting the best (but not maximal) result in the round of studies. Kacper was ahead by 14 minutes. 

On the second day, both had identical results in help-mates, more-movers and self-mates. Thus, time became the decisive tiebreaker. Piotr, the record holder with 22 domestic titles, managed to catch up by 6 minutes, but it was not enough to close the cap. The total available time was 360 minutes, and Kacper Piorun became the Polish Solving Champion thanks to the 8 minutes difference!

After the 1st day, no less than 11 solvers had about the same chances for the remaining third place on the podium. While the first two were not a surprise, no one expected 17-year-old Kevinas Kuznecovas from Lithuania to get the bronze medal. On the way to it, Kevinas obtained his final FIDE Solving Master norm (for achieving it a solver needs a performance rating of at least 2450 and the highest rating of at least 2350 points).

He was followed closely by another Lithuanian, Martynas Limontas, the current leader in the WSC Standings. The 2019 World Champion, Piotr Górski, was only 11th after the 1st day, but the 2nd day elevated him to 5th place and the bronze medal in the Polish national classification. As one of the main organizers, he was under triple pressure, expecting the birth of his sixth child. The happy event came already the next day, and Piotr Górski became the sole “kids champion” among the World champions in solving, surpassing the “record” of the German Michael Pfannkuche.

Best Polish juniors: Szymon Boryna (bronze), Michał Koziorowicz (gold), Radosław Psyk (silver), and the main judge Vasil Ďačuk

Another exciting rivalry was among the best Polish juniors. In November 2022, Radosław Psyk and Michał Koziorowicz became the Polish OTB U20 champion and vice-champion, respectively. In solving, however, Michał successfully defended the junior gold medal, and the bronze went to Szymon Boryna. 

In the following table, you will find the results of the top 10 solvers. 

Final standings:

The full results are available here. 

The next two problems were among the hardest nuts to crack:

1

White to play and mate in five moves

In the starting position, white has a strong move 1. Bf5. This kind of sacrifice with double threat, known as Novotny interference, stops Black’s f8-rook from preventing 2. gxf4# and h3-bishop from averting 2. Nd7#. Taking White’s bishop on f5 does not help. However, 1. Bf5? is not a solution because of 1…dxc4!

Hint: Can we allow Black’s king to move to d4?

This year, even for some of the best solvers in the world, 100 minutes was too little time to solve three endgames completely. The best result was 6 points out of possible 15, and each of the medal winners got full 5 points for a different endgame! The next one was fully solved only by the overall winner Kacper Piorun, and Jakub Marciniszyn (10th place), with all others not getting even a single point: 

2

White to play and win

White is two knights down, but Black’s king can be trapped using the white pawns. The first move seems natural 1. d3+. How should white proceed later? For instance, 2. Bd8 (threatening 3. Bb6#) is met with: 2… Ng4+ 3. Ke2 Nf4+ 4. Kd2 Nd5! (and even stronger 2…Qf7+!). Black knight on d5 stops all checkmate attempts.

Hint: How can White prevent the black knight from reaching d5-square?

The Dutch Solving Championship took place the same weekend as the Polish one, but the overall atmosphere was very much different. In the nice town of Nunspeet, in the middle of the Netherlands, more than 30 people participated in the yearly gathering of the Dutch problemists, where the national championship was only a part of an extensive program that included lectures, composing tourneys, and unofficial solving competitions.

Nicely decorated solving hall in Nunspeet | Photo Luc Palmans

The 28th edition of the Dutch Open Solving Championship brought together 18 participants in the A-group and 9 in the B-group. The conditions were perfect: big tables, spacious room, no disturbing noise and refreshments at hand. 

Nikos Sidiropoulos from Greece, who resides in Belgium, has been consistently improving lately. This time, he managed to edge out the favourite Eddy Van Beers just behind him. Third place went to the Slovak Richard Dobiaš, who lives in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, followed by two-time World Champion Michel Caillaud of France, a regular participant at Nunspeet. The Dutch solvers also fought for their national championship, and Peter van den Heuvel proved to be the best, ahead of Joost Michielsen en Dirk Borst. The B-tournament was nicely won by local youngster Jim Wittebol.

The winners in the Netherlands: Richard Dobiaš (Slovakia, 3rd place), Nikos Sidiropoulos (Greece, 1st place) and Eddy Van Beers (Belgium, 2nd place) | Photo Hans Uitenbroek

In the end, the decider for the overall winner was the following endgame, with subtle play and hidden resources of both sides. Nikos was the only participant to find all nine moves for the maximal 5 points; Joost got 4, while no one else scored more than 2 points.

3 White to play and draw 

The tournament ran very smoothly, without any protests or complaints. The only thing to regret was the absence of the current champion of Finland, Dolf Wismann, who didn’t feel well and had to withdraw from the competition.

The copious dinner on Saturday evening was followed by a speed-solving tournament with 15 participants. It consisted of two rounds: first 12 two-movers (all with 14 pieces) in 30 minutes, then 12 studies in 30 minutes. The second stage looked daunting, but these were the final combinations of longer studies (“The Punch”, according to Yochanan Afek), and only the first move had to be given.

Wine and books waiting on the table | Photo Luc Palmans

Eddy Van Beers was extremely fast in the first round, solving all 12 two-movers in 27 minutes! In the second round kept his lead and emerged as the winner. The podium was completed by Richard Dobiaš and Dmitrijus Chocenka. The readers are kindly invited to try themselves, using one hour for this speed solving tournament.

The weekend finished on Sunday morning with a studies solving tournament organised by ARVES, the Dutch-Belgian society for endgame lovers. Two hours for six studies seems hard work, but traditionally the studies in this tournament are solver-friendly with clear main lines. The scores are always high, and the time factor can be decisive.  

But not this time! Although the studies were much praised (after the tournament…), it was a significant challenge for everybody to score some points. Again, our readers may try themselves using the link above. Dmitrijus Chocenka was the winner with 15 out of 30 points, followed by Eddy Van Beers and Richard Dobiaš with 11, and then Dutchmen Wouter van Rijn and Harold van der Heijden with 10 points each. 

The main hero of the Nunspeet competitions was the FIDE Solving Judge Luc Palmans. Can you imagine the amount of his volunteering work to select and prepare all 54 problems for four different competitions (bringing to the place some 700 copies)? And then running competitions, marking solutions, administration, reports, handling discussions… It is called the real love for chess composition!

Solutions:

1. Michael Herzberg, idée & form, 2016: 1.Rd4! (2.Rxd5#) The only proper defense is: 1…Kxd4 2.Rb4+ (2…Kxc5 3. Be7#) 2…Ke5, and now White can play 3.Bf5! because there is no dxc4 anymore. After the only defence to the double threat (4.gxf4# and 4.Nd7#) 3…dxe4 4.Bg6! white creates a new threat 5.Rxe4# Earlier, with 3.Bf5, white tried to close the lines of black pieces, and now, the black pieces will go to f5 themselves: 4…Rf5 5.Nd7#, or 4…Bf5 5.gxf4# – Grimshaw interference.

2. Virgil Nestorescu, 5th HM E. Dobrescu 80 JT 2014: 1.d3+ Kd4 2.Bg3! Ng4+ 3.Ke2 (3…Qc6 4.Kd2! +- and black cannot stop a checkmate without giving away his queen.) 3…Nf4+! 4.Bxf4 (the knight won’t reach square d5) 4…Qc6 5.Qa7+! Kc3 6.Qa3+ Kd4 7.c3+! Qxc3 8.Qd6+ Bd5 9.Qe5+! Nxe5 10. Be3#! White made three black pieces move and self-block, sacrificed a queen in the process, and finally checkmated black. 

3. Mario Matouš, 2nd Prize Subotnyaya Gazeta, 1991: 1.Ka4! Nc4 2.Rb5+ Kg6 3.Ne3! (3.Nf4+? Kf7 4.Rb7+ Ke8 5.Rb8+ Kd7 6.Rb7+ Kc8 -+) Rh5 4.Rb3 Rh3 5.Nd1! Rxb3 6.Nxb2! Nd2! 7.Nc4! Rd3 8.Ne5+ Kf5 9.Nxd3 =

The next legs of the World Solving Cup 2022/23 will be the Open championships of Latvia (April 8), Serbia (April 29-30) and Lithuania (May 6-7).

Official website: wfcc.ch/ 

At the end of this week, participants of the World Solving Cup (WSC) will have to choose between two competitions happening at the same time, the open championships of the Netherlands and Poland. What should they know to make the right choice?

The Dutch Solving Championship (March 4) is shorter and usually less challenging than the Polish one. It is a central part of a large festival, the annual meeting of Dutch chess problemists, traditionally held in the small town of Nunspeet (March 3-5). 

Solvers, composers and lovers of chess problems and studies come together in a friendly but competitive environment. The program includes lectures, solving tournaments and composing tourneys. A quiz keeps the participants busy in the quiet hours, and there are plenty of occasions for walking, swimming and making an excursion. It is not obligatory to stay the entire weekend, and the interested club player can come over for a few hours to try his hand at one of the tournaments.

Photo: https://www.nunspeet.nl/

Saturday morning is reserved for the Dutch Solving Championship: 3 hours for solving 12 problems, with some of the best solvers in the world participating. National championships are open for all the guests nowadays, most of them being the legs of the World Solving Cup, but the domestic title holders are distinguished separately. 

The Dutch record holder is Dolf Wissmann with 14 domestic titles (nine of them in a row!) in 27 championships since 1995, ahead of Peter van den Heuvel with 8, but the last two championships were won by Twan Burg. Dolf is coming back home fresh from winning the Finnish Solving Championship in Helsinki last month and will be looking to earn more points in the overall standings of WSC 2022/23.

There is also a section with easier problems for an occasional solver. More relaxed is the speed of solving (two-movers and studies) on Saturday evening. The weekend finishes on Sunday morning with the ARVES study-solving tournament: 6 studies in 2 hours. The winner must be accurate and fast because these endgames are not extremely difficult. 

Many GMs have tested themselves in this competition, and some past winners include GMs John Nunn, Twan Burg and David Klein. However, in 2019 ARVES competition WGM Anne Haast (pictured below) outdid all the men.

Photo: ChessBase/Harry Gielen

All details about the tournaments and the complete program can be found on the websites of Probleemblad (Nederlandse Bond van Schaakprobleemvrienden) and ARVES (Chess Endgamestudy Association).

The atmosphere will be less relaxed in Sękocin Stary (near Warsaw), where Polish solvers challenge guests to compete with multiple World & European solving champions. The International Polish Championship will take place from March 4-5, with three rounds each day and a total time of 6 hours for 18 problems. The strong field of this two-day event includes members of the Polish national team and the current world chess-solving champions (pictured on the stage of the Fujairah WCSC 2022). 

Polish team, the reigning World Champions: Kacper Piorun, Piotr Murdzia and Piotr Gorski | Photo Fujairah Chess & Culture Club

The problems in Poland are usually more difficult than average. Below you will find two selected positions from the previous championship: 

1

White to play and win (end of study)

HINT: Can White take advantage of the black king’s position?

2

White to play and mate in 3 moves

HINT: The hardest nut to crack. The first thing to do in three-movers is to find possible checks Black can do on the 1st or 2nd move, which may delay or make White’s goal impossible. Here, Black has such options. It is not 1…Rf5+, because a mate in one follows: 2. gxf5#. However, there is a serious threat of Rb1-b5+. This is why the White key move should contain a threat with check; e.g we can try 1. Rdd5 with the check threat of 2.Rde5+ Bxe5 3.Rxe5#. This is refuted by 1… Bxd5. Can you find the correct answer?

Poland is the most successful country in chess solving. In the years 2009-2022, the Polish team won 12 World and 5 European gold medals! Among the participants, you may meet the defending champion of Poland Piotr Murdzia, a holder of 22 national titles and eight individual World Champion titles. There will also be the five-time World Champion Kacper Piorun and Piotr Górski, who won this most prestigious title once. It will be highly challenging for any guest to win on Polish soil, but the high average rating and the high WSC category of the competition will offer a chance to earn more points for the World Solving Cup!

The Polish championship is completely adjusted to the system of the World Chess Solving Championship (WCSC) and has the utmost importance in selecting the members of the national team in the upcoming European Chess Solving Championship 2023 and World Chess Solving Championship 2023. It also determines national winners in the following categories: open, women, juniors up to 23 years and seniors over 60.

The detailed regulations

Solutions:

1. Nielsen, Minski, original for Polish Championship 2022; end of the study: 1.f4+ Kg4 2.Rf5!! +- (1…Kh5 2.Kh3! g5 3.g4+ +-)

2 W. Tura, De Waarheid 1962: 1.Qe3 threat 2.Qh6+ Rf6 3.Nf8#; 1…Bf4 2.Rh6+ B:h6 3.Q:e4#; 1…Rf4 2.Q:e4+ R:e4 3.Rh6#; 1…Nf4 2.Re5+ d:e5 3.Qb6#; 1…Rf6 2.Nc5+ d:c5 3.c8Q(B)#; 1…d5 2.Qb6+ Bd6 3.Re5#

Official website: wfcc.ch/