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https://en.chessbase.com/post/werner...em-chess-art-7 Answers to post 29 in this thread.
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https://www.uschess.org/index.php/De...uare-Tour.html A reward for my ongoing browsing. 64 delightful move finishes posed as problems in this article and even a few amazing zugzwang positions which I will use in my Beauty of Problems thread.Last edited by Hans Jung; Tuesday, 13th January, 2026, 11:47 AM.Comment
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Through Jan Timman's researches I stumbled on Problem Chess: Art and Magic on the Chessboard by Goran Forslund. Its been fascinating reading and talks about the art of problem composition. Goran starts with a problem he composed at age 18.
White mate in two. Idea: Find the zugzwang move.
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The answer to the problem above (post 37) is Qf7. The black king has three moves all answered by mate in one. If 1...Kc4 2.Qxe6 is mate. or 1....Kxe4 2.Qf3 is mate. or 1...Kxc6 2.Qb7 is mate.Last edited by Hans Jung; Monday, 8th June, 2026, 07:54 PM.Comment
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An interesting coincidence happened to me this last week on the internet. I had just spent the last couple of weeks fine tuning a composition and was about to publish it when I discovered the exact same composition on the web (facebook). The position was exactly the same, the only difference was the solution for my composition was "White mate in three." The one on facebook was "White mate in two."
The solution for my compostion was 1.Qe2+, Nxe2 2.Nd3+, Kd1 3.Ne3 mate. The solution for the composition on facebook by Najwa Kinara was 1.Kg1, d1 promoting 2.Ng2 mate.
Last edited by Hans Jung; Monday, 18th May, 2026, 04:10 PM.Comment
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One of the books I've enjoyed regularly over the years (I keep coming back to it) is Secrets of Spectacular Chess by Jonathan Levitt and David Friedgood. I first met Jon Levitt in 1986 at the Karpov - Kasparov World Championship held in London, England in September. He was part of an analysis group including Nigel Davies, Danny King, Joe Gallagher (all young IMs at the time) that I joined for a few days. Later in Harkany, Hungary in November we played in the same tournament.
In the Introduction to this book it states: ' It is a great pity that the majority of competitive players have not become acquainted with the worlds of problems and studies. They are missing out. They have all the equipment necessary to derive great pleasure and yet they fail to do so. Why? Many of them believe it will not help their game. Not a good reason anyway; in fact they could not be more wrong, as we will demonstrate. The more this book reaches such people, the better. There is much of value in chess. Some of the positionsin this book represent great triumphs of human ingenuity, persistence and sheer intellectual skill. Many surprises await you.'Comment
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The first position in the book I posted already in post 4546 in Beauty of Problems but I will post it again right here:
Win for White. A.S. Gurvich, Bakinski Rabochi 1927 from Practical Chess Endings by Irving Chernev. It leads to a fantastic zugzwang position and shows the depth of combinative thinking. The solution is: 1.Ne4, Nd3 2.Qf2! (inspiring), Nxf2 might as well, nothing else helps 3.Ng3+, Kg1 4.Ng5 zugzwang and mate next move.
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Most of us know the following combination based on a study from the 9th century.Al-Adli, Checkmate in three moves. Seems almost unbelievable that such a study exists as the rules of the moves have changed somewhat since then but apparently not the rules of the moves for those pieces. Which king is in a more perilous position? Answer: Black as it is White to move. Solution: 1.Nh5+, Rxh5 2.Rxg6+, Kxg6 3.Re6 mate.
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Using pieces actively, especially the king. I like the following study by Rinck as much as I like the famous king walk by Reti.White wins, Rinck, 1926, Solution: 1.Kb8, Bd7 2.Kc7, Be8 The bishop can't go to a4 or e6 because of the dangerous knight. 3.Kd8, Bf7 also forced 4.Ke7, Bg8 5.Kf8, Bh7 6.Kg7 All king moves but the other pieces were perfectly poised.
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L. Loshinsky, First Prize, Tijdschrift van den Nederlandschen Schaakbond, 1930, from Secrets of Spectacular Chess, White mate in two. Idea: Find the zugzwang move. This problem has been called one of the most profound yet simply elegant mates in two ever composed. After White's first move Black has 10 candidate moves in reply, all of them answered by different mates in one.
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The solution to post 44 above is: 1.Bb3 with ten different replies from Black leading to checkmate.
1...Rb7 2.Rc6 mate.
1...Bb7 2.Re7 mate.
1....Bc6+ 2.Rxc6 mate.
1...Bg7 2.Qxf7 mate.
1...Bf6 2.Qg4 mate.
1...Be5 2.Qxe5 mate.
1...Rg7 2.Qe5 mate.
1...Rh1 2.Qxf7 mate.
1....f6 2,Qe4 mate.
1...f5 2.Qd6 mate.Comment
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