The ChessBase Christmas Puzzle week has concluded, but one final competition remains! To all amateurs and aspiring composers, now is your chance to gain fame by submitting a composition with chance for prizes too – with ChessBase publications in the brand-new eBook format up for grabs! The deadline for submission is January 21st – this article provides all other details! So good luck and happy composing to all!
In part four of our Christmas Puzzle Week we had some seasonal chess problems – a candle and two Christmas trees. But we also included a helpmate in two, with a devilishly difficult retroanalytical part. Were you able to find the two solutions, and explain why one of them was illegal? Try and follow the analysis of our problem expert.
Problemists love to construct problems in shapes that symbolize something auspicious. The great composer (and World Championship candidate) Pal Benkö sent us a problem shaped like a candle. Today we bring you two problems shaped like Christmas trees. They are not too hard, which we cannot say about the third problem, which taxes the brain.
Playing chess is an immensely popular activity. Solving chess problems is also very enjoyable. But how about composing problems? During our revived Christmas Puzzle week, we want to discuss different methods of how to compose your very own chess problem! We ask you to give it a try yourself. Submit your own composition and win some great prizes!
This month, I planned to write about chess composition in Japan, but it turned out that not much information was obtainable. The situation in Singapore is even worse regarding sources. So instead, in this month's column we have a small mix of shorter articles again. | Photo: Pixabay