Yochanan Afek, International Grandmaster of chess composition, has been providing us with articles for decades. He lives in Amsterdam, where Sagar Shah caught up with him and conducted a 90-minute interview, discussing some of the great problem compositions that we have from him. We have the puzzles in a replay board, where you can follow the discussion, using the built-in engine to answer residual questions you might have. Very entertaining and instructive.
Each year we try to have something unusual for the final article of the year. While the endgame studies this time may not fulfill this criterion, your author wanted to provide some deeper, partially philosophical, thoughts. | Photo: Midjourney
The finish of the 6th game of the World Championship match between Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi was impressive. In a tense and complicated position, Ding surprisingly advanced his d-pawn, and this small pawn advance was crucial to a spectacular mate that could have occurred in the game. The audience was impressed, the study composers were inspired. In his last "Study of the Month" column Siegfried Hornecker had a look at "Ding's Theme" in studies, in his current column he returns to this theme with further insights. | Photo: Ding Liren | Photo: Amruta Mokal
Genrikh Kasparyan is widely regarded as one of the most prolific endgame study composers and shared his knowledge with a younger generation. So his son Sergey also composed endgame studies - 56 are in the database, including versions and corrections. But also other friends from Genrikh's endgame studies teaching circle created interesting ones themselves or together. | Photo: Midjourney AI
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. 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.