Thursday, January 26, 2012

January 27th

Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, alias Lewis Carroll (27-01-1832 - 14-01-1898)
British mathematician, writer, chessplayer and composer


Lewis Carroll [Wikipedia]

Many things could be said about Lewis Carroll, but here we focus on chess problems. Lewis Carroll's chess problem published in "Through the Looking Glass" is the following:

Carroll, Lewis
Through The Looking Glass, 1871


#3 5 + 3

1.Sg3+! Kd3(d4) 2.Qc3# (short mate)
1....Ke5 2.Qc5+ Ke6 3.Qd6#
In fact, the stipulation is wrong. As the source says it should be "White Pawn to play and win in eleven moves." And as the printed solution indicates, the rules of chess are not very strictly adhered to...

Show the Solution intended by Lewis Caroll






Erich Ernest Zepler (27-01-1898 - 13-05-1980) German - British composer and International Master

Eric Zepler,
picture in oil by D. Houston, 1960
[from The University of Southampton: An Illustrated History, 2002]


Eric Zepler
[Source: M. McDowell]



Erich Zepler
fled Germany in 1935 and settled in England. Biographical details and one of his logical problems can be found on the Wikipedia page.
Zepler collaborated with Ado Kraemer and published with him "Im Banne des Schachproblems" (1951), a collection of their best work, as well as "Problemkunst im 20.Jahrhundert" (1957), an anthology of 20th century problems.

Zepler also gave his name to a doubling manoeuvre: the Zepler doubling.

If you are looking for a hard-to-solve problem, enjoy the following:

Zepler, Erich Ernest
Parallèle 50, 1949
3rd Prize


#4 5 + 12

Show Solution


Zepler, Erich Ernest
British Chess Magazine, 1946
1st Prize


#3 9 + 11

Show Solution





Gustav Herbert Hultberg (27-01-1910 - 16-05-1995) Swedish composer and FIDE master


Gustav Hultberg in Problem, 1969
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]






Hultberg, Gustav Herbert
Springaren, 1960
1st Prize


s#4 8 + 8

Show Solution



Gerhard Wolfgang Jensch (27-01-1920 - 26-10-1990) German composer



Gerhard Jensch in the 1970s
[Wikipedia picture by Manfred Zucker, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2575990]





Gerhard W. Jensch was instrumental in the founding of the Permanent Commission for Chess Composition of the FIDE in 1956 (nowadays WFCC), and for many years he was the German PCCC delegate. He organized its congress in Wiesbaden in 1974. He published chess problem columns in newspapers (Wiesbadener Kurier, Süddeutsche Schachzeitung).
More details about him in Hemmo Axt's article in die Schwalbe or Wikipedia.de.
He was also interested in fairy chess and invented a 3D version, Stereoschach.

Jensch, Gerhard Wolfgang
Die Schwalbe, 1954
1st Prize


#2 6 + 4

Show Solution




Валерий Михайлович Шавырин (27-01-1953) Russian composer and Grandmaster (Valery Mikhailovich Shavyrin)


Valery Shavyrin in Problem, 1979
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]






Шавырин, Валерий Михайлович
Открытый чемпионат Москвы, ТК 2002
1st Place


#3 13 + 7

Show Solution


Шавырин, Валерий Михайлович
Шахматы в СССР 1977
1st Prize


#3 10 + 10

Show Solution




Michael Schreckenbach (27-01-1960) German composer

Sickinger, Peter & Schreckenbach, Michael
Freie Presse, 28th Apr 2006 (4541)
1st Prize


#3 6 + 10

Show Solution




Геннадий Иванович Лобастов (27-01-1918) Russian composer (Gennady Ivanovich Lobastov)


Gennady Lobastov
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]






According to Aleksandr Nikitin, Lobastov composed his first problem at the age of 9. After 1929 followed a huge break in his composer's career, since he resumed composing only in 1973.

Лобастов, Г. И.
VII командное первенство России 1980
2nd Place

#4  10 + 6

Show Solution

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