Saturday, February 18, 2012

February 18th

Meindert Niemeijer (18-02-1902 - 05-10-1987) Dutch composer and International Master


Meindert Niemeijer
[KB.nl]



Niemeijer was a prolific author of 600 chess problems and of over 30 books and brochures. He worked in the insurance business like Wolfgang Pauly and also collected chess books. He gave his 7000-book collection to the Koninklijke Bibliotheek in The Hague in 1948, which now detains the richest chess books collection - the "Bibliotheca Van der Linde-Niemeijeriana".

Niemeijer also wrote a monography about Wolfgang Pauly which was the reference book about the Romanian composer until Marian Stere published his voluminous "Challenge of a Legacy" in 2001. Niemeijer also dedicated a problem to W.Pauly at the occasion of Pauly's 50th birthday:


Niemeijer, Meindert
Funkschach, 1926 (Dedicated to Wolfgang Pauly)


#4 11 + 15

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Niemeijer, Meindert
Задачи и этюды 1928
1st HM


#3 10 + 4

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Niemeijer, Meindert
Tijdschrift vd KNSB, 1935
3rd Prize


#3 8 + 10

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Here is another threemover, this time composed in collaboration with his accomplice and friend Jan Hartong:


Niemeijer, Meindert & Hartong, Jan
Šahovski Vjesnik, 1950
1st Prize


#3 9 + 10

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Sunder Chunder Dutt(18-02-1894 - 22-10-1958) Indian composer


Dutt, Sunder Chunder
British Chess Federation, 1956
1st Prize


#2 11 + 8

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Nathan Rubens (18-02-1902 - 09-11-1979) American composer

Rubens was the only composer who managed to achieve the task requested in March 1933 by the "Chess Review Problem Review" (ed. Wurzburg): the task was to have "the white king go from one corner of the board diagonally to the other corner." The problem can be seen here.
We chose the following problem with a tricky key:


Rubens, Nathan
The Problemist, 1963
3rd Prize


#3 6 + 2

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Cornelis Slagmolen (18-02-1909 - 2008) Dutch composer

Slagmolen's career was long, since he published problems until after 2000.


Slagmolen, Cornelis
Suomen Shakki, 1959
1st HM


#3 10 + 12

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Лев И. Соколов (18-02-1918) Russian composer (Lev I. Sokolov)

Lev Sokolov mostly composes direct-play miniatures.


Соколов, Лев И.
Шахматы в СССР 1938
3rd Prize


#2 7 + 5

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Венелин Алайков (18-02-1933 -13-02-2007) Bulgarian composer and Grand Master (Venelin Alaikov)

Venelin Alaikov [KobulChess]

Talented Venelin Alaikov later specialized into fairy chess, but could compose in all genres and became Grand Master in 1993. His meeting with Petko Petkov in 1963 seems to have been decisive in his chess composing career. He was the editor of the Composition column in the Bulgarian "Shahmatna Misal" magazine from 1993 until 2004.

Let's start with a Bulgarian specialty, the selfmate :


Алайков, Венелин
4th WCCT F, 1989
1st-3rd Place, 1989-1992


s#3 14 + 9

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And let's continue with a brilliant helpmate:


Алайков, Венелин
5th WCCT 1993-1996
2nd Place
h#2  b) bRb2->b3,  c)wSa3->f1       12 + 9

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Let's have a look at two of his seriesmovers:


Алайков, Венелин
Feenschach, 1982


Ser-h#7b) Move b6 e6 5 + 7

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Алайков, Венелин
Feenschach, 1978
Prize


Ser-s#84 solutions 4 + 16

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Attila Korányi (18-02-1934 - 17-11-1997) Hungarian composer and International Master

Attila Korányi [magyarsakkszerzok]
Korányi Attila won the 1st place at WCCT 1968-1970 and the 2nd place at the 2nd WCCT with this spectacular study :


Korányi, Attila
WCCT2 Ty, 1981
2nd Prize


= 5 + 5

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Виктор Иванович Чепижный (18-02-1934) Russian composer and Grand Master (Viktor Ivanovich Chepizhny)

Viktor I. Chepijny
Problem, February 1968
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]




Viktor Chepizhny is the 12th composer with most points in FIDE albums. We could almost choose random works of his to make this selection:


Чепижный, Виктор Иванович
Revista Română de Şah, 1984
1st Prize


#2 vv 9 + 8

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A selfmate that was ex-aequo with Alaikov's in the 4thWCCT:


Чепижный, Виктор Иванович
4th WCCT F, 1989
1st-3rd Place, 1989-1992


s#3* 11 + 10

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Виктор Алексеевич Разуменко (18-02-1937 - 10-02-2019) Russian-Ukrainian composer and FIDE Master (Viktor Alekseyevich Razumenko)


Viktor A. Razumenko
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]





Razumenko wrote together with Yakov Vladimirov and Yuri Fokin an anthology about chess composers from St. Petersburg: "Поэзия шахмат: творчество шахматных композиторов Санкт-Петербурга" (1993).

Readers deserve a simpler endgame study to recover from all these complex works:


Разуменко, Виктор Алексеевич
Roslov-40 JT Задачи и этюды 2003
Prize


+ 3 + 4

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Ismo Lindström (18-02-1938 - 09-08-1983) Finnish composer

Ismo Lindström lived in the town of Pori and was a member of "Satakunnan Tehtäväkerho", the problemist club in Satakunta region on the west coast of Finland. The club was active during 40 years (1963 - ca. 2003).

Lindström, Ismo
Satakunnan Tehtavakerho TT, 1981
2nd Prize


#2 10 + 7

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Nicolae Oncescu (18-02-1944) Romanian composer


Oncescu, Nicolae
Coupe de Bucharest, 1986
1st Prize


h#22.1.1.1 5 + 7

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Oncescu, Nicolae
Coupe de Bucharest, 1988
5th Prize

#2 9 + 6

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Юрий Аршакович Лазарев (18-02-1923 - ?) Russian composer (Yuri Archakovich Lazarev)



Yuri Archakovich Lazarev
[Thanks to Александр Никитин]











Yuri Lazarev composes direct mates.
A more recent photo of him can be found on Svrazchess.


Лазарев, Юрий Аршакович
TT, Themes 64, 1973
1st Prize

#3  10 + 5

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