Summary of Tehtäväniekka 3/2022
Our cover shows a chess set donated to our society by Jorma Hinkka, the son of the problemist Erkki Hinkka. As a distinguished graphic designer, Jorma Hinkka has often advised and assisted us with publications, including the layout and name of this magazine.
Our first two articles are in English with short Finnish summaries. In the first article Vladislav Tarasiuk discusses a study published in 1975 in Suomen Shakki. In the original publication, the name of the composer was “M. Gordian”. This probably refers to Mark Gordian, a well-known composer, even though he died in 1961 and had very little to do with studies. Still, it is possible that the study is his and has been sent for publication by a person, who had access to his notes. In any case, the study was incorrect and remained as such for several decades. Now it is corrected by Tarasiuk, see pp. 112–114.
On the next pages Sébastien Luce delves into possibilities offered by ignoring the tradition of having initial positions which can originate from a classical chess game. For example, there may be no last move leading to the initial position, the pawn or piece positions may be illegal etc. The article with several examples from Sébastien and other composers deals with helpmates with no more than eight pawns for one side and no pawns on their last row. We look forward to reactions to this interesting article, which is on pp. 115–121.
Recently successful Finnish compositions are on pp. 122–126. Thanks to Neal Turner for compiling the material and congratulations to the composers of these thirteen compositions! For Neal’s Paha Pähkinä, A Tough Nut to Crack, see p. 126.
Kari Valtonen completes his set of articles on Excelsior on pp. 127–136. As you may see, altogether 158 Excelsiors have been presented and commented! The originals columns are on pp. 137–151. We are happy to receive your originals, see the columns for contact information.
The autumn meeting of our society takes place in the end of October. Participants can enjoy meeting fellow problemists and participate in solving and composing events. See p. 140 for the invitation.
As usual, we publish several topical competition announcements: Yochanan Afek 70 JT on p. 125, Tadashi Wakashima 70 JT and Günter Büsing 75 JT on p. 142 and Martin Minski & Steffen Nielsen 100 JT on p. 144. On the last page we have photos by Antti Parkkinen from the Riga ECSC.
The next issue of our magazine focuses on the WFCC congress in Fujairah and is due to appear in December.