Summary of Tehtäväniekka 3/2025

We are happy to have Marko Ylijoki on the cover, presenting one of his long helpmates. The photo is by Hannu Harkola and taken on 13th of August 2025 during a meeting of problemists in Helsinki. There are several reasons to celebrate Marko: he turned 50 on 18th of July and about one month earlier received the happy news of his win in the helpmate section of the recently concluded WCCI. The solution to the cover composition is on p. 117 along with a short text on Marko and the announcement of Marko Ylijoki 50 JT. Please reprint and participate!

On p. 118 we present three examples of Marko’s output and one dedication composition to him; another is on p. 129.

On the following pages Marko writes about Lommer. Yes, the article indeed starts by reminding us of Harold Lommer. He was a famous endgame study expert but composed also helpmates. His A on p. 119 is cooked but can rather easily be corrected. It presents an idea, mostly explored in proofgames: a pawn promotes, makes a move and returns to the promotion square to be captured there. Marko became interested in this idea and presents his findings with several originals, mostly composed jointly with Henry Tanner and Rolf Wiehagen, on pp. 118–124.

The annual World Congress of Chess Composition (WCCC) took place in Alba Iulia, Romania, in July. The congress was for the first time in Romania and proved to be a success, thanks to the well-organised team led by Mihnea Costachi. The Finnish participants enjoyed the event, though we were not very successful in composing and solving competitions. See pp. 104–105 for a general outlook on the congress, pp. 105–112 for the solving competitions, pp. 113–115 for composing competitions and p. 116 for a report on the official meetings and decisions.

Neal Turner has compiled ten recently successful Finnish compositions, see pp. 126–128. Congratulations to the successful composers! Our society’s autumn meeting will be during the first week of November, see the invitation on p. 128. On the next page we have Paha Pähkinä, a Tough Nut to Crack, and a reminder for our composers to keep up their composing efforts for the ongoing WCCT.

The originals columns start on p. 130. Your contributions to the columns are welcome, as always!

The next issue is due to appear not later than in the beginning of December.