Our cover photo illustrates a pianist´s problem: the white and black
pieces on the 1st and 2nd rank symbolize the piano keyboard, with white and
black keys. It is not surprising that the composer is professional pianist,
Terho Marlo. Terho turned 50 on January 18, 2012. He is well known as a very
good solver, who has participated in several WCSC and ECSC competitions. He
has made his mark also as a composer, as you can see on pp. 15-17. On those
pages Henry Tanner writes on Terho and presents a selection of his problems,
showing the composer´s versatile and clear-cut style. As you may know
or be able to deduce, Terho´s surname was previously Jaatinen. Congratulations
and success also for to future!
The first pages of this issue deal, as usually is the case with the year´s
first issue, the annual meeting of Suomen tehtäväniekat, The Finnish
Chess Problem Association. The meeting was proceeded as in previous years, with
good and fruitful conversation discussing both the past and the future of our
society. See pp. 4-7 for details.
On the following pages we report on two solving competitions, the Finnish Championship
and the International Solving Competition (ISC). The former was held before
the annual meeting and the pages 8-10 have the results, problems and solutions.
IM Kari Karhunen gave a convincing performance, dropping only half a point.
ISC took place in January and the results are available in the internet. Finnish
results are on p. 11, followed by the problems and solutions.
Neal Turner always has interesting stuff in his column Paha pähkinä,
roughly translated as A Hard Nut to Crack. This time there is a helpmate, which
is surely not easy for even the best solvers on the planet. The composer was
well known for his difficult helpmates and this one should be no exception,
see p. 14.
On the same page we have a dedication problem to the newly elected Finnish President,
Sauli Niinistö. Chess is one of his hobbies and we hope that he - and you
- will enjoy the symbolic mate in three by Hannu Harkola.
The article on Terho Marlo on pp. 15-17 is followed by six dedication problems
to him, see pp.18-19. On p. 19 we have the pleasure to announce a composing
competition for his birthday. The competition is for mate, selfmate and helpmate
problems in 2-5 moves with at least two mirror mates. The black king must be
on different squares on the thematic mating positions. Please reprint the announcement!
Henry Tanner has researched the history of three old problems, see pp. 20-23.
The first one is the famous problem, composed by Conrad Bayer and published
in 1851. It has been claimed that the composer was actually Paul Morphy, but
this is certainly not the case. Another problem, mistakenly attributed to Morphy,
is a mate in eight on p. 21. The composer of this problem is Eugene B. Cook,
a pioneer of American chess problem art. Even this problem has been republished
with slightly modified positions. Paul Morphy did compose a problem, a famous
miniature 2# which you hopefully remember. This problem has often been republished
in incorrect form, with wR on a1. The correct starting square of the key piece
is a2.
There have been mistakes and there still are: In the previous issue we presented
the German IM in composing, Manfred Rittirsch, with 19 problems. Of course,
there had to be diagram errors, which are corrected on p. 24.
The originals columns start from p. 26 and offer a traditional selection: orthodox
mates, studies, helpmates, selfmates, fairy chess problems and retros.
On the back cover you will see photos of the Chess Arena, the new meeting venue
of chess players and problemists in Helsinki area.
The second issue of 2012 appears in May.
Published 29th March 2012