As usual, we have a topical chess composition on the cover of this issue. The problem, a first prize winner of Eero Saarenheimo 95 JT, is only partly visible, but because of a good reason. The composer is Janne Syväniemi, on the left, and Eero Saarenheimo is on the right. The theme of the competition was e-pawn, because in Finnish the initials of the jubilee, ES, refer also to the e-pawn. It is well worth your time to study the award on pp 176–179, completed extremely quickly by Marko Klasinc. The cover photo was taken during a fortnightly ST meeting and on the back cover there is a photo of all participants of that meeting.
As usually with autumn issues of our magazine, we focus strongly on the annual WFCC congress. This year the congress took place in Berne, Switzerland, in the end of August. The event was well organised, thanks to Franziska and Thomas, who are also in another photo on the back cover. The results of the solving and composing events were published very quickly and the participants were happy with everything – almost. The Swiss weather left room for improvement, but there are things which are beyond the capabilities of mortal men! We publish the results of the solving events with problems and their solutions, so you can check out your abilities. There were several composing competitions and Kenneth Solja has written the report on these, see pp. 158–164.
On p. 165 we have information on two books, Eines Reverends Einfall, der Geschichte machte, and ASymmetrie.
The autumn meeting of our society takes place on November 22–23, 2014. More information is on p. 175. On p. 182 there is further information on the future events: ISC on January 25, 2015, and the annual meeting of our society and the Finnish Championship in solving on February 21, 2015.
Hannu Harkola turned 70 on September 21, 2014. He is certainly the most influential Finnish chess problemist of the past decades. He has been active in WFCC and its predecessors since the 1960s, being the 1st vice-president in 1994–1998 and again starting from 2002, receiving a new term of office in Berne. As well known, Hannu has actively collected statistics and information on various fields of chess composition. To name just one publication, you surely know Handbook of Chess Composition, available as PDF on the WFCC website? What is perhaps less well known is that Hannu has done a major work with our magazine since the early 1970s. See pp. 180–182 for a short text on Hannu´s achievements and pp. 183–185 for dedication problems.
The rating list of solvers is published four times in a year and is available on the WFCC website. We publish a selection on these ratings, obviously from a Finnish point of view, on pp. 185–187. The best Finnish solver ever is, of course, Pauli Perkonoja. He has written an article on different interpretations of a certain stalemate idea, see pp. 188–190. Interesting stuff for anyone interested in studies!
The originals columns start from p. 191. As mentioned in the previous issue, we were looking for a fairy chess originals editor. We are happy to have been able to recruit Kenneth Solja, see his first column on p. 193–196. However, as everything is in a state of flux, we are now looking for a helpmate originals editor, because Terho Marlo had to announce his resignation from this duty.
The next issue is due to appear in December. We look forward, for example, to the second part of Kari Valtonen´s article on halfbattery and to a selection of helpstalemates composed by Antti Parkkinen.
Published 28th October 2014