As usual, we have a chess problem on the cover of our magazine, but this time we have no clue of which problem it is. We do know that the problem is interesting for our solving team in Riccione PCCC meeting in 1985. From left to right: Teppo Mänttä, Kari Valtonen and Pauli Perkonoja. This team won the team championship in WCSC. The reason for having this photo on the cover is that Teppo Mänttä turned 60 in the end of November. To celebrate his anniversary we have dedication problems and Henry Tanner, who has known Teppo since their schooldays, writes of the jubilee. See pp. 204–210.
The ISC, International Solving Contest, takes place on January 25, 2015, at the same time on different parts of the world. In Finland the venue is Chess Arena in Helsinki. The same venue hosts also the annual meeting of our society on February 21, 2015. At 13.00 we start with the Finnish Solving Championship. There will be a set of problems to be solved within three hours under the supervision of tournament director Neal Turner. The annual meeting starts at 17.00. For general information on this event see p. 204, or contact ST members listed on the 2nd page of this issue.
Peter Kniest was a talented and active German problemist, born 100 years ago. He was a composer, organiser and publisher of chess composition books and magazines. Joose Norri writes on Kniest, showing and analysing 17 of his compositions. Study the article on pp. 211–217 and your satisfaction is guaranteed!
On pp. 217–229 Kari Valtonen lets us enjoy the second part of his research on the half-battery. This part starts with white half-battery in helpmates and black half-battery in selfmates. According to Kari´s research half-battery in both genres was well and truly discovered in 1960s, as is the case with direct mates.
The doyen of Finnish solvers, Pauli Perkonoja, writes about two faulty studies used in the 1986 WCSC. Pauli has improved on one of those, based on the drawing idea found by David Friedgood. Interesting stuff for study fans, please turn to pp. 229-230!
The autumn meeting of ST took place on November 22–23. See p. 231 for a short report on the event, which attracted ten problemists. On the back cover of this issue you can find three photos of the event. Next meeting in the spring of 2015 will be the 50th such meeting, so be prepared! The invitation will be published on ST website as soon as the date and venue are confirmed and, of course, also in the next issue. During the autumn meeting our French connection, Antti Parkkinen, presented a cryptographic crossword puzzle. We publish the same puzzle on p. 232. For solving you do not need knowledge of Finnish, knowledge of chess problemists is enough!
On pp. 233–234 we have the problems from the solving Championship of Helsinki, held on November 9, 2014. The problems are easier than in most solving competitions and the solvers had two hours available for their effort. Slightly surprisingly, no one scored maximum points. How would you have done?
Neal Turner has once again selected a tricky solving challenge. Paha pähkinä, A Tough Nut to Crack. See p. 236. The originals columns start from p. 235. As mentioned in the previous issue, we are looking for a helpmate originals editor. Until then, you are most welcome to send your helpmate originals to the editor-in-chief, other problems types to respective section editors. Please, contribute!
The next issue is due to appear in March, 2015.
We thank all our readers for the year 2014 and wish you a good year 2015!
Published 17th December 2014