An International TT with Theme Pergialis, Cup of Bucovina 2020

The Last composer of Rebetico songs, Nikos Pergialis (28.02.1931 - 04.12.2019), would be pleased with today's post.

Some biographical elements you may find here: 
https://chess-problems-gr.blogspot.com/2008/09/nikos-pergialis.html

I had proposed in June 2016 the theme Pergialis, which I had described here:
https://chess-problems-gr.blogspot.com/2016/06/proposal-for-theme-pergialis.html

Today I present the Award (01/06/2021, Judge: Mario Guido Garcia) of an Iternational Thematic Tourney for chess composition (Cup of Bucovina 2020), which was focused on Theme Pergialis with great success. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ImQQ9qkJLMpPjBYYIKmVYtbhQ-iW5SJF/view?usp=sharing

Many thanks for organizers and participants.

Statistics for Fairy compositions

In chess composition there is the Fairy Chess, where we see other conditions, others pieces, other chessboards. 

For the question "which fairy elements are mostly used?", a statistic comes to our help, based on the about 785,000 problems that are contained in the database WinChloe by the French Christian Poisson. 

The statistic is published in an article of the very good composer Julia Vysotska:
https://juliasfairies.com/fairy-elements-statistics/

It is important to remember that the fairy elements were not defined at the same year, so the older elements had for more time the opportunity to be chosen for use. 

The statistic shows that there are about 2670 fairy elements (pieces and conditions) and in the first position stands the piece Grasshopper (introduced in 1913) with 14073 compositions containing it!

Women composers

A good article about women composers you may find at the link :
https://chessbase.in/news/Women-in-the-world-of-chess-composition

Another composition in CoVID19 times

Today we present a problem by Ioannis Garoufalidis, awarded Greek solver and composer.

Condition: Because of the corona virus CoVID19 … the pieces must be kept in a distance from each other!
The condition is known as Anti-ContactChess or Anti-koko.

Problem-840 FEN: 8/3P2p1/8/8/8/k7/4p3/7K h#2, (2+3) twin: bKa3 to g5	Ioannis Garoufalidis (GRE) original Black plays and helps White mate in two moves Fairy condition: Anti-koko
Condition Anti-koko: The moves, where one piece goes near another piece, are not legal and are prohibited. The capture of a piece is allowed. a) bKa3 1.e1=S d8=Q 2.Sc2 Qa5# b) bKg5 1.e1=B d8=R 2.Bg3 Rd5# An Allumwandlung (AUW) problem with model mates.

A well-timed problem, in CoVID19 times

We present today a well-timed problem by Nikos Mendrinos, awarded Greek solver, champion and new composer.

Condition: Because of the corona virus CoVID19 … the pieces must be kept in a distance from each other!
The condition is known as Anti-ContactChess or Anti-koko.

Problem-839 FEN: 4k3/b7/4S3/2q4s/K7/2p2Q2/8/1R6 #2, (4+5)

Nikos Mendrinos (GRE) original White plays and mates in two moves Fairy condition: Anti-koko

Condition Anti-koko: The moves, where one piece goes near another piece as in 1.Ka4-b3 or 1.Qf3-a8+ or 1...Qc5-a5+ or 1…Ba7-b6, are not legal and are prohibited. The capture of a piece, as 1.Qf3xh5+, is allowed. Tries: {1.Qh1? / Qg2? Sg7!}, {1.Qxh5+? Qxh5!}, {1.Rg1? Sg7!}, {1.Re1? Bb8!} Key: 1.Qe4! (waiting) 1…Sg7 2.Sc7#, 1…Sg3 2.Qg6# 1…Qc8 / Qc7 2.Sg7#, 1…Qc6+ / Qg1 / Qf2 2.Q(x)c6# 1…Bb8 2.Rxb8# The white battery, constructed with wQ and wS with the key, can be opened giving double check. The defence of the black pieces is very limited by the Anti-koko condition.