13th Greek Championship in Solving, 2014

The 13th Greek Championship in Solving Chess Problems this year went to Patras, Greece, first time away from Athens.
It was organized by The Patras Chess Group (SOP) and was hosted by the Chamber of Achaia in a very nice conference room, and there were 24 participants. Available time for solving : 3 hours.

Surname Name	nr. 1	nr. 2	nr. 3	nr. 4	nr.  5	nr. 6	nr. 7	nr. 8	nr. 9	nr.  10	nr.  11	nr. 12	total	mins	rank	up to 18	w
Mendrinos Nikos	5	5	5	5	4	5	5	1			0		35	180	1
Papastavropoulos Andreas	5	5	5	5	4		5	0					29	180	2
Konidaris Panagiotis	5	5	0	3			5	0	4		3		25	180	3
Spyropoulos Giorgos	5	5	5	0	0	5	0	0					20	180	4
Spiliadis Athanasios	5	5	4		1		2	0					17	180	5
Fougiaxis Harry	5	5							5		1		16	180	6
Triantos Konstantinos	5	5	5		0			0			0		15	167	7	v
Betsos Titos	5	5					5						15	180	8, 9
Pountzas Chrysanthos	5	5				0	5	0					15	180	8, 9
Alexandrou Anastasios	5	5	4					0					14	180	10
Masouros Panagiotis	5	0	5				0	0			4		14	180	11
Malataras Gerasimos	5	5		3			0	0					13	180	12	v
Athanasopoulos Kyriakos	5	5						0					10	170	13	v
Vaggopoulos Anastasios	5	0		3		0	0	0					8	180	14
Stamatopoulos Apostolos	5	0					0	0			2		7	161	15	v
Zaronikas Dimitris	5	0	0	2			0						7	168	16	v
Manolas Emmanuel	0	0	4				0	0			3		7	180	17
Kalyva Kyriaki	5	0	0		0		0	0			0		5	171	18, 20	v	v
Mavromati Aggeliki	5	0						0					5	171	18, 20		v
Kakoulidis Vasilis	5												5	171	18, 20	v
Betsos Nicolas-Evaggelos	5	0	0	0			0						5	173	21	v
Stefanatos Gerasimos	5	0	0				0	0	0		0		5	180	22	v
Stamatopoulos Giorgos	0	0											0	180	23	v

Here you may see the problems, selected by the judge Ioannis Garoufalidis, who said the problems were easy because he decided to lower the level a bit so that more solvers can solve them, and their solutions.

With 5 points per problem, solving 12 problems you get 60 points maximum.

The problems ...

... and their solutions.

German Championship in Solving, 2014

For your information, and for a chance of training for chess solvers, we present here the compositions given to participants in the German Solving Champioship 2014, in Illertissen.

First round, Twomovers --- Solutions for first round

Second round, Threemovers --- Solutions for second round

Third round, Studies --- Solutions for third round

Fourth round, Selfmates --- Solutions for fourth round

Fifth round, Moremovers --- Solutions for fifth round

Sixth round, Helpmates --- Solutions for sixth round

Results

Some two-movers for you to solve

Here are some two-movers for you to see how easily you can solve them.
White plays, the Black tries to find adequate answer, but in the second move White mates.
You may try sacrifices, checks, anything you can think of, anyway the key-move is unique.
The solution and the comments are visible when you select the area between the brackets [  ].

Problem-770 Nikos Pergialis original

2Qb1B2/1S1sp3/5p2/3pp2B/pp1P2r1/Sk6/1P1p4/K2bRs2 (9 + 13) #2

Solution : [Tries : {1.Sa5+? Bxa5!}, {1.Sc5+? Sxc5!}, {1.Re3+? Sxe3!}, {1.Qc2+? Bxc2!}, {1.Qc3+? bxc3!}, {1.Qc4+? dxc4!}, {1.Qc6? [2.Qxd5#] e6!}, {1.Qc7? [2.Sa5#] Bxc7!}, {1.Qxd7? [2.Sc5# / Qxd5#] bxa3!}, {1.Qxd8? [2.Sa5#] bxa3!} Key : 1.Qc5! [2.Qxd5#] 1…Se3 / Sxc5 / Sb6 / Be2 / Bf3 / Rxd4 / e6 / bxa3 2.Rxe3# / Sxc5# / Sa5# / Qc2# / Qc2# / Bxd1# / Qxb4# / Qc3# Sacrificial key and many tries for careless solvers.]

Problem-771 Emmanuel Manolas Place 8, Asthma-2013, Zagreb

5B1R/3p4/4b3/1s6/7R/5Pk1/6P1/5sK1 (6 + 5) #2

Solution : [Tries : {1.Rg4+? Bxg4!}, {1.Rg8+? Kxh4!}, {1.Bb4? [2.Be1#] Sd2!}, {1.Bc5? [2.Bf2#] Se3!}, {1.Bd6+? Sxd6!}, {1.Bg7?  [2.Be5#] d6!}. Key : 1.Bh6! [2.Bf4#] Bg4 2.Rxg4# In this composition you see the Theme Elmgren, where all the black pieces have defences in the various tries.]

Problem-772 Emmanuel Manolas original

2BS3B/q2b1pK1/3p2p1/2prk3/3R1r2/5P2/3PP3/1Q6 (9 + 9) #2

Solution : [Tries : {1.Sxf7+? Ke6!}, {1.Re4+? Kf5!}, {1.Rxd5+? Kxd5!}, {1.Qe4+? Rxe4!}, {1.Kh6+? / Kh7+? / Kf8+? / Kg8+? f6!} Key : 1.Qf5+! 1…Kxd4 2.Qxf4# 1…Kxf5 2.Rxd5#, 1…Bxf5 2.Sc6#, 1…Rxf5 2.Re4#, 1…gxf5 2.Kxf7# We see a checking key with a queen sacrifice, which can be captured by four black pieces. The interesting thing here is the Anti-triple : Bd7xf5 / Rf4xf5 / g6xf5, where from the three mating moves Sc6 / Re4 / Kxf7 only one is valid after each black move.]