We have written in February 2009 a post about the composer Diyan Kostadinov, when the match Topalov - Kamski had started, (see here).
The composer has repeated this year the task of creating new problems featuring the names of the contestants for the higher title, Anand and Topalov, as you can see here. The six problems are two-movers and you can send your solutions to the composer (he publishes an e-mail address under the problems).
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
European solvers in Sunningdale
Best European solvers for 2010 (contest ECSC 2010)
Rank - Name - Country - Points - Minutes
1 - John Nunn - GBR - 80,50 - 335
2 - Piotr Murdzia - POL - 77,00 - 360
3 - Eddy van Beers - BEL - 76,25 - 333
4 - Kacper Piorun - POL - 72,25 - 360
5 - Bojan Vučković - SRB - 65,25 - 344
6 - Jorma Paavilainen - FIN - 62,75 - 357
7 - Michal Dragoun - CZE - 60,50 - 360
8 - Michel Caillaud - FRA - 59,50 - 351
9 - Milan Velimirović - SRB - 59,25 - 335
10 - Volodymir Pogorelov - UKR - 58,25 - 360
11 - Dolf Wissmann - NED - 58,00 - 358
12 - Marjan Kovačević - SRB - 56,25 - 333
13 - Colin McNab - GBR - 56,25 - 360
14 - Vladimir Podinić - SRB - 54,75 - 342
15 - Jonathan Mestel - GBR - 54,25 - 360
16 - Piotr Górski - POL - 52,75 - 360
17 - Araz Almammadov - AZE - 52,00 - 355
18 - Vasyl Dyachuk - UKR - 51,75 - 356
19 - František Sabol - CZE - 50,00 - 352
20 - Andy Ooms - BEL - 49,00 - 360
21 - Kostas Prentos - GRE - 48,50 - 354
31 - Nikos Mendrinos - GRE - 42,00 - 351
49 - Harry Fougiaxis - GRE - 29,25 - 351
51 - Panagiotis Konidaris - GRE - 29,00 - 360
and a few more.
Read the report at the site of Chessbase here and see the presentation of the problems here.
Photo of our national team at the blog of Panagiotis Konidaris, here.
Rank - Name - Country - Points - Minutes
1 - John Nunn - GBR - 80,50 - 335
2 - Piotr Murdzia - POL - 77,00 - 360
3 - Eddy van Beers - BEL - 76,25 - 333
4 - Kacper Piorun - POL - 72,25 - 360
5 - Bojan Vučković - SRB - 65,25 - 344
6 - Jorma Paavilainen - FIN - 62,75 - 357
7 - Michal Dragoun - CZE - 60,50 - 360
8 - Michel Caillaud - FRA - 59,50 - 351
9 - Milan Velimirović - SRB - 59,25 - 335
10 - Volodymir Pogorelov - UKR - 58,25 - 360
11 - Dolf Wissmann - NED - 58,00 - 358
12 - Marjan Kovačević - SRB - 56,25 - 333
13 - Colin McNab - GBR - 56,25 - 360
14 - Vladimir Podinić - SRB - 54,75 - 342
15 - Jonathan Mestel - GBR - 54,25 - 360
16 - Piotr Górski - POL - 52,75 - 360
17 - Araz Almammadov - AZE - 52,00 - 355
18 - Vasyl Dyachuk - UKR - 51,75 - 356
19 - František Sabol - CZE - 50,00 - 352
20 - Andy Ooms - BEL - 49,00 - 360
21 - Kostas Prentos - GRE - 48,50 - 354
31 - Nikos Mendrinos - GRE - 42,00 - 351
49 - Harry Fougiaxis - GRE - 29,25 - 351
51 - Panagiotis Konidaris - GRE - 29,00 - 360
and a few more.
Read the report at the site of Chessbase here and see the presentation of the problems here.
Photo of our national team at the blog of Panagiotis Konidaris, here.
Thursday, April 08, 2010
European Chess Solving Championship 2010
The European Chess Solving Championship, ESCS, for 2010 is organised by the British Chess Problem Society, BCPS, in Sunnindale, from 09-04-2010 thru 12-04-2010.
Announcement : http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/ecsc10.pdf
Greece is represented by the excellent solvers : Kostas Prentos, Nikos Mendrinos, Panagiotis Konidaris, Harry Fougiaxis. We wish them every success!
Links :
http://www.bstephen.me.uk/ecsc2010
http://www.matplus.net/pub/start.php?px=1269824566&app=forum&act=forum&fid=ecsc6
Results
Countries : (1) England, (2) Poland, (3) Serbia, ..., (8) Greece, ..., 13 teams.
Solvers : (1) John Nunn, (2) Piotr Murdzia, (3) Eddie van Beers, ..., (21) Kostas Prentos, ..., (31) Nikos Mendrinos, ..., (49) Harry Fougiaxis, ..., (51) Panagiotis Konidaris, ..., 55 contestants.
The problems (very difficult) were selected by Pavel Kamenik.
Announcement : http://www.saunalahti.fi/~stniekat/pccc/ecsc10.pdf
Greece is represented by the excellent solvers : Kostas Prentos, Nikos Mendrinos, Panagiotis Konidaris, Harry Fougiaxis. We wish them every success!
Links :
http://www.bstephen.me.uk/ecsc2010
http://www.matplus.net/pub/start.php?px=1269824566&app=forum&act=forum&fid=ecsc6
Results
Countries : (1) England, (2) Poland, (3) Serbia, ..., (8) Greece, ..., 13 teams.
Solvers : (1) John Nunn, (2) Piotr Murdzia, (3) Eddie van Beers, ..., (21) Kostas Prentos, ..., (31) Nikos Mendrinos, ..., (49) Harry Fougiaxis, ..., (51) Panagiotis Konidaris, ..., 55 contestants.
The problems (very difficult) were selected by Pavel Kamenik.
Tuesday, April 06, 2010
Blog Statistics, 2nd year
The statistics come from the "Google Analytics" tool, and cover the period [Feb 07, 2009 - Feb 06, 2010], second year of operation of this blog.
In 4335 visits, 2893 unique visitors asked for 7884 pageviews, staying average time on site 1 minute 47 seconds, viewing 1.81 pages per visit.
19.52% of the visitors enter from Greece, 16.06% from United States, 5,24% from Germany, 4.96% from United Kingdom, then follow Poland, Australia, Brazil, France, Spain, Serbia, India, Israel, Netherlands, Romania, Czech Republic - a total of 96 territories.
They live in 1085 cities and speak 55 languages.
34.67% are returning visitors, the rest are new visitors. 3.16% of them have returned over 200 times.
Some of the titles attract more attention : Composers of chess problems, Easy win in four moves, Greek Terminology for problemists, World Champioship in Rio de Janeiro, ECSC 2009 in Subotica, Sam Loyd, Helpmates, etc from 332 titles.
47.22% of the visitors use Internet Explorer / Windows, 37.39% use Firefox / Windows, and the rest use various operating systems and devices, even portable phones.
Some more elements are included here :
Biographical details are written for the composers Spyros Bikos, Dimitrios Goussopoulos, Dimitris Kapralos, Vassilis Lyris, Panagis Sklavounos.
A new column started with cooperations of composers (here and here).
An International Contest for Compositions has been announced [Jubilee Tourney Manolas-60].
Thank you all!
Manolas Emmanuel (a.k.a. alkinoos)
In 4335 visits, 2893 unique visitors asked for 7884 pageviews, staying average time on site 1 minute 47 seconds, viewing 1.81 pages per visit.
19.52% of the visitors enter from Greece, 16.06% from United States, 5,24% from Germany, 4.96% from United Kingdom, then follow Poland, Australia, Brazil, France, Spain, Serbia, India, Israel, Netherlands, Romania, Czech Republic - a total of 96 territories.
They live in 1085 cities and speak 55 languages.
34.67% are returning visitors, the rest are new visitors. 3.16% of them have returned over 200 times.
Some of the titles attract more attention : Composers of chess problems, Easy win in four moves, Greek Terminology for problemists, World Champioship in Rio de Janeiro, ECSC 2009 in Subotica, Sam Loyd, Helpmates, etc from 332 titles.
47.22% of the visitors use Internet Explorer / Windows, 37.39% use Firefox / Windows, and the rest use various operating systems and devices, even portable phones.
Some more elements are included here :
Biographical details are written for the composers Spyros Bikos, Dimitrios Goussopoulos, Dimitris Kapralos, Vassilis Lyris, Panagis Sklavounos.
A new column started with cooperations of composers (here and here).
An International Contest for Compositions has been announced [Jubilee Tourney Manolas-60].
Thank you all!
Manolas Emmanuel (a.k.a. alkinoos)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Solving contest ESSNA No.7 2010
The contest was organized by ESSNA (Union of Chess Clubs in Attica, Greece) and was hosted in Chess Club Ampelokipi.
Mr Ioannis Garoufalidis was the Judge of the contest, who said that he selected easier problems than the previous contest. That was almost true. (Cursed self-mate!).
The given time limit was 2 hours and 15 minutes for 6 problems (1 two-mover, 1 three-mover, 1 multimover (six-mover), 1 study for win, 1 helmate in three with two solutions and 1 και 1 self-mate (multimover in 4 moves)).
There were 17 contestants-solvers.
The first three were awarded with commemorative cups.
The first six were awarded with chess books and magazines.
Here are the names, times and grades of the first twelve solvers.
There was also a young contestant Panagiotis Koutoukidis and he was awarded with the prize 'Young Champion of Attica in Solving Chess Problems 2010'. The young Koutoukidis, student of second grade in 5th Gymnasium of Ilioupolis, has finished recently at first place of the School Chess Games in Attica, in his grade.
You may see the winners in the very informative chess blog (in Greek) of Schroedinger's Cat : here.
Here follow the problems of the contest. (In parantheses there are the grades of each move).
Tries : [1.Sb6+? Kd6!], [1.Re3? fxe3!], [1.Rd4+? Kxe6!], [1.Re5+? Kxc4!], [1.Rd4+? Kc6!], [1.Sxf4+? Sxf4+!], [1.Sb4+? Bxb4!], [1.Qa4? bxa4!], [1.Qc2? Bc5!], [1.Qa1? / Qxd2? bxc4!].
Key : 1.Re1! zugzwang (5)
1...Bc5/Bb4/Bd6 2.Rxc5#/Sxb4#/Sb6#
1...dxe1=Q/S/R/B 2.Sxf4#
1...b4 2.Rc5#
1...bxc4 2.Qxf3#
1...Kxc4 2.Sb6#
1...Sg6~ 2.Sxf4#
Tries : [1.Qg7? Rxg7!], [1.Qh3?/Qg8? R(x)g8+!], [1.Qh7?/Ke7? Bxh2!], [1.Qg8? Rxg8+!], [1.Bxg1+? Kxg1!], [1...Bh2~+ Bh2!], [1.Bxg2+? Kxg2!]
Key : 1.Kd7! (1) threat 2.Qa8 and 3.Qxg2# (1)
1...Rg8 2.Qxg8 (0.5) 3.Qg2#
1...Rg7+ 2.Qxg7 (0.5) 3.Qg2#
1...Rg6 2.Bd6+ (0.5) Rh6/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg5 2.Be5+ (0.5) Rh5/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg4 2.Bf4+ (0.5) Rh4/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg3 2.Bxg3+ (0.5) Bh2 3.Qxh2#
Tries : [1.Rg5+? hxg5!], [1.Rf6? Se3!], [1.dxc7? Sb6!]
Key : 1.Rg4! (1) threat 2.Rd4#
1...Kxd6 2.Rg6+ Kd5 (note 1) 3.Se6 ( > 4.Sf4#) Kxc6 (note 2) 4.Sd8+ Kd5 5.Sc6 (4) ~ 6.Se7#
Theme : Switchback of White Rook And White Knight
note 1 : 2...Be6 3.Rxe6+ Kd5 4.Re4 ~ 5.Rd4#
note 2 : 3...Kd6 4.Sf4+ Be6 5.Rxe6#
Key : 1.Kb4! (1) Rf5! (note 1) 2.c6 Rxh5 3.c7 Rh4+ 4.Kb5 Rh5+ 5.Kb6 Rh6+
6.Bd6! (2) Rxd6+ 7.Kb5 Rd5+ 8.Kb4 Rd4+ 9.Kb3 Rd3+ 10.Kc2 Rd4 11.c8=R! (1) (note 2) Ra4 12.Kb3 (1) +-
note 1 : 1...Tb1+ 2.Kc4! (2.Ka5? Th1) 2...Tc1+ 3.Kd5 Td1+ 4.Ke6
note 2 : 11.c8=Q? Rc4+ 12.Qxc4 = (Remember the study by Saavedra, Problem 81)
1.Be4 Rd3+ 2.Ke5 Rd7 3.Qe6 d4# (2.5)
1.Kd5 Re7 2.Be4 d4 3.Se6 Rd7# (2.5)
Tries : [1.Sb6+? axb6!], [1.Qxe4+? Bxe4!], [1.Qd3+? cxd3!], [1.Qd2+? cxd2!], [1.Rb5+? axb5!]
Key : 1.Sd6! (1) threat 2.Qd1+ Kc5 3.Sxe8+ Ld6 4.Qd4+ exd4# (1)
1...Kc5 2.Sxe4+ Kd5 3.Sf6+ Sxf6 4.Rd4+ (1.5) exd4#
1...Sc7 2.Rd1+ Kc5 3.Sc8+ Kb5 4.Rd5+ (1.5) Sxd5#
Mr Ioannis Garoufalidis was the Judge of the contest, who said that he selected easier problems than the previous contest. That was almost true. (Cursed self-mate!).
The given time limit was 2 hours and 15 minutes for 6 problems (1 two-mover, 1 three-mover, 1 multimover (six-mover), 1 study for win, 1 helmate in three with two solutions and 1 και 1 self-mate (multimover in 4 moves)).
There were 17 contestants-solvers.
The first three were awarded with commemorative cups.
The first six were awarded with chess books and magazines.
Here are the names, times and grades of the first twelve solvers.
| pos | Surname Name | time | total |
| 1 | Mendrinos Nikos | 2.08 | 25 |
| 2 | Papastavropoulos Andreas | 2.15 | 25 |
| 3 | Konidaris Panagiotis | 2.15 | 20 |
| 4 | Skyrianoglou Dimitris | 2.11 | 17,5 |
| 5 | Fougiaxis Harry | 2.11 | 15 |
| 6 | Manolas Emmanuel | 2.12 | 15 |
| 7 | Vlahos Elissaios | 2.15 | 14,5 |
| 8 | Papachristoudis Anastasios | 2.15 | 13,5 |
| 9 | Anastasiou Marios | 2.10 | 12,5 |
| 10-11 | Anemodouras Leokratis | 2.15 | 12,5 |
| 10-11 | Sklavounos Panagis | 2.15 | 12,5 |
| 12 | Mitsakis Konstantinos | 2.10 | 10 |
There was also a young contestant Panagiotis Koutoukidis and he was awarded with the prize 'Young Champion of Attica in Solving Chess Problems 2010'. The young Koutoukidis, student of second grade in 5th Gymnasium of Ilioupolis, has finished recently at first place of the School Chess Games in Attica, in his grade.
You may see the winners in the very informative chess blog (in Greek) of Schroedinger's Cat : here.
Here follow the problems of the contest. (In parantheses there are the grades of each move).
 | (Problem 441) D T Brock, 2nd Prize, Literaly Digest, 1903 Mate in 2 moves. #2 (10 + 8) |
| [2S5/4p1B1/4P1s1/1p1k3K/2R1Rp2/b2S1p2/3p1P2/3Q1B2] | |
Tries : [1.Sb6+? Kd6!], [1.Re3? fxe3!], [1.Rd4+? Kxe6!], [1.Re5+? Kxc4!], [1.Rd4+? Kc6!], [1.Sxf4+? Sxf4+!], [1.Sb4+? Bxb4!], [1.Qa4? bxa4!], [1.Qc2? Bc5!], [1.Qa1? / Qxd2? bxc4!].
Key : 1.Re1! zugzwang (5)
1...Bc5/Bb4/Bd6 2.Rxc5#/Sxb4#/Sb6#
1...dxe1=Q/S/R/B 2.Sxf4#
1...b4 2.Rc5#
1...bxc4 2.Qxf3#
1...Kxc4 2.Sb6#
1...Sg6~ 2.Sxf4#
 | (Problem 442) Otto Wurzburg, American Chess Bulletin, 1945 Mate in 3 moves. #3 (4 + 4) |
| [3K3Q/8/8/8/8/8/5prB/5Bbk] | |
Tries : [1.Qg7? Rxg7!], [1.Qh3?/Qg8? R(x)g8+!], [1.Qh7?/Ke7? Bxh2!], [1.Qg8? Rxg8+!], [1.Bxg1+? Kxg1!], [1...Bh2~+ Bh2!], [1.Bxg2+? Kxg2!]
Key : 1.Kd7! (1) threat 2.Qa8 and 3.Qxg2# (1)
1...Rg8 2.Qxg8 (0.5) 3.Qg2#
1...Rg7+ 2.Qxg7 (0.5) 3.Qg2#
1...Rg6 2.Bd6+ (0.5) Rh6/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg5 2.Be5+ (0.5) Rh5/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg4 2.Bf4+ (0.5) Rh4/Bh2 3.Qa8/Qxa2#
1...Rg3 2.Bxg3+ (0.5) Bh2 3.Qxh2#
 | (Problem 443) A Johandl, 2nd Honourable Mention, Kompositionturnier der Welt, 1998 Mate in 6 moves. #6 (8 + 8) |
| [s2SK2B/2p5/2PP2Rp/1p1k4/1P6/3P4/b6p/3s4] | |
Tries : [1.Rg5+? hxg5!], [1.Rf6? Se3!], [1.dxc7? Sb6!]
Key : 1.Rg4! (1) threat 2.Rd4#
1...Kxd6 2.Rg6+ Kd5 (note 1) 3.Se6 ( > 4.Sf4#) Kxc6 (note 2) 4.Sd8+ Kd5 5.Sc6 (4) ~ 6.Se7#
Theme : Switchback of White Rook And White Knight
note 1 : 2...Be6 3.Rxe6+ Kd5 4.Re4 ~ 5.Rd4#
note 2 : 3...Kd6 4.Sf4+ Be6 5.Rxe6#
 | (Problem 444) V Platov & M Platov, Deutsche Schachzeitung, 1908 White plays and wins. + (4 + 2) |
| [8/8/8/2P4P/8/2K5/7B/k4r2] | |
Key : 1.Kb4! (1) Rf5! (note 1) 2.c6 Rxh5 3.c7 Rh4+ 4.Kb5 Rh5+ 5.Kb6 Rh6+
6.Bd6! (2) Rxd6+ 7.Kb5 Rd5+ 8.Kb4 Rd4+ 9.Kb3 Rd3+ 10.Kc2 Rd4 11.c8=R! (1) (note 2) Ra4 12.Kb3 (1) +-
note 1 : 1...Tb1+ 2.Kc4! (2.Ka5? Th1) 2...Tc1+ 3.Kd5 Td1+ 4.Ke6
note 2 : 11.c8=Q? Rc4+ 12.Qxc4 = (Remember the study by Saavedra, Problem 81)
 | (Problem 445) A Vilkauskas, Sachmatija, 2009 Helpmate in 3 moves. Two solutions. h#3 2.1.1.1.1.1 (3 + 7) |
| [2K5/8/2p2p2/5p2/2qk1s2/3bR3/3P4/8] | |
1.Be4 Rd3+ 2.Ke5 Rd7 3.Qe6 d4# (2.5)
1.Kd5 Re7 2.Be4 d4 3.Se6 Rd7# (2.5)
 | (Problem 446) L Makaronec & V Surkov, Sachmatija, 2009 Self-mate in 4 moves. s#4 (9 + 10) |
| [1bSSsB2/p7/p7/3kp3/2p1p1R1/2p1K3/2Q1PP2/1R5b] | |
Tries : [1.Sb6+? axb6!], [1.Qxe4+? Bxe4!], [1.Qd3+? cxd3!], [1.Qd2+? cxd2!], [1.Rb5+? axb5!]
Key : 1.Sd6! (1) threat 2.Qd1+ Kc5 3.Sxe8+ Ld6 4.Qd4+ exd4# (1)
1...Kc5 2.Sxe4+ Kd5 3.Sf6+ Sxf6 4.Rd4+ (1.5) exd4#
1...Sc7 2.Rd1+ Kc5 3.Sc8+ Kb5 4.Rd5+ (1.5) Sxd5#
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