Album Russia 2001-2003

A few days ago I have bought an interesting brochure with short, but much saying title Album Russia 2001-2003. I liked very much two previous editions, i.e. Russian albums for years 1995-1997 and 1998-2000. Browsing through all sections is a pure pleasure. Especially direct mates are regularly of the highest quality. Despite being mostly fairy composer, I like studying orthodox mates. On the other hand, there are still relatively few fairies. Nevertheless, they are not bad at all as is documented by this selection.
Anatolij Stjopotchkin
1st-2nd Prize e.a. R. Usmanov 40 JT 2002

1.h1B 2.Bxc6 3.Kxd4 4.Bd3 5.Re4 Bc5#

1.d1R 2.Rxd4 3.Kxc6 4.Rb7 5.Bd7 Rc5#

Excellent analogy of two solutions: promotion, capture of knight allowing capture of the other by king unpinning both black line movers that block two squares with order of moves motivated by possible gate closing and finally model mate on c5.

+++ Composition In the Spotlight (CIS) No. 28 +++

Spotlight comment by Juraj Lörinc:

The original comment sums well the strategical content of the seriesmover. But there is another attractive point of the play. Initially bK has only two flights, d5 and d6, and these are located on the lines of wB and wR. Therefore it seems quite paradoxical that black has to destroy almost prepared mating net for bK at c5 and after captures of both kings bK is suddenly almost free on d4 and c6. More I look on the problem, more I like it.









ser-h#5 (5+10)
2.1.1...
Valerij Gurov
1st-2nd Prize e.a. L. Grolman 60 JT 2001-2003

1.R3xc5(w) bxc8Q(b) 2.Qxc5(w) gxf8S(b)#

1.Sxc5(w) gxf8B(b) 2.Bxc5(w) bxc8R(b)#

2x4 captures in 2x4 half-moves - h#2 with two phases full of Andernach changes. Especially interesting is the final capture that has to be in some sense non-retractable. And it is promotion this time, yielding AUW.









h#2 (8+11)
Andrenach chess
2.1.1.1
Andrej Selivanov
Vladimir I. Zheltonozhko
Mark Erenburg
2nd HM Sake, Wageningen 2001

1.d8S! zz
1...b6 2.c6 b5 3.Qb4+ Sc4 4.Bb2 Kxe3 5.Sg4+ Kf4 6.Se6+ Kf5 7.Se3+ Sxe3#
1...b5 2.Rd1 b4 3.Ke1 b3 4.Bxb3 Kf3 5.Qd5+ Kf4 6.Sf1+ Kf5 7.Qf3+ Sxf3#

Good use of fairy condition ends in chameleon echo of fairy mate.









s#7 (13+4)
No Double Pawns
Lev Grolman
2nd Prize Shakhmatnaya Poezya 2002

1.ROb3! th. 2.ROxb7#
1...Nd3 2.ROxd2#
1...Nc5 2.ROxa5#
1...Nf5 2.ROg5#
1...Nd6 2.ROd8#

(1...Nd8 2.g8Q#, 1...Nh4 2.Nxh8#, 1...Rb5 2.ROxd2#, 1...Rc5 2.ROxd2#, 1...Rd7 2.ROg5#)

Interferences of static rook in 4 different directions.









#2 (7+9)
1+0 rose, 2+1 nightrider, 0+2 grasshopper
Lev Grolman
Georgij Jevsejev
1st Prize Shakhmatnaya Poezya 2003

1.nGf2 nNh1 2.Gg3 nGa2#

1.nNd6 nGf8 2.Nf6 nNxb2#

Neutral grasshopper and nutral nightrider form two double-neutral reciprocal batteries much in the spirit of 17th TT CCM, that was (perhaps not) incidentally won by the same pair of composers.









h#2 (5+6+2)
2+1+1 nightrider, 1+2+1 grasshopper
2.1.1.1
Vladislav Nefedov
HM Shakhmatnaya Kompozitsiya 2001

a) 1.Ke4 Bg5 2.Kf3 Gh5 3.Kf2 Bf4 4.Kg1 Bh2+ 5.Kh1 Kg3#

b) 1.Ke4 Kc5 2.Kd3 Gb5 3.Kc2 Kb4 4.Kb1 Ka3 5.Ka1 Bb2#

c) 1.Ke6 Kb5 2.Kd7 Ga5 3.Kc8 Ka6 4.Kb8 Ba7+ 5.Ka8 Kb6#

d) 1.Ke6 Ge7 2.Kf6 Gg5 3.Kf7 Bc5 4.Kg8 Bf8 5.Kh8 Bg7#

2+2 echo mates in 4 corners.









h#5 (3+1)
grasshopper e5
b) h3 -» c6
c) = b) + c1 -» b6
d) = c) + c6 -» h6

Comments to Juraj Lörinc.
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