Helpmates with twin by moving black king 9
After some time you can see the arguments of other composers about
such helpmates. Other opinions you can find in
Helpmates with twin by moving black king 3. Some people here
relay on them so it could be good idea to refresh the mind...
Opinions of the following people are slightly edited, but I tried to avoid changing
the meaning of their words as they appeared in e-mails.
TT = Theodor Tauber
JN = Janez Nastran
MP = Mario Parrinello
CHP = Christian Poisson
JL = Juraj Lörinc
MP:
As expected, this issue has attracted the attention from other composers because it is an important and, in my opinion, controversial aspect of composition.
I have carefully read the third part of that argument (CHP's and JL's opinions) and I wish once
again to express my point of view.
As regards to twin problems, generally I am not keen of such problems
just for the following reason: it often happens some pieces are useful
only in one solution and in the best hypotesis they are underused and it
is more evident in problems with twin by moving black king; this is the
most important reason for my "bad feeling" with twin problems (I do
think to share it with many other composers).
BUT on the other hand,
we must analyze another point: twin problems are equivalent and must be
accepted as well as multisolutions problems but ONLY if the idea can not
be showed in multisolutions form. So, according to that unwritten law,
we must accept twin problems despite the presence of some useless
pieces; clever (and sometimes lucky) composers succeed to reduce such pieces, see i.e.
helpmate NOT with here discussed twin, in
which only pf7 - cookstopper and b7 are useless in a) - by the
way, useless pawns are generally better tolerated.
When we talk about some useless pieces, of course we must refer only to black pieces, because, as CHP rightly says, ALL the white pieces
MUST be useful in all the solutions (I agree with him when he says
weasels, in helpmates, are white pieces).
JL:
Although the last statement doesn't touch only king-twinned helpmates, I must argue with the capital letters
in MP's word MUST. It is matter of taste - and surely some exceptions exist. Probably everyone interested in helpmates knows mr. Fadil Abdurahmanovic as a composer of highest abilities and good taste.
Nevertheless, in composition match Slovakia - Latvija, where he was judge of h#2 section, he gave 1st place to
another helpmate with 3 solutions that in every solution has one white
nightsleeper. The lower placed helpmates had all white pieces playing...
TT:
I read the comments of MP and CHP concerning Black King twins.
The beauty of such problems consists in having almost
different positions connected by harmonious and unexpected manoeuvres. MP understood me very
well: using black King twins is not for avoiding cooks, but for create an idea.
A problem must be appreciated for its deepness, originality, elegance;
the economy is less important. There are some people that think like me (and of course those who ranked
so high Seider's problems).
JN:
I was attracted by the very interesting exchange of
opinions on twins with displacement of Black King. Here I want
to add my own opinion:
It was mentioned that this twinning method should be thematic,
essential element of the idea. I agree. However, I consider this
method, thematic or not, unsatisfactory when Black King also
plays in the solutions. In most cases this is just a
constructional trick lacking esthetical value.
JL:
Yes, but what in the case that moving black king during solution is a part of idea (e.g. giving him chance to enter mating square, change of pin line, ... whatever you can imagine)? Many devices used during composing are "only" constructional tricks, some of them completely fooling judges, but sometimes they allow to compose very funny and interesting composition despite breaking many rules.
Don't forget you may try to express your own views in the form of real helpmates that can participate in
1st Chess Composition Microweb TT.
Comments to
Juraj Lörinc.