My Chess Compositions
The following chess compositions represent my very modest contribution to the world's store of chess problems.
My First Problem
White to play and mate in two moves
My first composition. Sometimes when this problem is shown to coffee-house patzers, the move Qa8 is rapidly suggested as a solution, with the threat of moving the king away to give a discovered mate. Often when it is then pointed out that black can now play Nb6, attacking the queen, the move is retracted, followed by a long and sometimes fruitless search for the solution. Practiced chess problem solvers can usually solve this problem in a glance.
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My Second Problem
White to play and mate in three moves
Yes, those white pawns are about to queen!
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A Problem the Computer Couldn't Solve
White to play and mate in two moves
I composed this problem specifically to fool the computer. I have never seen a problem-solving program that would solve it, save Problematic, the program I wrote myself.
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Another Problem the Computer Couldn't Solve
White to play and mate in two moves
Don't even try to solve this problem until you have the solution to the previous one. Your solution must include a proof of the legality of the move.
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An Easy Three Mover
White to play and mate in three moves
An easy three-mover. How hard can it be?
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The Problem that Stumped Walter Browne
White to play and mate in four moves
Note that black only has one move on the board. This greatly simplifies the challenge to mate in four moves. This problem is my favorite. It was once included in a problem solving contest that was entered by five-time US chess champ, Walter Browne. Walter claimed this problem had no solution. This was not a timed competition. Walter had several weeks to consider his entry. Although I could certainly never beat Walter Browne in an over-the-board chess game, I was elated to have triumphed over him in this chess contest.
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First Christmas Tree
White to play and mate in two moves
My first attempt at a Christmas Tree Problem. I composed this problem for Christmas, 1996 and put it on my cards that year. While it is not a very good chess problem, most people missed it, some claiming it had two symmetrical solutions. Of course what they all missed was black's check. The only good thing one can say about this problem (other than that it takes the form of a Christmas tree) is that the first move is one of the few on the board that doesn't threaten mate on the following move. I didn't find it that easy to compose a non-trivial problem in the shape of a Christmas tree.
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Another Christmas Tree
White to play and mate in two moves
Like I said, it isn't that easy to accomplish this task and have a worthwhile problem.
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An Easy Two Mover
White to play and mate in two moves
Looks easy, doesn't it? Well, it is. And I don't have anything to prove here (according to internationally accepted standards of chess problem composition.)
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The Letter 'S'
White to play and mate in three moves
The letter 'S'. This was my first attempt at a letter problem. When I had Switchback software, I thought it would be interesting to compose a letter problem for every letter in the name. This and the next one were all the further I got.
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The Letter 'W'
White to play and mate in three moves
The Letter 'W'. I spent some time trying to compose a problem for the letter 'I', but did not succeed, and so here stopped my series of letter problems.
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Another Double Indian
White to play and mate in four moves
Here is another attempt at a double Indian theme. Not as elegant as the one that tripped up Walter Browne, but still a fun problem.
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