Jan Hannelius, the Honorary President of PCCC passed away on 7th of March 2005.
He was internationally known for his PCCC presidency in 1974-1986. The title
of International Judge was granted to him in 1957 and the title of International
Master for Chess Composition in 1977. The number of his FIDE Album points is
46 and his composing career was exceptionally long: his debut problem was published
in 1932 and the last problems during this year.
The Hannelius theme, named after Jan's 2# from Die Schwalbe in 1950, remains
a popular theme especially among twomovers. He was the Honorary Member of the
Finnish Chess Problem Society since 1985. Kauko Virtanen and Barry Barnes both
recall their old friend, see pp. 56-57. 12 problems from a total output of more
than a thousand problems are on the next two pages. In the next issue of ST
we will publish several dedication problems for Jan.
The annual meeting of ST took place in the end of February. For our subscribers
abroad it is useful to know that the subscription fee for abroad stays at 23
EUR also during this year. Please, remember to renew your subscriptions!
The Finnish Championship in solving was organised for the first time in WCSC
format, during two days with six rounds. The tournament director Neal Turner
had done excellent job in selecting appropriate problems, which were of high
standard as works of art and at the same time offered challenging solving. Disappointingly,
only nine solvers participated, though it was hoped that even solvers from abroad
would have been interested. Also for most Finnish solvers the competition would
have been the best way of experiencing the format of international solving competitions.
After a very close competition at the top, four solvers were separated by very
small margins. Any of them could have won, this time Jorma Paavilainen was the
luckiest one. See pp. 65-68 for results, problems and solutions.
The top results of the International Solving Competition are announced on p.
68. Only three solvers scored maximum points, and it is a pleasure to see that
Kari Karhunen is one of them.
Henry Tanner is surely known for most of our foreign readers. Henry has been
- and still is! - successful as a player, but his main interest in chess has
always been chess composition. Henry turns 50 on April 20, 2005 (not on April
30, as erroneously stated in some sources). GM solver Kari Valtonen writes on
pp. 69-70 on his long-time friend. Henry Tanner 50 JT is for fairy helpmates
of at least 4½ moves, see pp. 70-71 for details. Dedication problems
for Henry are on pp. 70-72.
Neal Turner's Hard Nut to Crack provides enjoyment or suffering on p. 73, and
Harri Hurme continues his reconstruction column with another 2# on p. 74.
Kari Valtonen initiates his series of articles of themes and terms with the
keymove (in Finnish: alkusiirto), see pp. 76-82. Marko Ylijoki presents Finnish
helpmates starting from the year 1940 in Selected Helpmates on pp. 84-87.
The composing match Finland-Switzerland has reached its conclusion with a win
for us, see 88-96. The match was held in three sections, all of which have now
been judged. We wish to thank the Director of the match, Hans Gruber, the judges
Hans Peter Rehm, Christopher Jones and Michel Caillaud, and of course our opponents
for a memorable match!
The originals columns and the Four Corner Project XI close this issue.
Published 8th April 2005