Gábor Cseh entered the international problem chess scene a few years ago and took it by storm. He specialised in long helpmates showing, for example, promotions and sacrifices of promoted pieces. In PCCC congresses Gábor was a well-known figure and one of the most pleasant personalities. His death is a great loss for the problem chess community and for all who had the privilege to know him. Joose Norri and Henry Tanner have written an article on Gábor presenting a selection of his problems, pp. 150-151.
A large part of this issue deals with the Wageningen PCCC, successfully organised and carried out by the Dutch problemists. We present official decisions (p. 132), interesting problems from composing competitions (pp. 133-135), results from solving competitions (pp. 136-139) and a solver´s point of view (pp.140-141). Obviously, we are happy with our solving success, but the differences were small and everything could easily have turned out differently.
After a long wait, the new FIDE-album has seen daylight. The delay has been due to circumstances beyond the control of the editors, Bernd Ellinghoven and Denis Blondel, who have once again done valuable work. A list of all Finnish composers with album points is on p. 143.
Pauli Perkonoja continues his interesting study articles on pp. 144-147. This time Pauli focuses on compositions in which a composer uses the same idea. Sometimes it is acceptable to publish more than one study with the same idea, but this should be practised with great care.
The award of Jorma Pitkänen 60 JT has appeared and has been sent to all participants. The 1st prize winner of each three sections can be enjoyed on p. 152. On the next page there are topical composing competition announcements.
Our originals section starts on p. 154, consisting of 35 originals and one correction. Please note that there are sometimes originals in other parts of the magazine. This time there are dedication problems on p. 132 and p. 149.
The themes of the 7th WCCT with theme examples are on pp. 165-171. The themes are not final, but it should not last long until the final announcement from Macedonia reaches us.
The ST 1998-1999 s# award by international judge Wladyslaw Rosolak is on pp. 172-173. According to ST policy, all composers who participated in will receive a copy of the award.
Marko Ylijoki continues to present selected helpmates on pp. 174-176. One of the selected helpmates is a recent StrateGems 1st prize winner by Gábor Cseh.
Timo Koistinen has been very active in correcting incorrect FIDE-album helpmates. In this work, Marko Ylijoki, Teppo Mänttä and Mikael Grönroos have assisted him. On pages 177-179 there are nine corrections, one of which with, perhaps controversially, a promoted piece in the initial position.
Please note that in the ST 3/2001 originals, a logical mistake had occurred. In "Small is Beautiful", pp. 122-126, the numbers of the originals 2220-2243 should be 2120-2143.
The next issue is due to appear in December, including interesting articles, discussion on recent 6th WCCT awards, a Christmas story etc. Stay tuned!
Published 10th September 2001