This issue is of a special kind: there are no original problems columns. Instead
we have several awards, both informal and formal. We hope that this makes a
nice change and allows composers and solvers a welcome relief. Now it is time
to enjoy good problems!
The most important composing competition is undoubtedly WCCT, the World Chess
Compositions Tournament. It was the 8th time to decide the strongest composing
nation. The competition was a close one, as you may see from the final results.
As usual, the awards have been critised and perhaps with reason, especially
in the study section. Something is wrong, when perfectly good, thematic and
sound studies score zero points.
For this WCCT, the judging system was changed. Instead of one judge, five countries
judged each section, which is surely an improvement. Hans Gruber directed the
competition and he proved to be quick, efficient, knowledgeable and helpful:
everything a good director needs to be.
The Finnish result in this WCCT is not much to speak about. Harri Hurme was
our only successful composer, scoring points both in threemovers and in study
section. The report starts by representing the three most successful problems
from each section and ends with a more detailed report on the studies, written
by Pauli Perkonoja.
The annual meeting of the Finnish Chess Problem Society takes place on February
21, 2009, in Helsinki. Before the meeting there is traditionally the Finnish
Championship in Quick Solving to be decided. If you are interested in participating,
please contact us for more details. See p. 134.
The World Championship in Composing for Individuals 2004-2006 has been decided.
This competition has never been favourite for us, and this time was no exception:
not a single Finnish participant! There were interesting compositions by top-class
composers, as you may see in the report on pp. 135-142.
The traditional ST summer competition called for any kind of problems showing
anticipatory unpins. We were lucky to have an expert judge, Michael McDowell,
who finished his award very quickly, see pp. 143-145.
Timo Koistinen ahs judged the helpmates in three, published in ST in 2004-200.
There were more than 50 problems to be considered and Timo says that the level
was high. See pp.146-153 for interesting helpmates! Seppo Praski JT was for
orthodox problems in which white's last move is made to the square white`s first
move started from. The winning problem is also our cover problem, see pp. 154.
Seppo has judged the ST threemovers in 2004-2005, see pp. 155-157, and Mikael
Grönroos has completed the award of his 50th JT, see pp. 157-161. The issue
finishes with report on the autumn meeting of ST and Hard Nut To Crack.
The next ST is due to appear before the end of December 2008.
Published 25th November 2008