One of the most famous Finnish problemists, Jan Hannelius, turned 85 on the 7th of December 2001. The cover problem is an impressive feast of Novotny interferences. Jan has been active as a problemist and organizer, both on national and international level. In PCCC meetings, Jan and his wife Brita have been regular attendants during several decades. Best congratulations to Kangasala!
Kauko Virtanen has written an article on Jan presenting a selection of his problems, pp. 184-185.
Jan is not the only famous Finnish problemist to celebrate his anniversary in the end of 2001. Eero Bonsdorff, well known for his mathematical chess problems and writings, turned 80 on 18th of October, p. 186.
ST announces two international chess composition tourneys to celebrate their anniversaries - see pages 185 and 186!
A third anniversary takes place on Christmas Day, when Kauko Virtanen celebrates his 70th birthday. Kari Valtonen describes Kauko´s versatile personality on pp. 188-191.
IGM Toma Garai has written "A Holiday Story" with two pairs of helpmates in two, pp. 192-193. The characters of his story discuss the pros and cons of the problems, finally Santa decides to ask the readers for help: which version to prefer and why?
ST's autumn meeting took place in the beginning of October. The program included composing and solving contests. Harri Hurme and Pauli Perkonoja won these competitions, see p. 194.
The Danish IM Lars Larsen discusses with interferences in modern h#2 problems on pp.195-196.
Our originals section starts on p. 197, consisting of 41problems, among them corrections to earlier publications. Please note that there are originals in other parts of the magazine, for example dedication problems on p. 187 and p. 217.
A study by Emil Luukkonen, published in ST 2/2000, has been cooked by Enso Minerva. He proposes a correction, p. 207.
The final themes of the 7th WCCT with three new theme examples are on pp. 208-213.
Three ST awards have seen daylight, pp. 218-224. Pauli Perkonoja (as a substitute judge): selfmates 1994-1995, Neal Turner longer helpmates 1996 and Per Olin: studies 1999-2000. According to ST policy, all composers who participated in will receive a copy of the award.
Marko Ylijoki presents selected helpmates and fairy problems from the recently published FIDE Album on pp. 226-229. On the next page Joose Norri proposes the possibility of an en passant capture by Kings.
C.J. Feather discusses the process of correcting problems by other composers, inspired by the previous ST issue which included nine corrections to incorrect FIDE-album helpmates, pp. 232-233.
Henry Tanner continues his Four Corner Project on pp. 234-239 with altogether 27 original problems.
Plenty of material intended for this issue will have to wait for publication until the first issue of 2002, which is due to appear in February, including interesting articles, discussion on recent 6th WCCT awards etc. Stay tuned!
Published 10th December 2001