ChessProblems.ca TT2

First of all, I would like to thank all participants for their valuable contributions, effort and enthusiastic participation! While the number of entrants was not very high - 7 composers (Itamar Faybish, Ján Golha, Ralf Krätschmer, François Labelle, Alexandre Leroux, Ion Murărasu and Ivan Skoba) from 6 countries (Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Germany, Romania and Slovakia), the number of problems received and, more importantly, their quality, exceeded all expectations! I was also very pleased that among some of my close chess problem friends there were participants from both Romania (my native country) and Canada (my new country)!

Prior to the tournament, I was expecting to see at least one composer exceeding one thousand moves (most likely with promoted force), but this has been done by 4 composers (Itamar Faybish, Ion Murărasu, Alexandre Leroux and François Labelle - the latter two working in collaboration), which is a notable achievement! Exceeding 1100, and even 1200 moves, with normal force is, without a doubt, a remarkable one!

Within the framework of the tournament, the best and most fruitful combination has proven to be the one between the ser-a=>b stipulation and the Platzwechsel Circe (PWC) condition (Platzwechsel means "position exchange" in German) - a captured piece is reborn on the square where the capturer was placed before the capture. As you will see below, all 7 problems employ the PWC condition and either the ser-a=>b or ser-ha=>b condition! However, other stipulations and conditions, as well as fairy pieces, were also tried at the beginning of the tournament, for instance: Ralf: ser-h= & Strict Circe, ser-h= & PWC, Ivan and Ján: ser-z, ser-z & Nightriders, ser-h# & PWC, Ion: ser-h= & PWC.

Certain PWC peculiarities proved to be very helpful and they have been successfully exploited by the composers:

• white pawns on the first white rank and black pawns on the first black rank are allowed, but they lose their moving, checking and capturing powers
• in the initial position it is possible to have for each side two bishops of white (or black) squares without the need of a pawn promotion, therefore such a position is considered to be with normal force
• white pawns on the eighth white rank and black pawns on the eighth black rank are forced to promote even if they get there as a result of a PWC capture

Special thanks and congratulations are due to the prize winners: Ion Murărasu, the winner in both sections, who entered many elegant compositions, Itamar Faybish, 2^nd place in the main section, who led almost from the start of the tournament up to April 1^st, being also the most active participant, Alexandre Leroux and François Labelle, 3^rd place in the main section and 2^nd place in Section 2!

Special thanks also to Ivan Skoba and Ján Golha, for sending a special Easter Egg on Easter Sunday (original PDF here), a very interesting hors concours composition, which also seems to unveil a Popeye bug!

Below are the best problems of the participating composers, with no comments for now, so that they can be fully enjoyed by browsing through their very long solutions, and discovering the many nuances and surprising elements! Everyone is invited to submit comments, they will be posted in due time here.

As already known, most of these problems have not been fully verified by Popeye, therefore the results are provisional. If a problem is found to be unsound, it will not simply be eliminated, but it will be replaced by a previous sound (or thought to be sound) problem sent during the tournament. The results will become final on April 30^st.

Cornel Pacurar
Toronto, April 6^th, 2010

(1) (09.04.2010 07:03 GMT) François Labelle confirms that the first 1179 moves of Ion's Section 1 entry and the first 1112 moves of Itamar's Section 1 entry are C+!


(2) (09.04.2010 07:03 GMT) Using Ion Murărasu's matrix, François Labelle and Alexandre Leroux have extended the record in both sections to 1295 moves!

François Labelle and Alexandre Leroux
(after Ion Murărasu)
  

François Labelle and Alexandre Leroux
(after Ion Murărasu)
  
Solutions (link opens in new window)

(3) (10.04.2010 18:06 GMT) Ion writes that with normal force at least one more move should be possible: 1295.e3*d4 [+bQe3] (No solution in 1296 moves)! During the tournament Ion had successfully used this ending, with this matrix, in C+ entries! Similarly, with promoted force, one move can be added by moving Be5 to d4 in the initial position, then end the series with 1295.e3*d4 [+bBe3] (No solution in 1296 moves)!


(4) (10.04.2010 20:30 GMT) The current records are:

François Labelle, Alexandre Leroux, Ion Murărasu
  
Solution (link opens in new window)

François Labelle, Alexandre Leroux, Ion Murărasu
  
Solution (link opens in new window)

(5) (27.04.2010 00:48 GMT) Alexandre Leroux cooks Ion's 1/1202/20* and 2/1202/19* entries! They are replaced in the final standings by the two other previous Ion's entries - 1/1180/20* and 2/1180/19*.

(Last updated: 27.04.2010 06:35 GMT)