Saturday, February 11, 2012

February 12th

Александр Дмитриевич Петров (12-02-1794 - 22-04-1867) Russian composer and chess player (Alexandr Dimitrievich Petrov)

Aleksandr D. Petrov [Wikipedia]

Petrov, the first great Russian chess master, was considered as Russia's best player for half of the 19th century. He is the Petrov of Petrov's Defense (also known under the name of Russian game).
His best-known problem is "The Retreat of Napoleon I from Moscow" (St Petersburg 1824) that can be seen on Wikipedia.

Here is an interesting long selfmate:

Петров, Александр Дмитриевич
La Nouvelle Régence, 01/1861


s#13C- 12 + 7

Show Solution


And here is a representative moremover (not too hard to solve):

Петров, Александр Дмитриевич
? 1846


#6 10 + 13

Show Solution





Frederic Bonner Feast (12-02-1872 - 28-03-1941) British composer

A specialist of twomovers, Feast wrote a book about "Simple Two-Move Themes" together with Alain C. White and George Hume in 1924 as well as "Chess Cameos. A treatise on the two-move problem" in 1936.

Feast, Frederic Bonner
Birmingham Post, 23rd Nov 1897


#2 6 + 5

Show Solution



Абрам Соломонович Гурвич (12-02-1897 - 18-11-1962) Russian composer (Abram Solomonovich Gurvich)

Abram Gurvich [Wikipedia]


Abram Gurvich was a theatrical and literature reviewer. He composed studies and became an International Judge in 1956. More biographical details can be found here. He published an anthology of his chess studies in 1961 ("Этюды" Chess Studies).

Гурвич, Абрам Соломонович
Kiev Chess Club Ty, 1961
1st Prize


= 4 + 4

Show Solution


Гурвич, Абрам Соломонович
Советский флот 1960


+ 4 + 3

Show Solution




Gunter Sonntag (12-02-1945) German composer

Gunter Sonntag [Wikimedia]

Gunter Sonntag is the co-author (with Martin Minski) of the endgame study that took 1st place at the 8th WCCT (2006-2008). It can be seen on Brian Stephenson's website.
You may also be interested in Gunter Sonntag's 1st prize, Die Schwalbe 2007-2008: the award can be read on the Schwalbe website.

Sonntag, Gunter
Schach, Feb 2008 (16423)
2nd HM


+ 3 + 3
Show Solution

2 comments:

  1. To the s#13 by Petroff:
    1) correct source is: La Nouvelle Regence 01/1861, page 16.
    2) it is cooked with: 1. c3+ Lxc3 2. Kh6+ Se5 3. Te4+ Kd5 4. Txe5+ Kd4 5. Te4+ Kd5 6. Df7+ Kd6 7. Sc4+ Lxc4 8. Dc7+ Kd5 9. Dd7+ Sd6 10. Te5+ Kd4 11. Da7+ Txa7 12. Th5+ Tg7 13. Sf5+ Sxf5#

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the information. The source and solution are now corrected.
      I found the s#13 in the anthology "Golden Book of Chess Composition 1850-1913" by Y.Vladimirov and A.Selivanov.

      Delete