Chess composition

The origin of the chess composition dates back to the turn of the 8th – 9th centuries, when the first attempts were made to compose the so-called “ mansub ” (translated from Arabic: “what was erected, established, arranged”). From then until now, chess composition has come a long way.

The first informal world championships in chess composition are FIDE correspondence matches-tournaments , which have been held since 1972. Currently, there are official world chess composition championships: team (WCCT, English World Chess Composing Tournament ) ^[2] and personal (WCCI, English World Championship in Composing for Individuals ) ^[3] .

In general, the task of a chess composer is to create a position limited by the number of participating figures, relative to which the decider must find a sequence of moves that are guaranteed to lead to a given result.

The positions created in the chess composition are presented with a set of general technical and artistic requirements. Technical requirements include:

• the legality of the initial position, that is, the possibility of obtaining it from the initial position of a chess game by a sequence of moves that do not contradict the rules;
• decisiveness in all cases, that is, the hypothetical opponent’s lack of decisive ability to avoid achieving the decisive goal (possibly - under the threat of immediate loss);
• uniqueness of the decision - the position allows only one way to achieve the desired result, which the decisive one needs to find.

Artistic requirements include cost-effectiveness of form, expressiveness of purpose, beauty of decision. The last two requirements are difficult to define briefly, the first one is to use, in one way or another, all the pieces on the board in one way or another (there should not be extra, idle, pieces or pawns, the solution must be reached in a minimum number of moves) .

• Taking a decision on the aisle on the first move is considered possible if and only if , using retroanalysis, it is absolutely possible to establish that it was on the previous move that the pawn that was supposed to be taken on the aisle went to two fields. In this case, there should not be a single evidence party that would end in another move.
• Castling in the course of a decision by default is always considered possible, unless it is absolutely possible to establish using retroanalysis that the king or rook has already gone.

There are two main types of chess composition - tasks and sketches.

A chess study is an artificial position, close to the end of a practical game. White begins the study (unless the condition states that Black starts), and the task is either to win, that is, to achieve a position in which White's victory is obvious, or to achieve a draw, that is, a position in which a draw outcome is obvious. The number of moves by the task is not determined.

A chess task is an artificial position in which a certain condition (for example, checkmate in black) must be fulfilled in a certain number of moves. This number of moves is separately specified in the task (for example: “checkmate in 3 moves”). Therefore, neither the number of figures, nor the strength of the parties is important in the tasks. To solve the problem, you need to find a disguised way to complete the task.

Special types of compositions include compositions with specific tasks - for example, restoring a chess game, leading to a given position from the initial arrangement of figures, various mathematical and structural problems, etc.

The orthodox composition uses the goal ( checkmate to the black king, win or draw), material (the usual chessboard and a set of chess pieces) and means (rules of the game), borrowed from practical chess. The genres of the orthodox composition are studies, one-, two-, three- and multi-way tasks, as well as tasks and studies for retrograde analysis.

The unorthodox composition is based on a change in the purpose of the assignment. Two genres of unorthodox composition are tasks for cooperative and inverse mat.

In problems of a cooperative checkmate, the solution begins with Black's move (unless otherwise specified separately in the condition), which helps White to declare checkmate to his own king in the required number of moves.

In the problems of reverse checkmate, White forces Black to checkmate in the given number of moves to the white king.

In addition to changing the goal, the fairy-tale composition uses fairy-tale pieces not found in the practical game, non-standard chess boards (changed material), as well as other rules of the chess game (changed means).

In special types of chess composition , special tasks are used.

In retroanalytical tasks, the goal is to study the past of a certain position

Mathematical chess problems are mathematical problems using a chessboard and / or chess pieces.

In structural problems, the goal is to find a form for realizing a certain chess design, reconstructing a chess problem using some available data, etc.

Task

The task has the motto "Pursuit of Love." Decision:

1.Ff1! Cb2 (h6, h5) 2. Фb1! (threat) - 3.F: h7 #, 2 ... g6 3.F: C #,
1 ... Cc3 (d4) 2. Фd3 g6 3.Ф: С #,
1 ... Ce5 (f6) 2.Фf5 g6 3.Ф: С #,
1 ... g3 2.Kg6 + hg 3. Фh3 # ^[4]

Study

An example of the famous Reti maneuver ^[4] . Decision:

1. Kpg7! h4

2. Kpf6 Kpb6 , if 2 ... h3, then 3.Kpe7 h2 4.c7 Kpb7 5.Kpd7 and both pawns reach the last horizontal - a draw.

3. Kpe5! Cr: c6 , if 3 ... h3, then 4.Kpd6 h2 5.c7 with a draw.

4. Kpf4 draw.

• World Chess Federation
• Personal World Chess Championship .
• Glossary of terms in a chess composition
• World Chess and Etudes Championship
• Drafts composition

• Chess: Encyclopedic Dictionary / Ch. ed. A.E. Karpov . - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1990 .-- S. 246. - 624 p. - 100,000 copies. - ISBN 5-85270-005-3 .
• Handbook of chess composition. 7th edition. (eng.) . // WFCC , 2016. Archived December 21, 2016.

• PDB - Chess Problem Database Server (English) a database of chess problems with an advanced search system.
• Yet another chess problem database + wiki wiki site, database of chess compositions.