Tim Krabbé

On April 13, 2003, the Dutch author, chess player and cyclist Tim Krabbé celebrated his 60th birthday (interestingly this was exactly the day on which Garry Kasparov turned 40).

Krabbé is well known in Holland as a screenwriter and a novelist – some of his books have been turned into motion pictures both in the Netherlands and abroad.

Internationally he is perhaps better known for his articles on on chess in general and chess curiosities in particular. His web site is one of the most entertaining in chess, and especially his "Open chess diary" should be regularly visited by anyone interested in the lighter side of the otherwise so serious game.

Tim Krabbés most famous chess books are simply entitled "Chess Curiosities". Originally two volumes appeared in Dutch, about twenty years ago. I read these books at the time – quite an achievement when you take into account that I do not speak Dutch. However I discovered that the grammar and syntax of the language are very similar to German, and a large percentage of the words are recognizable to a German speaker. All I had to do was to learn a few dozen new words to be able to understand most of what the author was saying. Naturally all of the chess was trivial to follow.

In 1985 Krabbé's books were thankfully translated into English in 1985 and published by George Allen Unwin in London in a single volume (which appears to be currently out of print). During the match Kasparov vs Timman in Hilversum, on December 15, 1985, Tim gave me a copy, signing it with a short note reminding me that it was the day of the first game Timman-Kasparov and 50 years after Euwe-Alekhine. He always keep meticulous track of these things.

One of the chapters in the book is devoted to underpromotion, and it contains a story that moved me deeply at the time. So deeply in fact that I retold it to anyone who would listen. I also did some additional research and wrote an extensive article in the Magazine Computerschach & Spiele in 1986. Here is a very condensed version of that article.

The Babson task

Chess problem composers are a special species of human beings. You cannot use normal standards to judge their works, their dedication or their behavior. Judge for yourself. The following story is as true as it is poignant.

Around 1925 the American A. J. Babson was experimenting with underpromotion in chess problems. The first mate problem to contain all four promotions in a single position (known as "allumwandlung") had been composed some time before, but Babson was thinking about a truly awesome task, symmetrical underpromotion for both sides. The "Babson task", as it became to be know, was to compose a mating problem with the following breathtaking form:

1. White makes the key move
2. Black defends by promoting a pawn to queen, rook, bishop or knight.
3. In each case White is forced to take a queen, rook, bishop or knight respectively to force mate.

The task was so daunting that although a prize of $20 was set out, nobody really put too much effort into it. In 1934 André Chéron, the endgame expert who had composed problems with eightfold rook promotions, declared that the Babson task would never be solved.

In 1964 the French metallurgic engineer Pierre Drumare decided to undertake what he called a "Search for the Impossible". He spent an average of four hours a day trying to compose the Babson problem, and a year later he reported on the fruits of his labour: He had no proper solution, but he was now able to appreciate the difficulty of the enterprise.

Naturally Drumare did not give up, and as the years went by he devoted more and more time to the Babson task. It was the knights that caused him the greatest distress. Their limited reach made it impossible for a defensive underpromotion to a knight to force an offensive underpromotion to the same piece on the opposite side of the board. He came to the conclusion that the knight was an imperfect piece that should be replaced by the "nightrider", a fairy piece that makes knight moves to any distance (e.g. from b1 to g8 or from g1 to e5). He actually composed a Babson problem with nightriders – it contained three rooks, two bishops on white squares, White was in check and captured the black queen on his first move. Nobody, including Drumare, was satisfied with this solution.

So he continued with his work, investing even more time in the endeavor. And in 1980, after sixteen years of dedicated work, he presented to the world his Babson problem.

Pierre Drumare, Memorial Seneca, 1980

Mate in five moves

Two years later Babson finally gave up. "After 22 years of exhausting labour I now have the certainty that the quadruple echo promotion will never be perfectly realised in a direct mate problem." That was 1982.

Do you really want to read on?

Scroll down at your own risk.

In March 1983 a problem appeared in the "Originals" section of the magazine Shakhmatny. It was by a 26-year-old soccer and chess trainer from Kazan named L. Yarosh, who had previously published only three problems in Shakhmatny and in Thèmes-64.

L. Yarosh, Shakhmatny v. SSSR, March 1983

Mate in four moves

The Cyrillic caption to this problem said: "!!!Estj task Babsona?" and the editor asked the readers to decide whether "everything in this extraordinarily difficult construction is really correct."

It is, as we can today very easily check with Fritz. Switch to mate solving mode and the program will not only give you the key move (and confirm that the solution is sound); it will also give you all the principal variations.

As you can see: if Black defends by capturing on b1 and promoting to a queen, White must capture on b8 and also promote to a queen in order to mate in five. If Black promotes to a rook White must counter-promote to a rook, if Black takes a bishop White must do likewise, and if Black promotes to a knight White must take a knight too. The full solution goes as follows:

1.Rxh4 and now:

1...cxb1Q 2.axb8Q Qxb2 3.Qb3 Qc3 4.Qxc3# (or 2...Qe4 3.Qxf4 Qxf4 4.Rxf4#)
1...cxb1R 2.axb8R Rxb2 3.Rb3 Kxc4 4.Rxf4#
1...cxb1B 2.axb8B Be4 3.Bxf4 Bxh1 4.Be3#
1...cxb1N 2.axb8N Nxd2 3.Nc6+ Kc3 4.Rc1#

"There it was: the Babson task," wrote Tim Krabbé. "Tantalisingly simple, and of an elegance no one in his right mind could have dreamt of." The unknown composer from Kazan, whose recent picture you see on the right, had indeed made sure that he would be remembered as long as there is chess.

If you want to experience something truly miraculous then play through the solution on a board or on our Javascript page given below. Or better still load the attached PGN file and check all the variations with Fritz (in mate solving mode). It is pure delight to find out why the thematic variations work, to understand why in each line every other white underpromotion fails.

It is difficult to imagine what Drumare must have felt when he saw Yarosh's problems. "I have erred, but I am happy for the art of the chess problem," he wrote in Thèmes-64, and in a personal letter to Yarosh: "Your problem will be admired in the future, like we admire the masterpieces of our ancestors in the museums and cathedrals."

The amazing Yarosh did not leave it at that. The ugly capture key had preyed on his mind and a few months later he presented another perfect Babson, again in the form of a light, elegant position with a perfect key move.

L. Yarosh, 1st prize, Shakhmatny v. SSSR, March 1983
Mate in four moves

The key is 1.a7! and now the Babson unfolds:

1...axb1Q 2.axb8Q Qxb2 3.Qxb3 Qc3 4.Qaxc3#
1...axb1R 2.axb8R Rxb2 3.Rxb3 Kxc4 4.Qa4#
1...axb1B 2.axb8B Be4 3.Bxf4 Bxa8 4.Be3#;
1...axb1N 2.axb8N Nxd2 3.Qc1 Ne4 4.Nc6#;

To really appreciate this problem you should read Tim Krabbé's full solution.

In this second version of the problem there is a tiny little flaw: in the last move of the line with the bishop underpromotions White can mate with either 4.Be3 or 4.Be5. So Yarosh, for whom our repertoire of adjectives now fails, went to work and in the same year produced a third, completely different version without the mating dual. All three (as well as Drumare's monstrosity) are given on our Javascript board:

Click here to replay and download all positions

The story is by no means over. But here I will hand over to Tim Krabbé, whose dedication to the subject has kept us fully informed over the years. In fact Tim recently undertook an adventurous journey to Kazan and visited the chess hero. The link given below takes you to his narrative, in Dutch, of the memorably trip and encounter.

Tim Krabbé and Leonid Vladimirovitch Jarosh

• Sons of Babson – a list of all compositions by Yarosh and others
• Tim Krabbé's trip to Kazan

Frederic Friedel

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