László Lindner's knight wheel

László Lindner was born in the "Városmajor" Clinic in Budapest – twice. The first time was as a baby on December 23, 1916; the second time in 1992, when the doctors replaced the main arteries of his heart, giving him a new lease on life. A life that has been devoted mainly to chess and problem composition.

Young László published his first problem one day after his 14th birthday, and today, at 87, he is still going strong. He was also a strong over-the-board player who in the early thirties got to know Aljechin, Tartakower, Bernstein, Snosko-Borowsky, Rossolimo and other great players in the Café de la Régence in Paris. He discussed and played chess with Marcel Duchamp and Sergei Prokofiev. World champion Max Euwe was a good friend.

During the Second World War Lindner, who is of Jewish origin, came under intense pressure from the Nazis. As a Doctor of Law he learnt to make butter and cheese in order to get a visa to emigrate to Australia, but the war prevented his departure and he soon found himself in a concentration camp in Bor (Yugoslavia). Fortunately the torture did not last long and on September 30, 1944, his group was liberated by Yugoslavian partisans.

László Lindner (right) with Alexander Alekhine in 1936

During his final weeks in the concentration camp Lindner was able to play chess, against his old school friend Tibor Flórián, an outstanding problemist and an over-the-board International Master. Tibor had smuggled a pocket chess set into the camp, and Lindner had a notebook. "So we played chess hiding from our guards between the barracks," he writes in his book Mattbilder eines Lebens. "I wrote down the moves in my notebook with the stub of a pencil. We played 20 games and the result was 12:8 for Tibor. The notes of the games are still legible today, though somewhat blurred in parts."

László Lindner also composed some chess problems in the concentration camp of Bor. For some time he had been thinking about the "negative knight wheel". This is a mate problem in which a knight executes the key move. It has eight possible moves, each of which threaten at least two mates. But seven do not work, and are in fact refuted by a single defensive move. Only the eighth leads to the required mate. And there, lying on a wooden bed with a straw sack on it, he composed just such problems on Tibor's pocket chess set.

After the war Lindner submitted this work to a problem tournament in Israel (at the time still part of "Palestine"). It was published and won the second prize.

László Lindner, 2nd prize, Palestine Post 1947
White to play and mate in two moves

As you know in the above position it is the white knight on d4 that will make the key move. This knight has eight options (forming the "knight wheel") and each of these moves threatens two or three different mates:

1.Nxc2  1.Nb3 1.Nb5 1.Nxc6  1.Ne6 1.Nf5 1.Nf3 1.Ne2

Threat: 2.Rd4#, Na3#, Nxe3# Threat: 2.Rd4#, N3xa5#, N7xa5# Threat: 2.Rd4#, Na3#, b3# Threat: 2.Rd4#, Nxa5#, Ne5# Threat: 2.Rd4# and Nxa5# Threat: 2.Rd4# and Nxe3 Threat: 2.Rd4# and Ne5# Threat: 2.Rd4# and b3#

You can see the threats by moving the mouse onto each of the green squares in the diagram above.

In seven of the above possibilities Black has one move that parries the threat, i.e. does not allow a mate on the next move, as the problem requires. Only in one case is he helpless, and White can mate whatever Black plays.

Your task is to find the correct key move, as well as the black refutations for the other "tries". Note that for each of the seven key moves that fail there is exactly one black move that prevents the white mate. This is part of the superb artistry of the problem.

If you want to take part in a puzzle contest please send in your solutions [the contest is now closed]. We want you to tell us which of the eight knight moves actually leads to mate in one move, and what is the refutation to each of the other moves. Please add some short remarks on how you liked the problem or how you solved it.

The winner will be drawn from all the reasonable entries we receive (not necessarily from the perfectly correct ones). The prize is a copy of László Lindner's Mattbilder eines Lebens signed by the author. The book is basically in German but has extensive passages in English as well.

The solution of the problem will be given next week. Please, please do not use a computer to solve it. That is like giving a hungry dog a Beluga Cavier sandwich. He will gobble it up in one bite, and not even enjoy it. And neither will you – it will simply be a waste of a wonderful opportunity to enjoy the beauty of problem chess.

Frederic Friedel

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