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Great American Composers
December 30, 2001
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Today we bring you two chess problems by America's greatest composers.
Both problems have something important in common. You must solve
at least one to achieve the day six goal.
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Samuel Loyd (1841–1911) was not
just the greatest American problem composer. He was probably
the greatest problem composer the world has ever seen. Loyd
published over 700 chess problems, many with humorous or unexpected
solutions, the likes of which had never been seen before. |
| William Anthony Shinkman (1847–1933)
is America's second great chess problem composer, brilliantly
original and incredibly prolific – he published over
3,500 problems of many different types. |
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Samuel Loyd
New York Albion 1857
White to play and mate in three moves
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Sam Loyd's biographer, A.C.White,
calls this "one of the world's most famous problems".
Loyd, who published the problem before he had turned 16, referred
to it as "a neat little position". You will need
a tiny bit of lateral thinking in order to solve it. |
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This is a beautiful, almost architectual
position. Another great composer, Werner Speckmann, mused
that "one might think the the rules of the present-day
game of chess had been especially invented to produce this
problem".
Unfortunately a second solution (or "cook")
was later found. But for once this does not seem to have
destroyed immortality of the problem.
Please make a note of the solution that
the author originally intended. You will immediately recognise
its beauty. The cook is ugly and convoluted.
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W. A. Shinkman
St. Louis Globe Democrat 1887
White to play and mate in eight
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Shinkman had originally intended it as a retro-analytical
exercise, not even as a classical mate problem. The question was
how can one achieve the above position in a normal game of chess,
only executing legal moves. It can be reached in 34 moves from
the initial position. Naturally both sides must cooperate to achieve
the goal. This task is only for experienced problem experts.
Frederic Friedel
Solutions
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