4th April 2024

After a break of ten weeks, I started composing again at the end of January 2024. My next goal was  - and still is - to produce a competitive study for the FIDE World Cup 2024. Of course I have to change my style.

The first result of my new attempts was quite satisfying for me personally, but probably not what will be needed for the World Cup. So I submitted this study to one of the rare tourneys at the beginning of the year, the Bilokin MT 85. Stanislav Belokon (1939-1984, also Станіслав Григорович Білокінь) was a composer from Kharkiv. The tourney was organized by the Ukrainians and the award was published yesterday on the website of the magazine Problemist of Ukraine and today on the ARVES and the Chess Study Art pages.

On this page of ARVES and this page of Chess Study Art, you can play through all the studies in the award (recommended).

The judge was Vladislav Tarasyuk and the following data is taken from his award. 44 studies by 28 authors from 16 countries took part, among them three world champions. He awarded no less than eight prizes. In this order: Didukh, Sprenger, Minski, Pasman, Timman and Nielsen, and then two special prizes to Gurgenidze and Halski. (What a list of names! T.)

Thereafter followed eight numbered honourable mentions: Avni, Mali, Polasek, Staudte&Schlosser, Tikka, Yours Truly, Yakimovich and Zilbershtein, and additionally three special HMs to Vorovich, Gatti and Keith. Finally five commendations were given to Hlinka&Kekely, Gonzalez, Dore, Rudenko and Ulrichsen, as well as two special commendations for Aliev and Vlasenko. These are exactly 28 names!

All in all, a very well-attended tourney. My warmest thanks go to the organizers and the judge.

Every study needs at least one idea. My starting point was a position of the following type.

The chosen position is a zugzwang (zz) position. And it was the only zz  among the 360 examples! So, one more time a zz position has something special to offer. But you can see below that I didn't use the zz for a logical try.

The solution is: 1. Kc8! Kf7 (the rook cannot leave e7) 2. Rf3! (improving the rook's position) Ke8 (or Ke6) 3. dxe7 Kxe7 4. Kc7 Na2 5. Ra3 Nb4 6. Re3+ Kf6 7. Kd6 Kf6 8. Re4! +-. This lengthy variation has to be compared to the try 1. dxe7 Kxe7 2. Kc7 Ke6 3.Kc6 Kf5 4. Kd5 Ne2 =. The difference can be described in words: although the black king and knight are quite far apart to draw the game, they are able to join forces on f5 and f4 in the try; but in the mainline, the white rook uses the tempo gained by zz to improve to f3, thereby preventing Black's saving idea.

So this is what the end of my study should look like. Once again a pure endgame motif. But what should be added before this? Well, the position of the knight is definitely quite artificial and since it is responsible for this piece ultimately being trapped, it needs to be explained somehow. After a while I came up with this idea.

So far there has been no sign of a change in my style. At this point I brooded over the position for a few days and then I came to the following radical solution.

5th April 2024

This is where I stopped yesterday and watched the first round of the Candidates Tournament. And this morning I see the following post by Serhiy Didukh on the tourney page:

"Thomas Niessen told on his webpage how he composed his study. My study didn’t require so much effort. I composed the position before 4.b3+ in my head. Then I set it up in Chessbase on my computer to see that the lines were correct and added 3 first moves. The idea came to me from the name Belokon which means a white knight/horse. That’s why I decided to do something with a white knight that hasn’t been shown before."

What can I say? I am of course pleased about the distinguished visitor. And I happily admit that some people have a lot of talent and experience.

Back to my study.

The judge Vladislav Tarasyuk made a short comment in the award:

"A lively encounter of pieces with the original capture avoidance 8.Kc8!"

I think I can agree with that. But let's have some more detailed comments. 

I understand the study as the three phases I built. The last phase is a bit too long because it takes many moves until it is clear that the knight is trapped. I have repeatedly managed to choose sub-optimal positions for the end of my studies. At this point I often let myself be blinded by the endgame motif instead of looking for a really perfect finale.

I'm quite happy with the other two phases because, in my opinion, they contain a lot of surprising moves. Moreover, I very much like the rollercoaster of emotions. At the beginning, Black is up material and heavily threatening. Then White wins the queen and is up material. But only through an immediate sacrifice can White preserve his chances of victory.

But studies are about ideas. The big drawback of the whole piece is the lack of a common idea over all three phases. With a lot of goodwill one could say that it is about gaining tempi: White gains a tempo in each phase, the first two by sacrificing a bishop and the third by zugzwang. But it is better to be honest and state that surprise and fight are the main issues and an idea in the usual sense is not present.

I think a lot of my difficulties come from my game-oriented mindset. When I think of my studies, I see one guy sitting at the board and a teammate looking over his shoulder ...

This is a bit silly, because the last season I played was 1997/98!