[Retros] On *Context*

[andrew buchanan]

Hi Hirokaz,

Congratulations on your recent prolific output.

I haven't been tracking this thread, but your QB8 promotion caught my
eye as being slightly longer than the others in the mail, so I wondered
if I might have a chance to sneakily improve it. Here is my version of
your composition:

rnb1kbnr/1ppp1ppp/8/8/8/2QP4/P1PKPP1P/RNb2qNR
SPG 8.0

But I realize that I don't understand what you are doing, because if a
mating pawn move on a given 8th rank square is your only objective,
then it can trivially be achieved much more quickly, e.g.:

rnR1kbnr/p2ppppp/2p5/8/8/8/2PPPPPP/qNBQKBNR
SPG 4.5

which has the additional advantage that there are no extraneous
promoted pieces on the board.

There is a general point here. The huge PDB database is a wonderful
resource for retro and other composers. But one problem I encounter
there is that usually no indication exists for the motivation for a
particular composition (e.g. what were the objectives for a particular
tourney?)

There is a subtle theft of meaning which takes place, which robs the
composers of the full credit for their achievement.

Of course one can say that it's hard or impossible to specify *all* the
criteria which a composer has to satisfy, some of which are very
subjective. Yes, but that doesn't imply we should be silent here.

Or one might say that a great problem is self-documenting. No
explanation should be necessary. Yes, but not all problems in PDB are
great. 

I think that the objectives for a problem should form part of the
problem's full documentation as stored in PDB. As part of that, we
should attempt to capture the announcements of all tourneys and tasks
which are referenced in PDB.

And I would encourage any composers publishing here in the retro
mailing list to state what their full objectives.

Best regards,
Andrew Buchanan.

--- Hirokaz ONODA <glkoon at yahoo.co.jp> wrote:


> Hi,

> 

>  1.Pd2-d4 Pg7-g6  2.Pd4-d5 Ff8-h6  3.Pd5-d6 Re8-f8

>  4.Pd6xe7 Rf8-g7  5.Dd1-d6 Pc7-c6  6.Fc1-d2 Dd8-c7

>  7.Pe7-e8=C 

> 

>  1.Pa2-a4 Cg8-f6  2.Pa4-a5 Cf6-e4  3.Pa5-a6 Ce4xd2

>  4.Pa6xb7 Cd2-b3  5.Dd1-d4 Pd7-d6  6.Dd4xg7 Dd8-d7

>  7.Dg7xh8 Dd7-c6  8.Dh8xf8 Re8-d7  9.Pb7xc8=F 

> 

>  1.Pb2-b4 Cb8-c6  2.Pb4-b5 Cc6-d4  3.Pb5-b6 Cd4xe2

>  4.Pb6xc7 Ce2-c3  5.Dd1-g4 Pe7-e6  6.Dg4xg7 Ff8-d6

>  7.Dg7xg8 Re8-e7  8.Pc7xd8=F 

> 

>  1.Ph2-h4 Pb7-b6  2.Ph4-h5 Fc8-a6  3.Ph5-h6 Fa6xe2

>  4.Ph6xg7 Fe2-f3  5.Dd1-e2 Pe7-e6  6.De2-a6 Dd8-f6

>  7.Da6-c8 Re8-e7  8.Pg7xf8=F 

> 

>  1.Pg2-g3 Pd7-d5  2.Ff1-g2 Fc8-f5  3.Fg2-e4 Pd5xe4

>  4.Cg1-f3 Pe4xf3  5.Th1-g1 Ff5-e4  6.Tg1-g2 Pf3xg2

>  7.Ph2-h4 Pg2-g1=T  

> 7...Pg2-g1=D too.

> 

> Hiro