[Retros] Chessbase 1999

[Andrew Buchanan]

So cool to be undead! I can’t find any deceased namesake online for whom I might have been mistaken. Chess-playing or not. Odd.

 

From: retros-bounces at janko.at [mailto:retros-bounces at janko.at] On Behalf Of "Bernd Gräfrath"
Sent: 20 August 2013 04:16
To: The Retrograde Analysis Mailing List
Subject: [Retros] Chessbase 1999

 

Dear retro-friends,

 

I have not found the original source, but some hints for further research:

In the new book "Schachkompositionen" by Michael Ehn and Hugo Kastner, the following source is given (on page 332):

"John Nunn / Chessbase 1999 (Original: 1985)".

However, despite of all its merits (nice pictures etc.), the book is not completely trustworthy. For example, on page 434, you read the following  dates about an active member of the retro mailing list: "Buchanan, Andrew (1867-1943)".

 

Best wishes,

 

Bernd

  

Gesendet: Montag, 19. August 2013 um 19:10 Uhr
Von: "Noam Elkies" <elkies at math.harvard.edu>
An: retros at janko.at
Betreff: [Retros] non-FEN fun

As it happens Chessbase.com just ran this article

http://www.chessbase.com/Home/TabId/211/PostId/4010825/the-infamous-1999-chessbase-christmas-puzzle-160813.aspx

on its first "Christmas puzzle" ever, which asked in 1999 for
a legal came starting 1 e4 and ending 5...NxR#. [What's the
source for this puzzle? I don't think it's given in the
Chessbase article but surely somebody on this mailing list knows it.]
This is very hard for most human players, even though the solution
is not quite unique. But it's not the only such puzzle. Another,
which *does* have a unique solution, starts with 1 a3 and ends
on move 5 with White giving mate with a Rook. I don't know
the composer/discoverer of this either, but I first saw it
decades ago in a column by Pal Benko. Are there other such examples
known, or discoverable by computer now that F.Labelle is active again
(welcome back!)? There's of course 1 h4 ... 6 PxB=N#, which is unique
even without specifying the first move; and Labelle found a few more
such examples (all shorter) determined completely by their last move.
But I figure that specifying both first and last move should allow for
a greater and hopefully even more interesting selection of puzzles.

NDE

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