[Retros] Publishing Compositions

Jack Murtagh murtagh.jack at gmail.com
Tue Aug 11 17:20:19 EDT 2020


Thank you so much Bernd for the really helpful advice and pointers. This
clarified a lot and I now know what my next steps will be. I really
appreciate you taking the time to write this.

Thank you also to Otto for the warning about sharing my problem in a public
forum!

I'm looking forward to becoming part of this community,
Jack

On Tue, Aug 11, 2020 at 10:17 AM Otto Janko <otto at janko.at> wrote:

> One additional remark: Do NOT send a problem to this list or any other
> public forum because this would be considered as publishing and you cannot
> send it to a magazine as "original" anymore.
>
> -- Otto Janko [mailto:otto at janko.at] [https://www.janko.at]
> -- They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
> -- safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. [Benjamin Franklin]
>
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Retros [mailto:retros-bounces at janko.at] On Behalf Of
> > Bernd Gräfrath
> > Sent: Tuesday, August 11, 2020 8:35 AM
> > To: retros at janko.at
> > Subject: Re: [Retros] Publishing Compositions
> >
> > ... and I want to mention two relevant books:
> > John Rice, "Chess Wizardry", entry "Tourneys";
> > A.J. Roycroft, "Test Tube Chess", part "The Serious" (on
> > critics, judges, composers).
> >
> > B.G.
> >
> >
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. August 2020 um 08:28 Uhr
> > Von: "Bernd Gräfrath" <retromode at web.de>
> > An: "Jack Murtagh" <murtagh.jack at gmail.com>
> > Cc: Retros at janko.at
> > Betreff: Re: [Retros] Publishing Compositions
> > Dear Jack,
> >
> > I can give you my personal answers; and I think that most
> > composers will agree with my view:
> >
> > 1. When you have composed a problem that you are proud of,
> > ideally you would check in a database of chess problems,
> > e.g., the PDB; see
> > https://pdb.dieschwalbe.de/index.jsp?langw=EN
> > whether your composition is not anticipated. But you can also
> > submit your retro problem to a good chess problem journal,
> > and the retro editor will most probably know whether your
> > problem is original and good enough for publication.
> >
> > 2. Some chess journals are more specialized than others. For
> > example, the magazine "Schach" is mainly aimed at chess
> > players; and although it has a very good problem section, it
> > would not be the right place for complicated retros. Such a
> > problem would be more suitable for specialized chess problem
> > magazines, for example "Die Schwalbe", "The Problemist",
> > "Probleemblad" or "StrateGems"; cf. the list at
> > https://www.thbrand.de/retroanalyse/informalturniere/
> >
> > 3. The problems published in a magazine of a certain year
> > take place in an "informal tourney": A problem expert acts as
> > a judge and writes an award in which prizes, honourable
> > mentions and commendations are given (with reasons for the
> > placements). These tourneys do not have a specified theme.
> > Formal tourneys have an announcement which gives a date until
> > which compositions must be submitted. Most formal tourneys
> > have a theme (but the FIDE-Cup usually does not). In a
> > thematic tourney, participating problems should not only be
> > good, but must also show the given theme.
> >
> > 4. You should NEVER submit a composition to several
> > magazines/tourneys at the same time! If you send it to a
> > magazine and the problem is rejected, then you can send it to
> > another magazine/tourney. If the editor of a magazine tells
> > you that your problem is anticipated, you should not send it anywhere.
> >
> > Perhaps this is helpful also for others who might ask similar
> > questions in the future. I do not remember that these topics
> > have been answered in the retro mailing list before.
> > An old source for such question is the book
> >
> > Best wishes,
> >
> > Bernd
> >
> > Gesendet: Dienstag, 11. August 2020 um 07:34 Uhr
> > Von: "Jack Murtagh" <murtagh.jack at gmail.com>
> > An: Retros at janko.at
> > Betreff: [Retros] Publishing Compositions
> > Hello,
> >
> > I recently finished composing a retro problem that I think is
> > worthy of publication or entry to a competition but I have
> > never published a problem and I'm having trouble
> > understanding the landscape here. Some questions I have are:
> >
> > 1. When you've composed a problem you're proud of, what do
> > you do next?
> > 2. Why choose one publication venue over another? Are some
> > more competitive or better for certain kinds of problems?
> > 3. How do tournaments/competitions work? Often when solving a
> > problem, you see the composer's name, year, and "3rd Prize"
> > or "Honorable Mention" - where do these labels come from? Are
> > these usually "informal tournaments"? Do most formal
> > competitions other than the WCCI have pre-specified themes?
> > 4. Can you publish a problem in a magazine/journal and also
> > submit it to a competition?
> >
> > I apologize if these things have been asked many times
> > before. I've done a lot of research today and had trouble
> > finding definitive answers to these questions.
> >
> > Thank you so much for any help,
> > Jack
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________ Retros
> > mailing list Retros at janko.at
> > https://pairlist1.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/retros
> > _______________________________________________ Retros
> > mailing list Retros at janko.at
> > https://pairlist1.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/retros
> >
>
> _______________________________________________
> Retros mailing list
> Retros at janko.at
> https://pairlist1.pair.net/mailman/listinfo/retros
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://pairlist1.pair.net/pipermail/retros/attachments/20200811/c3208cc6/attachment.html>


More information about the Retros mailing list