Problem resources

Posted 2020-10-31 00:03

Welcome to the world of chess problems. Whether you’re entirely new to chess problems or you already know the ropes and are looking for a collection of useful links, I hope this will help you.

For the completely new

If you’re new to chess problems, solving a variety of problems is a good way to start out.

OzProblems’ Problem World by Peter Wong is an introductory series of articles, each featuring six well-selected problems. He begins by introducing the major classes of problems: twomovers, threemovers, moremovers and helpmates. This is followed by several articles on various themes and ideas, which form the aesthetic basis of chess problems. The series also introduces several popular yet perhaps less familiar categories of problems: selfmates, proof games and seriesmovers.

The British Chess Problem Society (BCPS) also has a section for beginners. These cover a broad spectrum of twomovers, threemovers, moremovers, selfmates and reflexmates, helpmates, studies, retros and fairies.

For the serious neophyte hungering for more material, the BCPS has made available all issues of The Problemist Supplement, a publication aimed to be more beginner-friendly than their flagship journal, The Problemist. It includes articles and original problems submitted by composers around the world.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to reach out to the editors of the journals, or join the forums and mailing lists. Chess problemists are generally happy to help others get to know their craft.

For those new to retros and proof games

As a retro and proof game (PG) enthusiast, I feel obliged to put this section here.

Short proof games are a nice introduction to the sort of thinking needed for retros and PGs. Alain Brobecker has a PDF containing 25 PG problems as an approachable introduction to the genre. The Proof Game Shorties series by Mark Kirtley is another good selection.

For retros, there is a pedagogical problem set selected by Philippe Schnoebelen. Retros can be difficult to break into at first; Nikolai Beluhov has put together an introductory text for retrograde analysis, which is an impressive work that attempts to demystify the genre.

For more retro content, the one-stop shop for retro content is the Retro Corner, currently maintained by Otto Janko and Joost de Heer. The PG Shorties and pedagogical collection listed above are hosted there.

References for all

The Codex and the Laws

The World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC) is the main international body for chess composition. It sets the guidelines and rules for composition, especially with regard to matters of publication, attribution and priority claims. Aside from rules work, it also organises international solving and composing tournaments, and selects problems for the prestigious FIDE Album, “collections of the best and most representative chess problems and studies in periods of three years”. Having a problem selected for the FIDE Album grants points, the accumulation of which can grant international titles for composition (parallel to but distinct from the FIDE titles for chess players.)

The WFCC sets out the Codex of Chess Composition, setting standards and conventions for matters of composition and publications. The Codex also holds particular interest for retro problemists, as it lays out important conventions like for castling and en passant legality in problems.

Knowing the rules of chess, of course, is probably a good idea. The FIDE Handbook (Laws of Chess) (edition from 1st Jan 2018) is the official source for these rules. Again, this is particularly relevant for retro composers, who can be very astute in picking at loopholes with their compositions.

Chess problem journals

While most people would have encountered the odd chess problem in a book on mainstream chess magazine or maybe a website, there are in fact entire publications devoted to chess compositions. Much like the academic sciences, chess problems have dedicated journals. This is where the majority of problems are to be found, along with dedicated articles on specific topics, as well as composing tourney announcements and awards.

If you have something to publish, or just want to explore what others are doing, these are where you’d look. The following is definitely not an exhaustive list of extant and active journals. Google searches in your local or native language may reveal others.

English (EN)
The Problemist (UK), StrateGems (US), Chessproblems.ca Bulletin (Canada; electronic)
German (DE)
feenschach, Die Schwalbe, harmonie-aktiv, Gaudium (Switzerland), mpk-Blätter
Danish (DK)
Problemskak
Spanish (ES)
Problemas (electronic)
Finnish (FI)
Tehtäväniekka
French (FR)
Phénix
Hebrew (HE)
Variantim (Israel; in Hebrew and English)
Italian (IT)
Best Problems (electronic)
Japanese (JP)
Problem Paradise （プロブレムパラダイス）　(no site; check out the associated Tsumeshogi Paradise for tsumeshogi problems)
Lithuanian (LT)
Šachmatija
Dutch (NL)
Probleemblad
Romanian (RO)
Quartz (older issues; electronic), Componist (no link)
Russian (RU)
The Ural’s Problemist

Online communities

Aside from publishing in the journals and meeting in real-life, problemists also venture to discuss online. You can find them in more than a few places, again not an exhaustive list.

A mention goes out to the passionate amateurs at:

Problem databases

If you need to look up problems to check for anticipations, research on a theme or a composer, or just want to dive in, problem databases are your answer.

Glossaries and references

If you encounter a term, a piece or a stipulation you don’t know, typically you can find their definitions on the back page of the journal it’s published in. If not, you can consult the following glossaries to try and identify them:

Christian Poisson’s glossaries on Problemesis (under “Definitions” on the top bar).
Glossaries for technical terms, some default rules, stipulations, fairy conditions (even more fairy conditions, and fairy constraints), fairy pieces, and themes; also explanations for breaking down fairy piece moves.

StrateGems fairy units and conditions glossary

Books

I don’t have the greatest or widest reading list ever, but of the books I encountered the following stand out:

Misc and everything else

Jeff Coakley’s The Puzzling Side of Chess contains a large number of original PG 4.0, among some basic retros and fairy puzzles. The PGs are light introductions to problems for the chessplayer, presented as small brainteasers.

Do check out the WFCC links page, and especially Czech composer Václav Kotěšovec’s site. There are far more links than what I can collate here.