NBvS

What is a chess problem?

As long as the game of chess has existed there have also been chess problems. We all know the feeling of sitting behind the board thinking: if only that piece was not there, I would have a beautiful combination. Enter the solution: the chess problem. A chess problem is a constructed position with a certain task set. Most of the time, a line of thought or theme is an essential part of the problem.

Best known to Dutchmen are the chess problems from the KNSB magazine Schakend Nederland (now called Schaakmagazine). There used to also be quite a number of newspapers with chess problem columns, but these have largely disappeared over the years.

The ‘simplest’ chess problems are those in which White mates in two moves (#2). These twomovers show only a small fragment of the possibilities that abound in chess compostion, which has the following branches.
Orthodox chess problems: these are chess problems in which White mates in a certain number of moves. Endgame studies also belong to the orthodox genre.

Heterodox problems: these include helpmates, selfmates and fairy chess. These types of chess problems deviate from the rules of normal chess (games). This varies from changes in the rules of the game and alterations to the size of the board to the use of chessmen with unusual gaits. For these categories too manuals are available (in Dutch). There are now about 800 different alternative sets of rules and about 1800 different chessmen! (in Dutch). There are now about 800 different alternative sets of rules and about 1800 different chessmen! Obviously, the possible combinations are virtually infinite.

Retro’s: in this type of problem goes back to the history of the position shown. Best known are proof games. These require the solver to determine with which exactly determined succession of a specified number of moves the diagram position can be reached from the initial game array.

Reconstruction: a kind of puzzle. The solution to a problem is shown and the task is to find the accompanying problem. The trick is to do this as economically as possible, i.e. to use as little force as possible.

All these types of chess problems can be found in our magazine Probleemblad. A taste can be had on this website under ‘Zelf doen’ (‘Try it yourself’). Over the years a couple of manuals have been written that can help you further on thTry it yourself’). Over the years a couple of manuals have been written that can help you further on th on the way.