Polish Chess Federation announces an informal international composing tourney in the following sections:
• twomovers [#2] – judge Bogusz Piliczewski
• threemovers [#3] – judge Stefan Parzuch
• selfmates in 2 moves [s#2] – judge Marcin Banaszek
• selfmates in 3 – 6 moves [s#3-6] – judge Eugeniusz Iwanow
• helpmates in 2 moves [h#2] – judge Walerij Kopyl
• endgames [eg] – judge Jan Rusinek
There are 3 prizes in each section.
Problems are published up to date on the Polish Chess Federation site.
Closing date: December 1st 2023.
Please send problems on diagrams or in notation with the complete solution to:
Latest News
update: 24-July-2024
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EG 237 is coming to you next week.
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New Extra issue of the spanish Finales Y Temas 135 by José Copié.
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Very sad news:
Mario Guido Garcia (Argentina) passed away at 12 July 2024.
Condolences to his family and all being part of this website.
Mario was a great contributor to Chess Endgame studies and also to this website.
Peter Krug did send me this message:
"He was a very hard-working person. He enjoyed great success in his professional life as a professor.
He achieved a great deal in chess composition, not only as an extremely productive student composer,
but also as a problem chess composer, adjudicator, controller and corrector.
He has created a platform for chess study composers on UAPA.
Now that he is dead, I don't know if this platform for study composers is still available.
Mario Guido García was a driving force in study composition. He created over 200 studies in co-operation with me.
I think this is a great loss for the chess study world!
I have written some words on time note. https://timenote.info/de/Mario-Guido-Garcia
"
See also: Garcia, Mario 1948-2024
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For the Lithuanian Chess Composers Union, the famous duo Michael Hlinka with Lubos Kekely
were the 4x winners of the honors in this 2020-2023 competition are.
Also I Aliev and R.Staudte were mentioned.
See the PDF in the Award Files.
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In the Chepizhny 90 JT tournament (See PDF in Award Files) the prize winners are:
1. Y. Bazlov with V. Neustadt
2. M.Notkin with S.N. Tkachenko
3. M.Gromov with O.Pervakov
4. V.Hertgert with M.Minski
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For the Vratnica-64 2023 ty the prize winners are:
1. Michael Pasman
2. Michal Hlinka with Luboš Kekely
3. Darko Hlebec
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In the Problem Paradise 2023 ty, in the Section with Win-studies the 3 prize winners ex aequo are:
1-3. Peter Krug, Jan Timman, Michael Pasman.
In the Section with Draw studies the prize winners are:
1. Eduard Eilazyan
2. Michael Pasman
3. Andrzej Jasik
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In the Pat a Mat 2022-2023 ty the prize winners are:
1. Thomas Niessen
2. Pavel Arestov with Daniel Keith
3. Vladimir Samilo with Vladislav Tarasiuk
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Announcement:
Siegfried Hornecker Memorial Tourney, WCCC Jurmala 2024:
He was, together with Michael Roxlau, the editor of studies at Die Schwalbe.
His autobiographical book "Weltenfern" can be found on the ARVES website (here):
Weltenfern || book by Siegfried Hornecker
He presented an interesting endgame study with detailed explanation each month in chessbase.com website.
In his memory, Quartz launches a thematic tournament at WCCC Jurmala 2024.
"The requirement is: in direct play, a white piece occupies an X square at least twice during the solution, then leaves it.
These occupation moves must be done without capture and without check.
The thematic piece may not be a white King."
The tourney is open to all and not just the congress participants.
and that the entries would preferably be sent also in a PDF file format.
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Sarah (former Siegfried) Hornecker passed away at 22.3.2024
Sarah regularly wrote articles for EG and Chessbase and was a successful study composer.
Martin Minski: "We were good friends. My condolences to his family. Rest in peace."
Hornecker, Siegfried/Sarah 1986-2024
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At Chessbase.com an nice introduction and announcement for the
8th YCCC (Youth Chess Composing Challange)
where composers born 2001 or younger can show their creations.
By GM Marjan Kovačević, WFCC President,
(World Federation of Chess Composition).
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The following study by Yochanan Afek is praised at Youtube with nice comments.
The study won 2nd pr. in Jan Timman-60 2012 and The Study of the Year 2012 award.
---------------------------------------------------
In the Tehtavaniekka 2023 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Jan Sprenger
2. Peter Krug
3. Martin Minski
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In the 64-Shakhmatnoye Obozrenye 2023 tournament
(see PDF in Award Files) the prize winners are:
1. A.Avni with M.Pasman
2. Martin Minski
3. E. Egorov with O. Pyankova
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The ChessStar Ministar-V ty with theme: Miniature, shows 4 studies.
Pavel Arestov was awarded a Honorary Mention.
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As of page 12 in the Variantim 92 magazine
you may find the awarded Studies of the
Israeli Ring Tournament 2023.
The prizewinners are:
1-2 Amatzia Avni with Martin Minski
1-2 Steffen Nielsen
3. Steffen Nielsen.
Also Michael Pasman has an interesting article about studies as of page 27.
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In the Shakhmatnaya-Kompozitsiya-2023 the prize winners are:
1. Vladimir Kuzmichev
2. Volker Hergert with Martin Minski
(See the PDF in the Award files)
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EG 236 is issued with a lot content.
Please subscribe if you not are already a member of EG !
The articles are of high quality and the tournament reports have more extended comments than on this website.
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Favourite chess book of the recent Toronto Candidate tournament winner
Dommaraju Gukesh is
written by Yochanan Afek about Studies
Check at YT Chessbase India (minute 2:30)
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The Argentinian UAPA 22th provisionally award: UAPA 22th 2023 has 3 sections.
The prize winners in these sections are:
For Section A : Thematic: Logic study with false try in a preliminary plan
1. Michael Pasman
2. Oleg Pervakov
3. Michael Pasman
4. Pavel Arestov
Section B1, Theme free, Wins:
1-2. Oleg Pervakov
1-2. Jan Timman with Steffen Nielsen and Mario Garcis
3. Oleg Pervakov.
Section B2, Theme free, Draws:
1. Oleg Pervakov
2+3+4. Michael Pasman.
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The prize winner for the Sachova Skladba 2022 tournament is:
Mchael Pasman.
(Judged by Vladislav Tarasiuk living in the war-zone in Kharkov).
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For the magazine Schach 2022-2023 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Jan Sprenger
2. Michael Pasman
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For the Bilokin 85 MT the prize winners are:
1. Serhiy Didukh
2. Jan Sprenger
3. Martin Minski
4-5. Michael Pasman
4-5. Jan Timman
6. Steffen Nielsen
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The prize winners for the 7th Thematic tournament by The Macedonian Problemist 2023 are:
1. Oleg Pervakov
2. Jan Sprenger
3. Serhiy Didukh
4. Steffen Nielsen with Martin Minski
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Fo the Nosek 70 JT tournament, 6 prizes were given.
1st prize for Michael Pasman,
2-3 prize to co-work of trio Michal Hlinka, Lubos kekely and Pavel Arestov
2-3 prize to co work of F. Korostenski and Jaroslav Polasek
4-5 prize to Yochanan Afek
4-5 prize to co-work of Martin Minski and Steffen Nielsen
6th prize to co-work of V. Babula and Jaroslav Polasek
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Martin Minski meets Judit Polgar in his hometown Berlin, in the Reichstag at an Simultan exhibition.
"Judit is an ambassador of peace, an interesting personality and a great promoter of Endgame studies".
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Chessbase India with an interesting 1,5 hour interview with GM Afek, Yochanan 1952 at Facebook.
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The yearly solving contest at Nunspeet had the following studies to solve.
May be try it first your selve without looking at the solutions?
The winners:
(Left to right:) David Hodge, Richard Dobias, Andy Ooms.
Rankinglist:
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Daniele Gatti created this posthume co-study with and in memory of Marco Bonavoglia
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Chessbase India often uses Endgame studies to popularize chess.
This study is showed at Instagram and at Twitter in a nice way
with a challenge of the most beautiful chess combination.
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Study composed by Volodymyr Samilo (Ukraine)
in memory of John Derek Beasley
(after John Beasley, 1998)
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Sad news: at 3 March John Derek Beasley passed away at an age of 84.
He had had cancer for some while, but was well enough to publish his last book a few months ago.
John was a very active Chess Endgame study promotor who also attributed a lot to this Arves website.
You may look into the Collections menu for articles like this:
Studies Richard Réti by John Beasley
and he wrote an Arves book in 2003:
Depth and Beauty, Artur Mandler book by John Beasley
We will miss him greatly.
His latest book available at: https://www.debestezet.nl/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5820
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In the Magyar Sakkvilag 2023 the prize winners are:
1. Steffen Nielsen
2. Pavel Arestov
3. Peter Krug with Mario Garcia
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For the Polish Chess Fed 2023 the prize winners are:
1-2 Gady Costeff
1-2 Marek Kwiatkowski
3-4 Jacek Gigola with Bogusz Piliczewski and Iwan Borisenko
3-4 Michael Pasman
5th Andrzej Babiarz
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The 1-3rd ex eqauo prize winners for the miniature 7-chess-notes-2023 tournament are:
Martin Minski,
Pavel Arestov with Daniel Keith,
Pavel Arestov with Peter Krug
(See PDF in Awards Files)
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Young OTB Grandmaster of India: Praggnanandhaa tries to solve 6 studies in 1 hour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yfo91oCJ-xc&t=1114s
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In the Hlinka 70-JT 2023 tournament there are two sections.
The winners in section A, "Up till 10 figures" the 1st-3rd prize winners are:
Rainer Staudte and Michael Schlosser,
Jaroslav Polasek and Emil Vlasak
Michael Pasman.
In section B also 1st-3rd prizes to:
Valery Kalashnikov and Sergey Osintsev,
Oleg Pervakov,
Michael Pasman.
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For the Zadachi i Etyudi 2022,
the 1st prize winner is the very active composer
Michael Pasman
------------------------------------------------------
In the informal tournament The Macedonian Problemist 2022
1st prize to Sirhey Didukh
2nd prize to Michael Pasman
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Variantim 91 issue, articles about studies by
Gady Costeff (page 2),
Serhiy Didukh (pages 3-5) and
Michael Pasman (pages 16-18).
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New book with studies of Mattison, Hermann 1894-1932
Available at Amazon.
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As mentioned earlier, at the Chessbase website, Siegfried Hornecker writes every month
an interesting article about Chess Endgame studies.
The latest one of 8-jan is about the 50-move rule which can make a difference in the outcome.
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At the ECF Book of the Year Shortlist, this is written about:
The Pawn Study Composer's Manual, Mikhail Zinar
The Pawn Study Composer’s Manual
Mikhail Zinar Elk and Ruby pp284 £24.95
Pawn studies may be a niche in the chess world, but this high-class book,
written by a man who spent a lifetime composing pawn studies,
demonstrates the richness and depth of the game.
The reader will find instruction, enjoyment and inspiration therein.
Zinar, a Ukrainian, died in 2021 and this edition was updated by Zinar’s close friend Tkachenko,
“with my city (Odesa) being regularly bombed, which considerably slowed progress!”
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Book review: Anthology of miniature Endgame Studies
More than 2000 works of art many of which have become classics,
various periods, composers, themes and styles are represented.
At this website it is for sale with this text:
Solving endgame studies has become a major working tool in modern chess training combining the instructive with the enjoyable.
Studies are highly recommended for refining calculating and tactical skills, deepening endgame understanding,
as well as improving creativity and out of the box thinking.
The Anthology of Miniature Endgame Studies is the biggest selection of composed endings with up to seven pieces on the board,
created by the world’s best composers throughout the past 150 years.
The carefully selected studies are categorized into thematic chapters.
The game-like positions highlight the power and typical qualities of each piece alone and in collaboration with other pieces.
From the foreword by GM Jan Timman: “Endgame studies are in fact an important factor in becoming a strong player.
It is significant that both Garry Kasparov and Magnus Carlsen have a keen interest in endgame studies.
It is praiseworthy that Chess Informant was ready to publish this important work. Afek is arguably the most qualified person to write it.”
You can download or look into an Excerpt of the book, with more than 50 examples.
Task on the cover of the book, white plays and wins:
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As we just have showed many new books about Endgame studies,
here you may find all of the books (66!!) issued and written by Arves-member:
For details about each book, just click on the picture of the book.
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Interesting book (issued by Vasily Lebedev) titled
111 Magic Studies
composed by Zhukov, Alexander 1963
It is in Russian language, beautiful hard-cover and has more than 500 pages.
More about it at the composers page where also many of the studies in the book are showed.
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Attention for the new Fide Album:
In eight sections you will find 273 two-movers, 241 three-movers, 159 moremovers
, 227 endgame studies,
400 helpmates, 215 selfmates, 357 fairy compositions and 112 retros.
Each chess problem has been selected by a panel of judges and commented on by experts.
Besides that, many pages of indexes and definitions.
More info and sample pages at FideAlbum.com
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Today 4.1 is:
The tournament organized for this special day:
Triumph of International Law 2023
Has as prize winners:
1. Steffen Nielsen
2. Bogusz Piliczewski
3. Amatzia Avni with Yochanan Afek
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In the ChessStar 2023 the 1st and 3rd prize are won by Steffen Nielsen.
2nd prize to Michael Pasman.
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In the Italian Scacchistiche 2023 tournament (See page 6-9 in PDF, Awards Files)
the 1st prize winner is: Peter Krug
2nd prize for Amatzia Avni with Martin Minski
3rd prize to Michael Pasman.
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Happy, healthy, peaceful and creative new year 2024 !
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The prize winners for the Chess Study Art 2023 tournament are:
1. Michael Pasman
2. Steffen Nielsen
3. Martin Minski
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New book: SECRETS OF QUEEN ENDGAMES
(by Ferenc Berkes and Tibor Karolyi)
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The UAPA 21st 2023 has 3 sections.
In Section A with the theme: "In the study a white key-move has also a try on the same square"
the prize winners are:
1-3 ex-aequo: Serhiy Didukh, Oleg Pervakov, Michael Pasman.
In Section B1 Win studies:
1. Oleg Pervakov,
2. Jan Timman,
3. Eduard Eilazyan,
4. Andrzej Jasik,
5. Michael Pasman.
In Section B2 Draw studies:
1. Valery Kalashnikov,
2. Michael Pasman,
3. Helmut Waelzel,
4. Eduard Eilazyan.
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In the Ukraine 21st Team Championship 2023 tournament
the first 4 prize winners are:
1. Vladislav Tarasiuk
2. Eduard Eilazyan
3-4. Valery Kopyl, Volodymyr Pogorelov, Taras Rudenko
3-4. Volodymyr Pogorelov
----------------------------------------------
In the FRME 9th 2023 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Pavel Arestov with Amatzia Avni
2. Evgeny Egorov
(See PDF in the Awards Files;
NB. In the Hlinka_Kekely study, the white king should be at f6)
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In the Ural Ekaterinenburg 300 tournament the prize winners are:
1st prize to: Sergei. Osintsev
2nd prize to: Yuri Bazlov with Vladimir Neishtadt
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In the Karmil 65 JT only Honorary Mention- awards were given.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another new book by Steffen Nielsen and Jacob Aagaard:
Endgame Labyrinths presents the reader with 1002 challenging studies selected and truncated,
with their usefulness for the practical player in mind.
It is common for studies to be extended by less interesting manoeuvres or by incomprehensible sequences,
before the main themes come into play.
The studies in this book have been pruned to leave the reader with 1002 clear and solvable challenges.
More information about it at QualityChess.
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In the EG 2020-2021magazine tournament.
1st prize to Petr Kiryakov
2nd prize to Jan Sprenger
3rd prize to Amatzia Avni with Vladislav Tarasiuk.
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Sad news from Slovakia:
Bedrich Formánek passed away at 19.11.2023.
Obituary from Executive Board of the Slovak Chess Composition Organization:
Bedrich passed away on November 19, 2023, at the age of 90.
A long-time the President of the Slovak Chess Composition Organization (SOKŠ)
and later its Honorary President, a former President of the Permanent Commission for Chess Composition (PCCC)
and then the Honorary President of the World Federation for Chess Composition (WFCC),
member of the SOKŠ Hall of Fame, chess composer, judge, lecturer, organizer, author of several books on chess composition
and its tireless promoter, author of 7,475 chess composition columns in newspapers, chess godfather of many Slovak chess composers,
but above all a great person and a good friend.
We will certainly return to his work, life and compositions for a very long time.
Bedrich, R.I.P.
More about him: Formanek, Bedrich 1933-2023
----------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Moscow 2023 tournament there one prize winner:
M. Gromov with Oleg Pervakov.
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In the Voia 100 MT 2023 tournament,
1st prize to Vladislav Tarasiuk,
2nd prize to Michael Pasman
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A podcast (German language) with GM Minski, Martin 1969 on "Schachgefluster" no. 191.
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New Fide Title holders:
Congratulations to Slumstrup Nielsen, Steffen 1975 (Denmark) becoming International Grandmaster in Chess composition
and Sumbatyan, Karen 1959 (Russia) becoming International Master in Chess composition.
Fide Master titles for: Sergiy Didukh (Ukraine), Daniel Keith (France),
Jan Sprenger (Germany), Aleksandr Stavrietsky (Russia).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Message with thanks from Japan:
"Thank you for your support and contributions to Problem Paradise.
The magazine celebrated its 100th and final print publication this month.
Starting with the next issue, all issues will be published online at
As we celebrate this major milestone, I have decided to step down as its Endgame Editor after 22 years.
It has been my great pleasure to see the excellent and wonderful studies sent in by composers from all over the world.
One of my reasons for resigning is to focus on my work as Director of the National Chess Federation.
Thank you for supporting Problem Paradise for so long.
My successor will be Mr. Ryo Shiomi.
Ryo is a strong OTB player, former national champion, and a good chess friend of mine.
Please send your new studies to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , and let me ask for your continued support.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to greatly appreciate Mr. Tadashi Wakashima,
the founder and editor-in-chief of this great magazine, who kindly helped and supported me for a long time.
Thank you all again!
Best wishes,
Hiroshi Manabe."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FIDE Album 2019-2021 for Endgame studies results available !
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In the Problemist Ukraine 2023 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Gady Costeff
2. Vladislav Tarasiuk
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EG-234 has been issued:
See also EG234 Quality control.
The latest Variantim magazine 90 is available with an article from Michael Pasman (page13) about Endgame studies.
Paz Einat writes:
Difficult times here in Israel, it is unimaginable that such human cruelty still exists in our time.
Chess problems are a good refuge.
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For the 5th FMRE TT 2023 tournament, the prize winners are:
1. Marek Halski
2. Michael Pasman
3. Michal Hlinka and Lubos Kekely.
See PDF in the Awards Files
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For the Uralski Problemist 30 AT 2023 the prize winners are:
1. Alexander Zhukov and Sergi Osintsev
2. Michael Pasman
3. A. Popov
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The studies for the Chess Artistry Adventure in memory of Pal Benko 2023 are presented.
More about this event in Budapest on 14 October 2023 at Chess Artistry.
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The provisionally award for the Phenix 2022 tournament has the following prize winners:
1. Sergey Osintsev
2. Steffen Nielsen,
3. Michael Pasman.
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Study in memory of Peter van den Heuvel,
composed by Volodomyr Samilo:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sad news: member since the beginning of Arves (1988),
Peter van den Heuvel passed away at 29.8.2023, during a vacation in Georgia.
He was a very succesful solver having an International Master title for that.
He won also at Arves Solving Contest 2006
He was editor for the Probleemblad and succesful composer of Retro-problems.
More about him (in Dutch) at Probleemblad website.
He composed one endgame study:
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Interesting article (in German language)
about Martin Minski in the German Magazine: Schach
(Deutsche Schachzeitung)
Martin Minski in Schach 2023-09
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In the 7th Youth Composing Chess Championship (section B: studies), the prize winners are:
1. Ural Khasanov
2. Andrii Sergiienko
3. Ben Smolkin
4. Nikita Ushakov
5. Ilija Serafimovic
6. Anirudh Daga
7. Denisa Andreea Bucur
8. Costachi Mihnea
9. Danila Pavlov
10. Dylan Schenker
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For the 75th jubilee of Mario Garcia the provisionally results are available.
You may find the prize resullts in the PDF at the Awards Files and the many studies to replay in:
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Sad news from Argentina where Kapros, Jorge 1955-2023 passed away.
obituary written by: José A. Copié here.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Griva 70 JT 2023 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Sergy Osintsev
2. Michal Hlinka and Lubos kekely
3. Vladimir Kuzmichev
4. Poul Rewitz
5. Louis Miguel Gonzalez
Look in the Awards Files in the PDF of the Problemist Ukraine 2023/07 magazine as of page 29.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Interesting article about Cyclic Zugzwang and a free PGN-file to download
with 1131 examples, send by John Beasley.
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A little late, the results of the Sachova Skladba 2021 tournament added to this website.
1st prize to Steffen Nielsen,
2nd prize to Michael Pasman,
3rd prize to Jaroslav Polasek.
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Today 20.7 is International Chess day where we celebrate the establishment of the FIDE.
Alexander Rueb name holder of ARves : Rueb, Alexander 1882-1959 was the first President for 25 years.
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In the Vratnica-64 2022 tournament the prize winners are:
Win section: 1. Sergey Osintsev,
2. Peter Krug,
3.Michael Pasman
Draw Section: 1, Michael Pasman,
2. Michal Hlinka and Luboš Kekely
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In the UAPA 20th 2023 tournament for the Theme Section,
Theme is: "In study (win or draw) White or Black piece (Bishop, Knight, Rook or Queen ) goes into a corner under at least one capture.
The piece should not be protected and goes to the corner without taking enemy piece"
1st and 2nd prize for Jan Sprenger and Serhiy Didukh;
3rd and 4rd prize to Harold van der Heijden and Vladislav Tarasiuk.
For the Section B1 Wins:
1st: M. Gromov with Oleg Pervakov;
2nd Serhiy Didukh;
3rd Yuri Bazlov
4th prize to Michael Pasman.
For the Section B2 Draws:
1st and 2nd prize to Michal Hlinka with Lubos Kekely and Serhiy Didukh;
3rd and 4rd ptize to Andrzej Jasik and Eduard Eilazyan;
5th prize to Alain Pallier.
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Three more articles to honor composers:
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This year the Royal Dutch Chess Federation: KNSB celebrates its 150 year of existence.
For this jubilee a book was issued.
René Olthof has written an article about the history of ARVES for this book.
(It is written in Dutch).
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The prize winners in the Azerbaijan 6th Cup 2023 tournament are:
1. Rasul Ibrahimov
2. Ulvi Bajarani
3. Elmar Gasimov
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In the July 2023 issue of The Problemist magazine you can find as of page 146 the column by Yochanan Afek.
And as of page 168 the award for British Chess Problem Society 2022 by Gady Costeff.
(See the PDF in the award section).
The prize winners are.
1. Steffen Nielsen
2. Sirhey Didukh
3. Michael Pasman
---------------------------------------------------------------
In the Problem Paradise 2022 tournament
for the WIN-section the prize winners are:
1. Peter Krug
2. Jan Timman
3. Andrzej Jasik
for the DRAW section the prize winners are:
1/2. Michael Pasman
1/2. Sergey Osintsev
3. Andrzej Jasik
4. Michal Hlinka and Lubos Kekely
5. Valery Kalashnikov
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In the tournament to memorize the battle at Kursk 80 MT years ago,
the prize winner is Alexander Stavrietski.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Hungarian magazine Magyar Sakkvilag 2022 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Michal Hlinka and Luboš Kekely
2. Martin Minski
3/4. Peter Krug and Mario Garcia
3/4 Sergiy Didukh
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In the Tehtavaniekka 2022 tournament the prize winners are:
1. Steffen Nielsen
2. Jan Sprenger
3. Sergiy Didukh
4. Taras Rudenko and Volodomyr Samilo.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
At YouTube Kasparov with Nakamura solving Endgame studies.
First two studies by Yochanan Afek.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Afek-70-JT-2022 tournament the prize winners are:
1st Prize: Sergiy Didukh
2nd Prize: Vladislav Tarasiuk
3rd Prize: Amatzia Avni and Martin Minski
4th Prize: Branislav Djuracevic.
See as of page 15-19 in the magazine Variantim 89 where also some more articles about studies are available.
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In the magazine 64 - 2022 tournament, judge Yuri Bazlov awarded studies starting with
the 2nd prize, for Amatzia Avni,
3rd prize to V. Kuzmichev,
4th prize to Jan Sprenger.
See pdf in the Award-section.
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In the UAPA 19th 2022 tournament for the Theme Section: "Suicidal piece fight"
1st prize winner is: Michael Pasman
Second prize to Peter Krug with Mario Garcia.
In the no theme section B1 Win: 1st prize to Jan Timman
In the B2 Draw section the 1st prize is for Mario Macaloni with Daniele Gatti
2nd prize to: Peter Krug
3rd prize to: Oleg Pervakov
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Study composed by Martin Minski, dedicated to the two world champion match players
Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi.
Inspired by their endgame after 25…axb6! in their first tie-break game.
(Congrats to Ding Liren of China, the new World Champion of Classic otb Chess !!)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The first prize winners for the Minski-Nielsen 100 AT tournament are:
M. Sanz Cabrero with Louis Gonzalez
2nd prize to E.Kopylov with Oleg Pervakov
3rd prize to Michael Pasman with Yochanan Afek.
Tournament Calendar.
On this page a calendar of all known Endgame study tournaments which are running with information:
Also a very good page to check tournament announcements is on UAPA: Informal Tournaments, Formal Tournaments.
Latest update on 6-6-2024.
Last month, we learned with pain about the terrible news of the death of Siegfried Hornecker (b. March 19, 1986 – d. March 22, 2024)
He was, together with Michael Roxlau, the editor of studies at Die Schwalbe.
His autobiographical book "Weltenfern" can be found on the ARVES website (here):
Weltenfern || book by Siegfried Hornecker
He presented an interesting endgame study with detailed explanation each month in chessbase.com website.
In his memory, Quartz launches a thematic tournament at WCCC Jurmala 2024.
The requirement is: in direct play, a white piece occupies an X square at least twice during the solution, then leaves it.
These occupation moves must be done without capture and without check. The thematic piece may not be a white King.
The tourney is open to all and not just the congress participants.
and that the entries would preferably be sent also in a PDF file format.
Send the problems/studies by e-mail:
Deadline: July 15, 2024.
Judges
Section A: Jim Grevatt (U.K.),
Section B: Paul Raican (International Judge of the FIDE)
Prizes: Em. Dobrescu - Selected Studies.
See for more information at: 8th-YCCC-Announcement.pdf (wfcc.ch)
8 th Youth Chess Composing Challenge 2024 2 Rules & Themes The 8 th YCCC 2024 is open to the U23 generation (born 2001 or later), matching the age limit for juniors in the WFCC solving competitions (WCSC, ECSC, ISC). This year YCCC has one section with strict thematic condition (A - #2) and two sections without set themes (B – endgame studies and C - all kinds of compositions). Each participant may send one entry per section. Joint works are not accepted
Section B – Endgame studies (+, =) No set thematic condition To understand better the content and form that distinguishes an artistic endgame study from usual chess combinations and similar puzzles in the Internet, we warmly recommend to check the following articles: 1. Johan Hellsten: Composing endgame studies 2. John Nunn: Composing a study 3. Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen: Strip or massage? Two ways of creating studies from games These three articles are ordered here by complexity of the topics. Going through them you may feel why any chess ending or a long sequence of unique moves (no matter how hard is to find these moves) doesn’t automatically qualify for an artistic chess composition. The judges will put emphasis on original ideas and clarity. Judges: Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen & Gady Costeff
A formal contest for study composing is announced, open to all.
The theme is free with one exception – no logical studies.
Each composer may send up to 3 studies, including joint works.
There will be three money prizes – 250$, 200$ and 150$.
There will also be some book prizes, therefore all participants are requested to send their postal address along with the pgn file containing position and full solution.
Send your original studies by e-mail to the tourney director, Gady Costeff, at
The closing date for receiving the works is 30/10/2024.
The award is guaranteed to be sent to all participants on 17/12/2024
and is expected also to be published in Arves and Variantim.
The judge will be the jubilant, Amatzia Avni
Studies – Judge: Sergiy Didukh
– Entries should be sent to : Sergey Borodavkin :
– More information about the PROBLEMIST OF UKRAINE magazine competitions posted
on the website http://www.chess-kopyl.com.ua/images/2020/N163outer.pdf
The Royal Moroccan Chess Federation (FRME) organizes the 10th Composing Tourney in four 8
sections:
Twomovers (#2) Judge: Aleksandr Derevchuk (Ukraine)
Send to tournament director: Mustapha Bakani (Marocco) E-mail:
Threemovers (#3) Judge: Valery Kirillov (Russia)
Moremovers (#N) Judge: Elmar Abdullayev (Azerbaijan)
Studies (+;=) Judge: Marek Halski (Poland)
Selfmates (S#) Judge: Jiří Jelínek (Czech Republic)
Send to tournament director:Vidadi Zamanov (Azerbaijan) E-mail:
Helpmates H#2 Judge: Franz Pachl (Germany)
Helpmates H#2.5-3 Judge: Christopher Jones (Great Britain)
Helpmates H#3.5-N Judge: Mike Prcic(USA)
Send to tournament director: Jamal M Elbaz (Morocco) E-mail:
The theme in all sections is free.
Prizes, honourable mentions and commendations will be awarded.
Send problems and studies in format Word and PDF.
Closing date: 30. 09. 2024. The award – 2024
All received problems will be presented to the judge in anonymous form.
Award will be published on the website: frme.fr.nf
Slovak Organization for Chess Composition (SOKŠ) in cooperation with Slovak Chess Union (SŠZ)
announces international chess composition tourney for endgame studies SŠZ 100 JT.
Judge Péter Gyarmati (Hungary),
director Ľuboš Kekely (
Closing date: 29.6.2024.
At most 3 compositions by one author (including joint compositions).
The award will be published still in 2024, preliminary award on the SOKŠ website (https://soks.sk/).
Prizes for the competition will be announced in upcoming weeks.
The magazine “64 – Chess Review”
” announces a traditional competition for composing chess problems and studies
Sections: #2,#3,#n (judge A. Kuzovkov), studies (judge S. Osintsev)
The winners are awarded an annual subscription to the magazine.
Send compositions to the email address of editor Alexander Kuzovkov:
Shakki 100 JT
Shakki, the Finnish chess magazine, was founded in 1924 with the name Suomen Shakki.
The magazine announces an international composing competition
Shakki 100 JT in two groups, both with free theme:
A. Studies, judge Pauli Perkonoja
B. Moremovers, judge Jorma Paavilainen
The entries, not more than three from one composer in each section, joint entries included, to the tournament director Neal Turner via email:
The deadline is 30th of June 2024.
Russian and Belarusian composers are not eligible to participate.
(Arves is not happy with this statement)
In each section there will be three prizes of 100, 70 and 50 EUR.
The awards will be published during the year 2024.
Announcement tournament: EG 2024-2025
EG, the only periodical exclusively devoted to endgame studies, announces an informal tourney for original studies.
The studies and the award will be published in EG.
We will not publish all the submitted studies, as some magazines and websites do.
Our editor, Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen, will only select compositions of sufficiently high level for publication.
Please send your originals in PGN-format to the editor Steffen Slumstrup Nielsen at
Deadline for submissions for is August 25th, 2025.
The judge for the 2024-2025 tourney is Jan Sprenger.
Section A : Thematic:
Study for win or draw with blocking or temporary blocking of black queen or rook..
- Judge: Ľuboš Kekely (Slovakia)
– : Look pgn : Examples
Section B : Theme free
B.1.) Win – Judge : Alexander Stavrietsky (Russia)
B.2.) Draw – Judge : Pavel Arestov (Russia)
Entries : not more than three per composer (in each section)
– Send studies to: Sebastian Palomo
–or M. García
– All selected original Studies will be posted periodically on the UAPA website: http://www.problemistasajedrez.com.ar/
– Prizes, honourable mentions, commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
- The provisional award will be issued in November 2024, will be available in the same website and will be sent to all participants by e-mail.
– Closing date 31 8 .2024
See also: UAPA
Springaren 2023 -2024
Studies, no set theme
– Judge: Geir Tallaksen Ostmoe (Norway)
– Send studies to Director : Kjell Widlert.
– Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
– The award will be sent to participants by e-mail. and will be published in the magazine
Eleventh FIDE World Cup in Composing 2023
See for all the information: https://www.wfcc.ch/competitions/composing/fidewcc_2023/
The tournament will be conducted from April 1 to October 1, 2023.
The closing date for submitting the entries is June 15, 2023.
Entries must be sent on diagrams with complete solution and any comments by e-mail only to the Director’s address:
Participants should mention their postal address in the email.
Tehtäväniekka 2024
Finnish Chess Problem Society’s magazine Tehtäväniekka 2024.
Original studies for an informal tourney, no set theme.
The composer will receive a PDF file of the publication issue and award.
Judge: Vladislav Tarasiuk (Ukraine)
Send your entries to the editor Vladislav Tarasiuk:
SACHOVA SKLADBA 2024
Studies, no set theme
– Judge : Luboš Sedlák
– Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
Send studies to: Jiri Jelinek or Jaroslav Polasek
Information about competitions in other genres: Pavel Kamenik –
Also see this link; http://problem64.beda.cz/ss/rozhodci.htm
ZADACHY I ETIUDY- 2024
Studies – Yury Bazlov
– #2 – A. Slesarenko ,
# 3 –A. Sygurov. #n – G. Popov ,,
H # –P. Zabirokhin
S # – – A. Stepochkin,
F # –V. Nefyodov.
– The problemas and studies will be published as originals in the magazine Zadachy I Etiudy during 2024 Send to S. Bilyk
Send to S. Bilyk – email:
Closing date : 15 November 2024
Polish Chess Federation 2023 Tourney
See also this article: Creating studies from games, Steffen Nielsen
TOURNEY MAGAZINE “PHENIX” 2024
The French magazine “Phenix” is looking for original orthodox studies (theme free, entries will be published in the magazine)
for its informal tourney for the year 2024
Please send your entries to Daniel Capron :
until october 31, 2024.
Judge: Jaroslav Polasek (Rep. Checa)
The preliminary award of the tourney will be sent to participants by e-mail
and will be published in the site Internet of “Phenix” and in the magazine.
6th TT FRME, 2024
The Royal Moroccan Chess Federation (FRME) organizes the 6th TT FRME, in 7 sections.
Endgame studies proposed theme: Queen endgame with win requirement.
White sacrifices his queen. Material should be in the starting position Q+pawns vs Q+pawns, more queens are possible.
Judge: Peter Gyarmati (Hungary)
Details: fmrefmre website.
Closing date: 01.09.2024. The award – 2024
All received problems will be presented to the judges in anonymous form.
Award will be published on the website: http://frme.fr.nf
INTERNET TOURNAMENT CHESS MAGAZINE CHESSSTAR – 2023
ChessStar.com announces an annual composing contest in the following sections: #2, #3, #N, Etudes, H# , S#.
– ChessStar-2023 can only be entered by registered users Standard.
Entries are accepted (unlimited) from January 1 to December 31, 2023.
Prizes, honorary and commendable reviews have been established.
Preliminary results will be published on the website on January 31, 2024.
– Chief judge for all sections: Ferhat Karmil (Turkiye)
-Tournament Director Elmar Abdullaev Karmil (Azerbaijan)
CESKOSLOVENSKY SHACH – 2024
The contest will include all original studies published in the journal during 2023.
Send your originals on any topic (maximum 6 by one author) before November 15, 2024 to the address of Michal Hlinka (Slovakia):
Judge : Emil Vlasak (Rep.Checa).
More detailed analyzes and the pgn file can be found in the studies section on our website www.sach.cz.
Variantim 2024
The studies will be published as originals in the Israeli magazine Variantim during 2024.
- . Judge : Daniele Gatti (Italy)
- Director : Gady Costeff. Please send studies in PGN format to:
The results will be published in 4/2024.
Closing date: November 15/ 2024
SINFONIE SCACCHISTICHE 2024
Other genres : Judges: [≠2] : ………..
- [≠n] : Valerio Agostini
– [H≠2] : Francisco Simoni – [H≠n] : ……….
– [S≠] : Daniele Gatti
– Studies : Daniele Gatti – -Retro : …………..
–– Director : Valerio Agostini –
PAT A MAT Magazine has pleasure in announcing international tourneys for
See also:
a) orthodox twomovers 2022: Bogusz Piliczewski, Poland),
b) threemovers 2022-2023 (judge not yet specified),
c) moremovers 2022-2023 (judge not yet specified),
d) studies 2022-2023 :Yochanan Afek (Israel/Netherlands),
e) helpmates 2022 (judge Béla Majoros, Hungary),
f) selfmates and reflexmates 2022- 2023 (judge not yet specified),
g) fairies 2022 (judge not yet specified).
Entries should be sent to the editors of the sections (see below) or to Ladislav Packa as soon as possible but before 15th October of the year.
Entries should be sent to the editors of the sections (see below) or to Ladislav Packa as soon as possible but before 15th October of the year.
Chief editor and h#: Ladislav Packa, Agátová 2504/10, SK-924 00 Galanta, e-mail:
#2: Peter Gvozdják, Hlaváčiková 9, SK-841 05 Bratislava 4, e-mail:
#3: Juraj Šťastný, M. M. Hodžu 2417/11, SK-960 01 Zvolen, e-mail:
#n and fairy: Juraj Lörinc, Pažítková 5, SK-821 01 Bratislava 2, e-mail:
s#: Jozef Havran, Kukučínova 15, SK-927 01 Šaľa, e-mail:
+/=: Ľuboš Kekely, SK-023 32 Snežnica 128, e-mail:
The magazine «64» – Shakhmatnoe Obozrenie» announces a traditional composing tourney for 2024
Studies (judge S. Osintsev)
The winners will be awarded with a one-year subscription to the magazine
Send compositions to editor Aleksandr Kuzovkov to e-mail address:
Closing date: 01.11.2024
The Problemist composing tourney 2024 by the British Problem Society
The Problemist composing tourney 2024
Judge: Harold vd Heijden
Entries in a PGN file to the study editor: Y.Afek e-mail:
MAGYAR SAKKVILAG 2023
Please, send your original work in PGN format.
Tournament director Peter Gyarmati to the e-mail address of the study : E-Mail
– Judge: Michal Hlinka (Slovakia)
– Deadline: 20th November 2023.
-- Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
-- The award will be sent to participants by e-mail.
44th World Chess Olympiad of 2020
The All-Russian Public Organization “The Chess Federation of Russia” (CFR) and, at the request of the CFR, the Commission for Chess Composition (CCC)
announce an international chess composing tournament dedicated to the 44th World Chess Olympiad of 2020.
The chess composing tournament will be conducted in the following eight sections: twomovers; threemovers; moremovers; endgame studies;
helpmates; selfmates in 2-12 moves; fairy compositions; retros and proofgames.
The number of entries from one author in a section must not exceed two.
Moreover, only one individual composition will be allowed, i.e. one author can maximally submit oneindividual and one joint composition or two joint entries.
The number of co-authors of collective compositions is not limited.
All compositions are to be sent by email to the Executive Director of the tournament Vitaliy Medintsev, email:
The closing date is postponed !
All participants are asked to present their entries not only on diagrams but also in FEN notation.
Information on the tournament, including the award, will be posted on the CFR website: https://ruchess.ru/.
The judges are:
Twomovers – V.Markovtsiy (Ukraine),
Threemovers – V. Kirillov (Russia),
Moremovers – V. Volchek (Belarus),
Endgame studies – M. Hlinka (Slovakia),
Helpmates – B. Shorokhov (Russia),
Selfmates in 2-12moves – V. Kopyl (Ukraine),
Fairies – P. Petkov (Bulgaria), Retros – V. Crisan (Romania).
Additional information on the Fairies section from the judge P. Petkov: 1.All types of fairy stipulations are allowed.
There are no restrictions on the use of fairy pieces and conditions. 2. Only computer-tested (C+) entries will be allowed.
The author must specify the pro-gram (and the program’s version) that was used to test the entry.
Entries without such in-formationwill not be accepted for the tournament.
The preliminary award will be posted on the website http://www.selivanov.world/.
The preliminary award may also be presented on a number of other sites. After the publication of the preliminary award, the participants will have 1 month for submitting their claims of defects and anticipations.
After analyzing the claims, the judges will prepare the final award in each section. The CFR will present certificates and commemorative medals to the winners of the tournament.
The judges will also receive commemorative medals.
PROBLEEMBLAD 2023 -2024
Studies,
Judge: Gady Costeff (Israel/USA)
Entries in .pgn format are appreciated.
Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
Send to : Marcel van Herck
- Send studies to: Jiri Jelinek or Jaroslav Polasek
VRATNICA 64- 2024 or 2024/25
Studies, no set theme – Judge: Mario G. García (Argentina)
–Entries should be sent to: Bosko Miloseski, E-mail:
–Clarifications: If the number of entries in the year 2024 is 15 or more studies, the contest closes and the judge issues the verdict.
Then in 2025, a similar rule applies. Prizes, honorable mentions, commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
- The award will be sent to participants by e-mail.
Closing date: 15th October of the year 2024 or 2025
SHAKHMATNAYA KOMPOZICIA- 2023
Studies, no set theme – Judge:Luis Miguel González (Spain)
- The studies will be published as originals in the magazine Shakmatnaya Kompozicia during 2023.
Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
-Send to S. Osintsev- –
PROBLEM PARADISE (JAPAN) 2023
Studies, informal tourney, no set theme
– Judge: Mario G. García (Argentina)
Entries should be sent to Director : Ryo Shiomi, E-mail:
— Prizes , honourable mentions , commendations and special nominations will be awarded.
- The award will be sent to participants by e-mail. –Closing date: 31th October 2023