Selection of studies composed by
Aleksandr Vasiljevic Galitzky
(Russia, 5.3.1863 - 18.11.1921)
A little information on ChesscomposerBlogspot and on Russian Wikipedia.
Alexander Galitzky is considered a genius of chess composition.
His light and natural positions will always attract new solvers.
The world-famous chess composer Aleksandr Vasilievich Galitsky (21.2.1863 – 18.11.1921)
was the best chess composer in Russia at the turn of the 20th century.
From 1886 he composed more than 1100 chess compositions, mostly threemovers and moremovers and he was very active in publishing.
In 2010, in Poltava, today’s Ukraine, a 2-part book
"Александр Галицкий - шахматный Гейне"
(Aleksandr Galitsky – shahmatny Geine/chess Genius)
by Kyril Urusov and Eugene Fomichev was published.
A set of his 1106 chess problems (595 #3s) forms part 1 of the book.
He was the author of 18 articles on
chess composition, which were published between 1892 and 1916.
His articles (2nd part of the book) are the first Russian textbook on chess composition. It is a
unique work in scope, and many of the ideas published there are still relevant today.
Galitsky was also the founder of face-to-face solving competitions in Russia in Moscow and St. Petersburg since 1900.
Galitsky recognised the value of different chess ideas and schools.
He preferred compositions with model mates, but also appreciated other elements.
He composed his first chess problems in the spirit of the then popular Old German school,
which emphasized the solution’s difficulty, the content’s richness and model mates in the main play.
Later he was a follower of the Czech school, always trying to follow its principles in his compositions.
After turning his attention to light chess pieces, a collection of his problems with his favorite pieces – bishop + 2 knights
(Schachprobleme, Weiss: Ein Laüfer und Zwei Springer) was published in Berlin.
His miniatures were widely popular among chess players and fans. Galitsky was a King of miniature chess compositions.
(All his studies, more exact dates, possible corrections or cooks and exact details about sources can be found in the