Amatzia Avni: Aesthetics and Beauty

If you haven't already, read part 1: Different Thinking

Focusing on Isolated Elements

Suppose a player finishes his tournament game and boasts to his friends: “I managed to capture en passant twice”, or “I succeeded in executing a pin [or fork or clearance of square].” He would probably be advised to check his head at the local psychiatric clinic. Giving a discovered check or exchanging pieces, likewise, are not goals in a chess game, just means to annihilate the opponent and score the full point.

Composition fans, on the other hand, are very interested in fractions of the occurrences, and to execute a theme is considered a goal. This is mainly seen in problems, and less commonly in studies. Readers have probably heard of such strange jargon concepts as ‘Bristol’ and ‘Turton’. Here is another one: ‘Albino’.

What’s so special in the following problem, you may wonder? The solution is easy and an average club player could be expected to find it in no time.

But look at the moves of the solution! To achieve victory, the white queen had to visit all four corners of the board.

Aren’t you thrilled?

Sometimes the beauty arises from a single move, which leaves the onlooker breathless.

Searching for Records

A problemist is frequently interested in breaking a record: to show symmetrical variations of a theme (an ‘echo’), or various defences of Black in a mate problem which are encountered with unique mates after each defence, etc. Promoting a passed pawn to a light-squared bishop has been done numerous times, so how about creating a composition which demonstrates many non-queen promotions? The next study, which received a special commendation, is an example, even if the initial position is artificial.

It is never good enough...

A practical player who discovers a variation which wins him a rook will usually play it without any further search for a superior alternative. He will opt for the variation because it is sufficient for gaining the full point; looking for the win of a whole queen or a mate possibility, especially under severe constraints of time, is looked upon as a waste of energy.

Problemists evaluate things differently. Even if their study or problem is sound (that is, correct), interesting and attractive, they will always look for improvements. As such, composers are always seeking a better setting to express their ideas. They constantly improve existing works — of others and of themselves.

In 1999 I composed the following study:

Although it is correct and of reasonable level, I was not satisfied and eventually succeeded in finding a better setting, in which the solution is lengthened by one move, and — what’s crucial — more pieces are active during the solution. This raised the level of the work and it entered the FIDE Album anthology.

Players and problemists have a lot in common, if only because they use the same 64 squares, the board and chess pieces. They also have many differences, as I have demonstrated. My list of differences is not conclusive (for instance, originality is only ‘nice to have’ for players, but is absolutely crucial for problemists, to the point that the lack of it may empty all value from their works), but hopefully is rich enough to convey the message.

Re-read part one

About the author

Amatzia Avni is an Israeli psychologist, a FIDE Master in both over-the-board play and composition. He is the author of numerous books, among them The Grandmaster’s Mind (Gambit 2004, Russian Chess House 2016), and The Amazing Chess Adventures of Baron Munchausen (Mongoose Press, 2011).

The above article was reproduced from Chess Magazine April/2018, with kind permission.

About CHESS Magazine

CHESS Magazine was established in 1935 by B.H. Wood who ran it for over fifty years. It is published each month by the London Chess Centre and is edited by IM Richard Palliser and Matt Read. The Executive Editor is Malcolm Pein, who organises the London Chess Classic.

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UK’s most popular CHESS Magazine — established 1935! All the regular features of the UK’s best-selling CHESS magazine plus more! In this issue:

• Grandmasters Down Your Local – Tim Wall’s Northumbria Masters saw plenty of fighting chess
• Brought to Book – Teeside continues to blaze the way for CSC, as Sean Marsh explains
• Find the Winning Moves – Can you do as well as the players at Gibraltar and the 4NCL?
• Vintage Vishy – The World Rapid Champion triumphed at the Tal Memorial
• The Stars of the 4NCL – Tamas Fodor leads the 4NCL big hitters with 6/6 thus far
• How Good Is Your Chess? – Daniel King looks back on a classic victory by Levon Aronian
• The Bunratty Experience – Chess novice Tanya Jones checks out Ireland’s best weekender
• Beer, Blitz and Bunratty – There was much exciting chess during the 25th Bunratty Congress
• Different Thinking – Amatzia Avni compares over the board play with chess compositions
• Instincts: Optimism & Pessimism – Matthew Lunn has been troubled by his instincts letting him down

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