Emil and the Detectives

by ChessBase
3/16/2021 – Capablanca was twelve when he played his first famous game, Fischer, Kasparov, and Carlsen were teenagers. Of course, they stand out with the benefit of hindsight. It is impossible to predict the future, but in his article, study composer Gady Costeff presents some of the first notable work of six promising teenagers, taking their first steps in chess composition.

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I just reread Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner. Emil, a young boy, is sent by his single mother to Berlin with her meagre savings to support his grandmother. A thief steals the money and Emil manages to follow him off the train. While watching the thief Emil is befriended by a boy his age, who quickly summons an army of children. They coordinate in recovering the money and restoring justice. The inventiveness and joy with which the children pursue their goal is most enjoyable. Many people retain this enthusiasm into adulthood, but there is an undeniable pleasure in witnessing the young take their first steps. The same is true for chess composition.

The path composers typically travel is player → solver → composer. We all start by learning the moves and playing, some of us are serious enough to solve tactics, puzzles, and eventually problems and studies. The final step into composition is the most difficult, as it requires both setting aside the game, and engaging fundamentally new aspects of thinking and techniques. Every year new composers travel this path and here we will meet a small number of those who are still teenagers.

Note that the solutions to all the following problems are given at the bottom of this page. The replayer has a built-in engine which allows you to answer any "why-not" and "what-if" questions that might arise. But please first try to solve the examples yourself from the live diagrams, on which you can move pieces around.

James Malcom is a prolific young composer at home in various genres. Much of his work can be seen on Facebook and MatPlus. His castling in 76 problem is delightful. I have slightly modified his setting to reach 100 moves. Such length records are typically driven by a systematic manoeuvre, here the nine move long bishop round trip from f7 and back. Every round trip concludes with passing the move back to black, who counters with a pawn move to pass the move back to white. White repeats the round trip until all the available black moves have been exhausted. At that point Nb2 must move, and the black defense collapses. After the systematic manoeuvre aspect has been optimized, the length can often be extended through a thematically unrelated introduction.

 
James Malcom (Version by Gady Costeff)
White castles in 100 moves

In 2016, renowned grandmaster of composition Marjan Kovačević started organizing chess problem solving and composition tourneys for young chess players. Ilija Serafimović, (* 7.2004), won the 2018 study edition with this sparkling miniature. For some reason chess composition glorifies special numbers. A miniature is a problem with at most seven pieces, a baby has at most five, and a Meredith has at most twelve. Recently some study tourneys limited studies to ten pieces, or two babies.

 
Ilija Serafimovic, Youth Challenge 2018
White to play and draw

Ben Smolkin from Canada, (* 3.2006), is another of Marjan’s online students. His YouTube channel contains a mix of puzzles and some of his work. His prize-winning study combines a mix of dramatic sacrifices and quiet moves, which, I think, elevates the experience.

In a series of YouTube lectures Ben speaks very nicely on a number of subjects ("Don't forget a king can attack!" or "How to beat a fortress!").

Here's a list of all his videos.

 
Ben Smolkin, 5th prize, M.Muradov-70 JT
White to play and win

Itay Richardson, (* 9.2006), started composing last year, and is improving with every study. In his latest success, white sacrifices four pieces, including an underpromoted bishop, to overcome black’s counterplay. On a personal note, the greatest compliment I received was when he cut school to meet me. I doubt that meeting helped much, as aside from his own hard work, Itay’s grandfather is the outstanding composer Yehuda Hoch.

 
Itay Richardson, UAPA Ty 2020
White to play and win

Christopher Yoo (12.2006 – photo courtesy SLCC) is an over the board IM, with a win against a 2700 grandmaster and his sights set squarely on a grandmaster title.

Christopher is also an excellent study composer, winning third place in the prestigious FIDE Cup of 2019. There are many grandmasters who juggle the game and composition. Hopefully Christopher will be the next one.

 
Christopher Yoo, Youth Challenge 2019
White to play and win

To conclude, here is an attractive mate in three by another teenager.

 
Sam Loyd, Sissa 1868
Mate in three moves

Here are the solutions to all the above problems:

 
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1.Ngf2 f4 2.Bb7 Kh8 3.Ba6 Kg8 4.Bc8 Kh8 5.Bd7 Kg8 6.Be8 Kh8 7.Bf7 a4 8.Be8 Kg8 9.Bd7 Kh8 10.Bc8 Kg8 11.Ba6 Kh8 12.Bb7 Kg8 13.Bc8 Kh8 14.Bd7 Kg8 15.Be8 Kh8 16.Bf7 a3 17.Be8 Kg8 18.Bd7 Kh8 19.Bc8 Kg8 20.Ba6 Kh8 21.Bb7 Kg8 22.Bc8 Kh8 23.Bd7 Kg8 24.Be8 Kh8 25.Bf7 a2 26.Be8 Kg8 27.Bd7 Kh8 28.Bc8 Kg8 29.Ba6 Kh8 30.Bb7 Kg8 31.Bc8 Kh8 32.Bd7 Kg8 33.Be8 Kh8 34.Bf7 h5 35.Be8 Kg8 36.Bd7 Kh8 37.Bc8 Kg8 38.Ba6 Kh8 39.Bb7 Kg8 40.Bc8 Kh8 41.Bd7 Kg8 42.Be8 Kh8 43.Bf7 h4 44.Be8 Kg8 45.Bd7 Kh8 46.Bc8 Kg8 47.Ba6 Kh8 48.Bb7 Kg8 49.Bc8 Kh8 50.Bd7 Kg8 51.Be8 Kh8 52.Bf7 f3 53.Be8 Kg8 54.Bd7 Kh8 55.Bc8 Kg8 56.Ba6 Kh8 57.Bb7 Kg8 58.Bc8 Kh8 59.Bd7 Kg8 60.Be8 Kh8 61.Bf7 f5 62.Be8 Kg8 63.Bd7 Kh8 64.Bc8 Kg8 65.Ba6 Kh8 66.Bb7 Kg8 67.Bc8 Kh8 68.Bd7 Kg8 69.Be8 Kh8 70.Bf7 f4 71.Be8 Kg8 72.Bd7 Kh8 73.Bc8 Kg8 74.Ba6 Kh8 75.Bb7 Kg8 76.Bc8 Kh8 77.Bd7 Kg8 78.Be8 Kh8 79.Bf7 h3 80.Be8 Kg8 81.Bd7 Kh8 82.Bc8 Kg8 83.Ba6 Kh8 84.Bb7 Kg8 85.Bc8 Kh8 86.Bd7 Kg8 87.Be8 Kh8 88.Bf7 h2 89.Be8 Kg8 90.Bd7 Kh8 91.Bc8 Kg8 92.Ba6 Kh8 93.Bb7 Kg8 94.Bc8 Kh8 95.Bd7 Kg8 96.Be8 Kh8 97.Bf7 Nd1 98.Nxd1 f2+ 99.Ndxf2 f3 100.0-0-0
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WhiteEloWBlackEloBResYearECOEventRnd
James Malcom,(-White castles in 100 moves-2021Chessbase
Ilija Serafimovic-White to play and draw-½–½20181.p Youth Chess Composing Challenge
Smolkin,B-White to play and win-1–020205th prize, M.Muradov-70 JT
Richardson,I-White to play and win-1–020205.hm.UAPA 13th Ty sec.win
Yoo,C-White to play and win-1–020191.p Youth Chess Composing Challenge
Loyd,S-Mate in three moves-½–½1868Sissa

About the author

Gady Costeff has been a study composer since 1977. He writes a regular column in the Israeli composition magazine Variantim. Together with Lewis Stiller he created Chess Query Language (CQL), for defining and finding any pattern in chess games or compositions. A native of Israel, he lives in San Francisco.

 


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