If chess is an art then its composers are indeed its finest artists. A journalist by profession, based in Denmark, Steffen Nielsen possesses an undoubtedly first-rate creative mind. He became seriously interested in chess composition less than a decade ago – considering the fact that a good many composers have careers spanning across three or four decades, he is still relatively new and yet, as many of his colleagues will readily attest, he has already climbed the topmost echelons of his field.

The Danish maestro has etched out a unique style for himself, a style that he himself describes as highly tactical or visual in nature, drawing heavily on problem themes. This can be attributed in part to his diverse interests, apart from composing endgame studies. He likes participating in over-the-board tournaments as well as in solving competitions. Interestingly, he is keenly drawn to the genre of helpmates too. He actually quotes the following as one of his most loved problems of all time. This shows his distinctive taste, his penchant for the viscerally tactical; something that lends him an outlandish aura and makes him stand apart from his other esteemed peers.

Recall that in a helpmate Black moves first and then both sides cooperate or in other words, help each other, to achieve the aim of checkmating the black king in the stipulated number of moves. The solution in this case involves a striking cross-check effect. 1.Ne3+ Kf4 2.Nd5+ Kxe5 3.Nc3+ Nxa5#. Black delivers consecutive checks in all three moves with one of his knights. White in turn takes this chance to transfer his king to a favourable square, and then meets the third and the final check by capturing the checking piece – the black queen – while simultaneously unleashing checkmate.

The problem also has a second part or a twin, where a small change is made to the position to get a second thematically related solution. In the second diagram (with the white knight on e1 is shifted to b7) and we see how the solution is altered. 1.Ne4+ Ke2 2.Nc3+ Kxd2 3.Nd5+ Nbxa5#. Black delivers the consecutive checks with his other knight now, and White metes out the final checkmate with the knight on b7, instead of the one on c6. In both the solutions the black knights not only deliver consecutive checks but also crucially help close the lines of bBd2, bQa5, and bRd5 which allow White to move his king to the squares desired: e5 in the first position and d2 in the second.

The above diagrams show the action of the knights in both problems

Complex visual effects like these occur frequently in problems but less so in studies. Steffen however is motivated by them, and his creations are often distinguished by such problem-like tactical schemes. The following "short" study for instance, won a special prize in the Mario Garcia 70 years Jubilee tourney and illustrates this well.

Just like the way top chess players of the world are incredibly adept at finding resourceful moves over the chessboard, the top chess composers too are able to quickly spot ideas that might crystallize into their next original production. They find inspiration rather spontaneously and you would be greatly impressed how efficiently they are able to move from a concept to its actualization. Steffen is no exception in this regard. Take for instance the position below that occurred in a game between the Chinese superstar Ding Liren and the Russian phenom Daniil Dubov from the recently concluded Lindores Abbey Rapid Challenge.

Unless you have been living under a rock during the lockdown, you must have followed the Lindores Abbey online rapid Challenge. Daniil Dubov surprised all by emerging as the champion of this event ahead of hot favourites such as Magnus Carlsen and Ding Liren. The Russian clinched the prize title by coming out on the top of Hikaru Nakamura in what was an absolutely roller-coaster finals | Photo: Lennart Ootes

Dubov crushed Liren in just 21 moves in this game, and the final blow that led the Chinese no.1 to resign was 21...Bg2! It will look like just a routine tactic that appeared in an encounter between two extremely strong grandmasters. Of course, White is hopeless here in view of the impending Rh1+ followed by Qh3.

When Steffen saw this he perceived much more than just that. "The fun thing about this combination is that it only works against the pawn formation f2/f3/g3. Even the pawn on d2 is needed or White could simply play 22.g4 Bxf3 23.Bxh8 and run with the king. So even though it may seem standard it is in fact quite special," he explained in a Facebook conversation. No wonder these observations quickly led him to put together the following remarkably ingenious study.

A marvellously geometric study where once again the visual element stands out, with the bishop carrying out this picturesque zigzag maneuver. Funny how a "simple" tactical finish can inspire something so beautiful. For chess composers, the artists that they are, nothing is impossible

Steffen actually debuted with his first study in 2012, and got his big break later in the same year, when he won the Timman-60 Jubilee Tourney. There was no looking back after that. He quickly went from strength to strength and in no time catapulted into the elite circle of study composition. The fact that he secured eighth place in the World Championship in Composing for Individuals (WCCI) 2013-15, which in fact was his very first participation in the event, is a testament to his phenomenal talent.

Going through these studies you must be wondering: how is it that a 45-year-old adult who has a family and a full-time job to work at find so much time to design positions of such exquisite complexity? Well, all great artists find a way to create no matter what. "You either get it down on paper, or jump off a bridge," the ever-voguish iconoclastic American poet and writer Charles Bukowski had once deftly remarked about the process of writing. The same is true for chess composing - you either do it or you don't. A passionate composer doesn't fold his hands on the pretext that he doesn't have the right conditions around him. Steffen manages to steal time from in between routine activities. He tinkers away with chess pieces when he is on a commute or between breaks at work. He is sporadic but incessant, unstructured but passionate. And that is how, patiently and doggedly over the years, he has managed to create specimens which can aptly be called masterpieces! His best is certainly yet to come but his oeuvre has already grown significantly rich. We present to you next a small collection of his choicest creations, creations that have truly broken new grounds in the field of modern studies.

Stay tuned for Part II.

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