Helmut Schmidt (23.xii.1918 - 10.xi.2015)

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmut_Schmidt

One of the last voices of sanity in our country is gone.

Piece duels

We would like to direct the attention of our readers to an article on the blog of Sergiy Didukh, where a PDF file about piece duels can be downloaded for free, helpfully labeled in the text as PDF, so it is easily found.

For information about Didukh, one is invited to read the interesting thread on MatPlus.net here.

Garry Kasparov exposed as criminal?

When I grew up, Garry Kasparov was a hero of chess, a monument that nobody could beat, although with Karpov there he was realistically a primus inter parem. Unforgettable are his many world championship games with tactical finesses. He had charisma, intellect, humor. When he ended his career, he still was regarded the best chess player of all time. While by now on paper Magnus Carlsen is stronger, a match between Kasparov and Carlsen, possibly with Fischer, all in their best years, would prove interesting.

But by today, a shadow is lurking over Garry Kasparov: He was banned by the FIDE for two years. The allegation is that Karparov paid money to Ignatious Leong, who was also banned for two years now, in the 2014 presidential election of the world chess federation to receive Asian votes. On top of the 500,000 USD there would have been another one million dollars paid if Kasparov won the election. If that is true - and currently there is little doubt about it - Kasparov at some point must have turned into a criminal, someone willing to break the law for his success. The question now is: When was that point? Was it recently? Or was it already in 1984, when the match againts Karpov was aborted under heavily discussed circumstances? Is Kasparov a criminal? As much as I hate the FIDE under Ilyumzhinov, if the allegations made are true, if the FIDE ethics commission rightfully found both guilty, then Kasparov and Leong should be banned forever, not only for two years, from holding any official FIDE position.

Buying votes is a crime (it is at least in Germany). They should not get a chance to repeat their crimes!

EG 15 survey

We would like to draw attention to a survey in EG 15, which we have replied to in detail. The Word document with the reply can be found on my Dropbox account:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q7p2n1jyd8biqdo/EG%2015%20reply.doc?dl=0

We would like to invite other composers and judges to share their views.

Stories

I would like to share some of my own short stories with you which are not written well, but have interesting conceptual views.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/tsxgv3pr13smjj0/AADQ5u3MNAKvlO4qz9yoscZ0a?dl=0

That's all for now. Sorry, no chess related content there.

Help wanted (Introduction / I): G. Enderlein

Introduction

In the series "Help wanted" I will present things that need further investigation. It is kind of like the Chess Notes of Edward Winter, which are highly recommended, but for more obscure matters. Also because of the openness of the subjects, I recommend that you would use the comments section, including a source, unless you need to quote copyrighted / protected material. In the latter case you most likely can rephrase it to avoid conflicts. To find all episodes, please use the key word / tag "Help wanted".

If you don't want to act in public or can't sue, you can send me an e-mail. For special conditions, such as your name or quote not being used on the website, you MUST include this with the e-mail at a place where it easily is found (for example in front of the actual quote).
For security reasons, do NOT send any attachments at your first e-mail. Make sure your PC is not infected if you send any. If a virus and/or other malware is detected, I will not open it and I might blacklist the address.

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Help Wanted (I): G. Enderlein

Having seen the name in an issue of the Serbian e-mail newsletter of Goran Tomić named "Šahovske hronika" (likely translates to "Chess Chronicles"), we would like to reprint here the problem from there and ask if information can be found about Enderlein. His nationality is German, according to the database "Composers' Names in Various Alphabets" as of 28 July 2015, but that is the only information I can find there. There is no first name to be found, nor any city, date of birth or date of death.

G. Enderlein

Akademisches Monatsheft für Schach (134) 1910

Mate in 4

 

Please do NOT post the solution before next Tuesday.

Any information about the composer is sought. Please send it via the comments or to my e-mail address.

Herbert Ahues (2.iii.1922 - 11.vii.2015)

The international problem chess community mourns the death of GMCC Herbert Ahues at the age of 93 in a hospital in Bremen.

Links:
- Read more about Ahues in German Wikipedia (German language, permalink)
- Short obituary in English by me on MatPlus
- More than 400 problems of Herbert Ahues in the Problem Database of the Schwalbe