The Chess Problem and HeinzKat

Had contact from old HeinzKat - he has been on a 5 year quest trying
to find the identity of a problem composer.

Some of you may remember this position.



It was posted on here in February 2009. (White to play and mate in 16).

Don't be put off by the length - 90% of it is easy.

It should not take too long to realise that the White Rook belongs
on the h-file. The White King goes to d2 and the Rook checks back
and forth on the f-file and the h-file. When the Black King goes to
g8 the a3 pawn starts marching.

When the Black King pokes his head out onto the f-file or the h-file
the Rook sticks him back on g8 and the pawn steps forward one square.

It is mate in 16. (one solution) your task is to figure out how does the
Rook get to the h-file. Is it 1.Ra6 1.Ra7 or 1.Ra8.

Only one mates in 16. (you will figure it out when you get to move 13)

The question we asked back in 2009 was who composed it and that is
why HeinzKat contacted me. It one Friedrich Hariuc.
I've never heard of him either.

Hi greenpawn34, yes I see: Reveal Hidden ContentNice to see a problem I can actually do.

Googling "Friedrich Hariuc" turned up this little beauty:

Is a legal chess game possible in which all the pawns promote and each player has nine queens?

Yes — Freidrich Burchard of Germany and Friedrich Hariuc of Romania reached nearly identical solutions in 1980:

Ah....it was THAT Friedrich Hariuc!

A brilliant piece of work.

Problems are the poetic verse of the language we call chess.

Originally posted by Paul Leggett
Problems are the poetic verse of the language we call chess.

Despite having played chess for thirty years, I was never into problems until a few years ago when I started reading the ones posted by SwissGambit and Heinzkat on this forum. Discovering the beauty of chess compositions and problems is one of the best things I've got from this site.

Originally posted by Data Fly
Despite having played chess for thirty years, I was never into problems until a few years ago when I started reading the ones posted by SwissGambit and Heinzkat on this forum. Discovering the beauty of chess compositions and problems is one of the best things I've got from this site.

I was also late to the party.

My moment came with the discovery of the famous Reti problem where I learned to appreciate that kings don't have to move in a straight line to get somewhere fast.

It was not only pretty, but very practical, as it has helped me play the endgame better.