Unofficial World Championship Checker Problem Composing Contest 49 - More Kingless Kapers - Results

[Bill Salot]

A first-time entrant, Mark Sokolovsky, won with 10 votes. His winning problem, Pendulum, was a subtle, 16-star study of an astonishingly difficult setting. He reached it in a practice game with Richard Beckwith, but missed the win. Ed Atkinson called it "a remarkable accomplishment". Ed, Kathy Wirthwein and Slava Goren (Russia) voted for it.

Our winningest composer, Roy Little, was second with 9 votes for his Bewildered, a sensational deferred shot, based on a squeeze, two counterintuitive pitches, and a critical choice between alternate jumps. What a thrill it would be to pull it off in a crossboard game! Gary Ellison, George Hay and Lloyd Gordon (Canada) voted for it.

Third with 5 votes was Reunion, by Bill Salot. Gene Ellison, Bob Newell and Liam Stephens voted for it. It was so named because the last move intersected an identical cramp published 113 years earlier, but from a different setting with an entirely different solution. See Lyman's Problem Book (1881), No. 686 (colors reversed), by Fred Allen, Leeds, England.

Fourth with one vote was Now You See It, a clever escape, by occasional composer, Liam Stephens (Ireland).

Vote for Me, another Jim Loy correction of a published game, trailed with zero votes. He suggested changing its name to Don't Vote for Me.

249 visited the web site, and 25 (10%) of them voted, the most votes and
highest percentage since Contest 3 in April 2012.

The Voters' Ladder, based on a minimum of 6 contests, now stands as follows:

1. Liam Stephens (Ireland) 10 winners picked in 16 tries (62%)
2. Kathy Wirthwein 8 in 14 tries (57%)
3. Slava Gorin (Russia) 7 in 13 tries (54%)
4. Gene Ellison 8 in 16 tries (50%)
5. Wilma Wolverton 3 in 6 tries (50%)
17 others have either picked fewer than 50% winners or have voted in fewer than 6 contests.

[George Hay]

Congratulations to Mark Sokolovsky with the winning entry Pendulum with 10 votes. Congratulations to Roy Little with a photo finish second place for Bewildered with 9 votes. I voted for Bewildered with its lively jumping and rare need for extended notation.

--George Hay

[Bill Salot]

The winning vote was cast on "Leap Day", the last day of the contest.

Whoever cast it knows he or she personally determined the Unofficial World Champion Problemist for the next two months.

[rich beckwith]

Congratulations to the top two problemists on a photo finish. I did vote for Pendulum, but the current vote totals were unknown to me going in. Comparing the two problems is a bit like "apples" and "oranges." Bewildered is very flashy with the unusual 32-27 & 23-18 combo, but perhaps still a little on the simple side. Pendulum may be too technical for someone seeking a traditional sight-solver, Slocum-style composition, but I appreciated the overall precision & back-and-forth timing required to nail down the win in the ending. By the way, here was the original game & run-up (the problem-contest solution provides further analysis):

[Event "2017 practice. 9-14 22-18 11-16"][Date "2017-04-26"]
[Black "Rich Beckwith"][White "Mark Sokolovsky"][Result "1/2-1/2"]

1. 9-14 22-18 2. 11-16 18x9 3. 5x14 24-19 4. 8-11 25-22 5. 11-15 29-25 6. 15x24 28x19 7.
4-8 22-18 8. 8-11 18x9 9. 6x13 25-22 10. 2-6 32-28 11. 16-20 19-16 12. 12x19 23x16 13. 6-9
22-17 14. 13x22 26x17 15. 11-15 30-26 16. 9-14 28-24 17. 15-18
{1-5 is good, but I didn't see yet that the 15-18 idea goes nowhere because 18-22 next is unavailable due to 19-15}
24-19 18. 1-5 16-12 19. 5-9 12-8 20. 3x12 19-16 21. 12x19 26-23
{This draws. At the time, we didn't see the complexities of the long 27-23* win crossboard} 22. 19x26 31x6 23. 7-10 {draw agreed, and 14-18 also draws} 1/2-1/2

[Russian GM]

Thank you! This my first composition,and first win!!! I hope not last(I am only 73)! Last vote was from my friend Richard Beckwith!!!

[Edgar C. Atkinson]

Congratulations on a fine win. Keep the problems coming!

Based on going over more than one thousand championship match games, I can say with confidence that this is just the sort of win that is missed in high level play. It is not easy to see everything that far ahead.

Ed