RESULTS OF PROB COMPOSING CONTEST #5

[Bill Salot]

While waiting for more news from Lebanon, check out the results of Problem Composing Contest #5 and the stories behind them. Those results, along with the problems themselves, have already been archived at the contest page. They read as follows:

SUPER SIGHT SOLVERS

This tight competition produced another tie! By agreement, none of the composers voted.

Roy Little, the computerless, Oklahoma veteran, continued his unbeaten string. His “Zig-Zag”, featured a zinger of a stinger and garnered 6 votes. It qualifies for the “Back Shot” family in Boland’s Familiar Themes”, Page 21.

“Take Two”, by Bill Salot, Virginia, used a 2-way fork to also get 6 votes. The problem can be set back two moves to make it more difficult.

“Which Way?” by Ed Atkinson, Pennsylvania, had a greater number of deceptive false solutions than any of the other problems, but received only two votes, probably because its camouflaged solution lacked sparkle.

A codetta is a small ending portion of a musical piece or movement. “Codetta”, by Jim Loy, Montana, may have been the biggest eye-opener in the contest. Some problems are criticized as impractical. This one was the quintessence of practicality, but didn’t get a single vote. Go figure! It can be reached from several openings. It is a previously unpublished correction of:

• Boland’s “White and Colored Doctors”, P.50, V.1, Note BB, by M. Atkinson (not Ed Atkinson) who left “Codetta” as a RW after espousing the losing 7 11.

• Dennis Cayton also fell for the false solution against Mac Banks immediately after Banks incorrectly played 10-15 to form “Codetta” in a 1987 I-D “Double Cross” game.

UNOFFICIAL WORLD CHAMPIONSHP CHECKER PROBLEM COMPOSING CONTEST #6 will start tomorrow, August 1, and will run through the rest of the month.