OzProblems
Australian Chess Problem Composition
Welcome to OzProblems.com, a site devoted to the chess problem art in Australia! Whether you’re a player who is new to composition chess or an experienced solver looking for challenging problems, we have something for you. Our aim is to promote the enjoyment of chess problems, which are at once interesting puzzles and the most artistic form of chess.
The weekly problem’s solution will appear on the following Saturday, when a new work is quoted.
See last week's problem with solution: No.653.
An in-depth introduction to the art of chess composition, examining various problem types and themes.
Prominent Australian problemists write about their involvement in the contemporary problem scene, and present some of their best compositions.
A comprehensive collection of Australian chess problem materials, including e-books, articles, magazines and columns (all free downloads).
A chess problem blog by Peter Wong, covering a range of subjects. The main page provides a topic index.
See latest post below, followed by links to other recent entries.
Use the contact form on the About page to:
Comment on a Weekly Problem you have solved.
Subscribe to OzProblems updates.
Ask about any aspect of chess problems.
The theme of a chess problem often involves a recurring motif, where certain effects are repeated in a variety of ways. Since checks are one of the most basic tactical effects, it’s natural to consider multiplying them as the focus of a composition. One example of such an idea is to produce the highest number of double-checks in a directmate problem. Maximising any sort of effect takes us to the realm of task and record problems, where composers informally compete to achieve the most extreme version of a given theme. In this case, a classic work by the great Alain C. White rendered an impressive sequence of eleven double-checks, all occurring consecutively. This record held for some eighty years before it was broken twice by modern problemists, who built upon the mechanism discovered by White.