Australian Junior Chess Problem-Solving Championship 2013

In 2013 the Australian Junior Chess Championships took place at the Bond University in the city of Gold Coast. For the seventh consecutive year, the Championships included a chess problem solving competition, and this time it attracted 76 entrants (62 boys and 14 girls). Once again the main organiser was Nigel Nettheim, whose interesting report on the event is available for download.

The participants had two hours to tackle fifteen tasks, which were selected by Geoff Foster with input from Nigel. The problems set – mostly directmates and studies – vary considerably in difficulty; the easier ones cater for the less experienced solvers, while the harder ones were designed to sort out the best competitors.

Here are two sample problems from the Championship. The first caught my eye because its theme (white safety play and pinning defences) resembles that found in one of my own two-movers. Incidentally, this work of mine has been recently added to my profile page on this site, to replace a three-mover that was anticipated. The second position is a toughie with a delightful, mysterious key. You can check their solutions, as well as the remaining problems used for the competition, in the above-mentioned report.