Anderssen als Problemkomponist

batgirl

Updated: Sep 6, 2013, 1:19 PM | 10 | Other

What some people may not realize is that before Anderssen rose to fame by winning the first international tournament at London in 1851, before his Immortal and Evergreen games, before his stunning loss to Morphy and less stuning loss to Steinitz and before all his later tournament successes, Anderssen was a chess problem composer, and a very good one.

In 1912 Hermann von Gottschall published the go-to book about Adolf Anderssen, "Adolf Anderssen, Altmeister deutscher Schachspielkunst."

The book was, of course, written in German, a language I can't read or write, so much of the information is lost to me. However, Gottschall included 80 of Anderssen's problems in a section called "Anderssen als Problemkomponist," many of which were taken from Anderssen's own published collection of 60 problems (1842) entitled, "Aufgaben für schachspieler nebst ihren lösungen."

My ignorance of the German language didn't prevent me from picking a selection of those problems which I've given below. (The numbers corresponds with Gottschall's)

#1
White to move, Mate in 3

#5
White to move, Mate in 4

#38
White to move, mate in 4

#42
White to move, mate in 4

#62
White to move, mate in 8

#72
White to move, mate in 4

#79
White to move, mate in 3

#80
White to move, mate in four

Just to show that Anderssen isn't perfect, the following problem is cooked. Anderssen planned a thrilling mate in 6, but there is a more mundane mate in 4. The first is Anderssen's 6 move solution, the second is the 4 mover.

#20
White to move, Mate in 6

White to move, Mate in 4

Here is Problem #62 as it appears in Gottschall's book followed by the same problem (and solution) as it appeared in Anderssen's book (1852 edition). Notice that Gottschall references the problem from Anderssen's two editions as LIX (1842) and LIII (1852):

Anderssen als Problemkomponist

Beth Harmon, the isoLanni?

Rook Players