What is your favorite endgame position

So it's a 4-piece position that is the opposite of a pure mate. The black king is not attacked, but every square in its field is guarded twice. It makes sense that it would end up in the corner.

Yep, and it looks simple but wasn't so simple to make. That is, as a (hopefully) dualfree task. Some interesting points:

• The wK doesn't help, it only obstructs. On any other square (except of course the symmetrical Ke7) it would allow for dual placings.
• The double checking knight promotion isn't just fancyful, it is essential to cover g7 twice and keep the rook from checking on e8.
• It can't be done with just 4 pieces and no capture clause because of the unmanageable dual (bKg6, wNg8, wNh7, wRg7, wRh8).
• There are ways of achieving this with bK outside the corner but I can't see how they can be made dualfree - not even when I give the bK position.

After trying a little while I can agree with this.

Yeah. In that case, f8=Q# would be my move of choice.

Arisktotle, if you had shown me the position before White's move,  I might have found the answer, while jtang2018 found an obvious way to fail the challenge.

I believe you! The problem is that you would need to assume it is a helpstalemate, otherwise jtang2018 would be right. My intention was to show black defeating the sum of overwhelming force and infinite arrogance as displayed by the underpromotion

lol xD Is this a clever way to bump a thread, or introduce yourself? This has nothing to do with endgames, but hi

Speaking of stalemates, here's a study I think people will enjoy solving.

O. Kaila, 1933

White to play and win

Nice study with great queen moves! Slightly unfortunate dual on move 3.

Yes, moves 3 and 4 could be switched. Do the judges take off for that?

They definitely do. Judging duals is not easy as there are many types and they are all of different degrees of disturbance. The lowest ranked dual is probably the sacrificial underpromotion. There are many endgames and even ordinary direct mates where a pawn is sacrificed by promoting to queen (often with check) whereas an underpromotion to Bishop or Rook would achieve the same. Provided it is captured before affecting the play, judges do not make too big a point of that. It also concerns try-lines as a try should only be defeated by one countermove and 2 different promotions are 2 different moves. A bit harsh to discard a try line from the content for such a tiny infringement.

Note that the promotions in the endgame I just posted in this forum are unambiguous except the final black one (may be a rook) but black alternatives are not critical.

In one of my endgames is a dual in the horizontal king walk. That is not uncommon in endgames as only diagonal king walks have no alternative paths of equal length. The sidestep dual (my term) counts as a minor infringement provided the solution order is restored ASAP. Still, such a study might not achieve 1st prize as the judges are seeking for perfection at that level.

IMO, the dual in the current study is a bit higher up the infringement ladder. Composers are commonly expected to get the order of pawn moves right and it generally proves a doable task. Not saying that applies to Kaila's study; I couldn't find a quick fix!

There are other types of duals as well often more serious, I discussed these non-fatal cases as examples!

A note on duals in general. Duals only affect judgement on the solution part after it, not before it. All studies have duals near the end where they transform to common endgames like K+Q vs K with countless many paths to checkmate. But wo cares? It is only devastating to a study when the dual occurs before the thematic content of the study has passed and it is a serious dual - like a completely different winning line. The dual in Kaila's study is early which is bad, but it is not so serious in itself which is good!

That lack of seriousness probably accounts for Kaila's study having won a 1st prize. And I suppose standards may have been different in 1933.

I wasn't around in 1933 and I suppose the standards were a bit different. Another thing is of course that not all composition tournaments are on the same level. There are tournaments organized by events, chess magazines, federations of problemists in different countries and they do not attract the same interest. One of the strongest composition tournaments ever was alongside the Tata Steel chess tournament in 2013 and it produced many wonderful compositions. Even a 6th honorary mention could have won a 1st prize in a contest organized by the Swiss chess federation

For the tournament, HHdbV gives "1.p Hemmets Veckotidning 1933". I don't know what that is or its level.

It's Swedish and translates as something like "Hemmets weekly magazine". I doubt it was a chess magazine as these mostly have longer than weekly cycles. I've seen quite a lot of prize awards by general newspapers or magazines in the early 20th century. Gone out of fashion now I believe.

There are some interesting tidbits about composition prizes. Problemists are very generous and do not stop at handing out gold, silver and bronze medals. Almost always there are categories of mentions and commendations below them as well, awarding all worthwile efforts.

Consequently, judges and jurors can play around a bit with how many awards are in each category. Is your study just below prizing, well it's still good for mentioning. In extreme cases there may be 10 prizes or no prize at all - none are good enough! I doubt though that a newspaper would appreciate the absence of a gold medal in any contest it organizes, be it chess, a sports event or a literary competition. Not good publicity. I would expect they request the judge to award at least the 1st prize if not the first three. Would be kind of interesting to read the award report on Kaila's composition.

White to play and win

Note: I am really giving this puzzle as a kind of joke, and don't expect to see the solution posted. With best play by both sides, White has a mate in 172. You can speed things up for White and allow a mate in 87 if you suspend the 50-move rule. If anyone is interested, I can post the moves of the 87-move mate.

Solving this as a shortest mate challenge I would have gone wrong at move 5. I could never imagine why centralizing your queen with check while driving the bK to the 2nd rank would fail!

ok