BRITISH CHESS PROBLEM SOCIETY

• 2024/01/22 – Index to Volume 09 of The Problemist

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  Valery Liskovets (Minsk) has very kindly provided a scan of the index to Volume 09 of The Problemist (1970-1975). This can be viewed and downloaded here by selecting from the Volume, Year and Issue select boxes on the right at that link. The index can be found as the last issue of the year 1975..

• 2023/06/13 – The 2022-2023 Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The Final of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship took place on 20th May 2023 at Nottingham High School. All the problems set, and their solutions, in the Open and Minor events, and the full results can be viewed here.

• 2023/01/02 – The 2023 International Solving Contest (ISC)

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The UK venue for the 2023 International Solving Contest will be in Sheffield and will take place on Sunday 29th January 2023 at the Leonardo Hotel (formerly Jurys Inn), 119 Eyre Street, Sheffield, S1 4QW. There is car-parking close to the hotel. Food will be laid on all day with a formal lunch. There will be two rounds at approx 10:00 and 14:00. Each round is two hours. Three categories are available (one for Juniors). Exact timings will be issued closer to the date. All competitors should email ISC Controller Phill Beckett using the contacts menu item above so that he can register their place. Ideally if a player needs a chess set please bring one or let Phill know so he can hopefully arrange one.

  The contest in the main category will consist of two rounds with six problems each, i.e. for each round a #2, #3, #n, endgame, h# and s#. The second category will consist of two rounds with six problems: in the first round two #2 and one #3, #n, endgame and s#, and in the second round one #2, two #3 and one #n, endgame and h#. The youth category will consist of one round with six orthodox problems, i.e. four #2, a #3 and an endgame. For each round, the solving time is two hours.

• 2022/10/01 – Delays to the 2022-2023 WBCSC

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The Starter Round finished at the end of July. The BCPS regrets to announce that the distribution of the Postal Round has been delayed. It will be sent out but it is not possible at the moment to announce a date for this. This will mean that the closing date for the Postal Round will be later than the end of November and that the final will likely be dalayed to a date later than February 2023. We were already encountering difficulties in finding and booking a venue for the final, but it is hoped that one can be found.

  Please do not send progress-chasing enquiries to either the controller or to Brian Stephenson. These people are both busy and answering such enquiries would be an extra burden. Thankyou.

• 2022/05/31 – The 2022-2023 WBCSC has begun!

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The Starter Problem of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship (WBCSC) is now available and can be viewed here

• 2022/05/09 – New Problemist contributors

  Written by Christopher Jones

  Following the resignations of two of the contributors to ‘Selected Problems’ sections in The Problemist, the BCPS is pleased to announce the appointment of two new contributors – Selected 2-Movers will be presented by the American composer Kabe Moen and Selected Retros by the Ukrainian composer Andrey Frolkin. We are delighted to be joined by such eminent experts in their respective fields.

• 2022/04/21 – New Book

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  Christopher Jones, our President, has produced a book of his helpmate compositions from 1989 to 2021. Details of the book can be viewed at this page..

• 2022/04/13 – Change of General Editor

  Written by Christopher Jones

  Following the resignation of Geoff Foster as General Editor of The Problemist the new Acting General Editor of the magazine is Christopher Jones, to whom all correspondence, offers of articles, etc., should be sent. Geoff Foster continues as Editor of The Problemist Supplement. Both gentlemen may be emailed via the Contact page.

• 2021/09/06 – Sale of books from the BCPS Library

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The BCPS Librarian, who looked after that part of the library containing books, recently retired from that job. As there were no volunteers to take over the role the committee, with great regret, decided that they had no alternative but to sell the books and this has now been done. The Magazine Curator, Brian Stephenson, continues in his role. See Library page for information about what is left of the Library.

• 2021/07/02 – WANTED URGENTLY – NEW BCPS LIBRARIAN & ARCHIVIST

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  Our current Librarian and Archivist, Steve Giddins, is moving on, and the need to clear his shelves is urgent to the extent that a new BCPS Librarian is wanted almost immediately.

  The Library comprises some 800-900 wonderfully diverse books as detailed in the library list and the list of recent additions available here The magazines and much of the archive material in those lists is held elsewhere and a new home is not sought for them.

  Duties of a Librarian are mostly those of a custodian who is prepared to answer occasional enquiries and photo-copy or scan relevant pages. This is not a conventional lending library: loans are very rare, and only then with Committee approval.

  Will you do this important job, and tell the BCPS Secretary, Christopher Jones (contactable here) before the end of this July? It’s that urgent!

  The BCPS will pay for loading (from Rochester), transport, and unloading of the Library, and on-going Library expenses incurred.

• 2021/05/28 – British Open Online Masters (BOOM), 2021-2022

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  To help fill the current vacuum in the elite solving calendar, a programme of Grand Prix (online @Home) will be organized by BCPS. Full details here.

• 2021/03/04 – British Open Online Solving Masters

  Written by Ian Watson

  Our February online solving tourney was a major success. Forty solvers, from many countries, solved from home, but in the same format as we use in the British Championship. There was a tight finish in the Category 1 event, with the top three solvers all getting 60 out of 65 points – the tie-breaker of time used made John Nunn the winner, narrowly ahead of Eddy van Beers and Martynas Limontas.

  This was a fun event, not counting for ratings, but taken seriously by the competitors. It used new and experimental technology, which worked seamlessly and without fault, thanks to its developer Brian Cook. You can try it out at www.netchex.club where there are daily and monthly solving challenges.

  The full results are here.

• 2021/01/15 – January Solving Challenges

  Written by Ian Watson

  Here’s the link to your January solving tourneys. As usual, you can choose from three Categories: Master level, intermediate solvers, or newcomers to solving. Each Category has two separate tests; in each separate test there are six problems with two hours available. This month, Brian Cook also offers you a new type of test: a multiple-choice test in which you are given several tries to choose from.

  So, go to http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess/chess202101.htm and click on one of the eight ‘Practice Tourneys’.

  Remember that the diagrams are interactive; if you haven’t tried them before, have a go at one of the Daily Challenges to get used to the tech.

• 2020/12/07 – December Solving Challenges

  Written by Ian Watson

  Here’s the link to your December solving tourneys. As usual, you can choose from three Categories: Master level, intermediate solvers, or newcomers to solving. Each Category has two separate tests; in each separate test there are six problems with two hours available. This month, Brian Cook also offers you a new type of test: a multiple-choice test in which you are given several tries to choose from.

  So, go to http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess/chess202012.htm and click on one of the eight ‘Practice Tourneys’.

  Remember that the diagrams are interactive; if you haven’t tried them before, have a go at one of the Daily Challenges to get used to the tech.

• 2020/11/05 – November Solving Challenges

  Written by Ian Watson

  Here’s the link to your November solving tourneys. As usual, you can choose from three Categories: Master level, intermediate solvers, or newcomers to solving. Each Category has two separate tests; in each separate test there are six problems with two hours available. This month, Brian Cook also offers you a new type of test: a multiple-choice test in which you are given several tries to choose from.

  So, go to http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess/chess202011.htm and click on one of the eight ‘Practice Tourneys’.

  Remember that the diagrams are interactive; if you haven’t tried them before, have a go at one of the Daily Challenges to get used to the tech.

• 2020/10/04 – October Solving Challenges

  Written by Ian Watson

  Here’s the link to your October solving tourneys. As usual, you can choose from three Categories: Master level, intermediate solvers, or newcomers to solving. Each Category has two separate tests; in each separate test there are six problems with two hours available. This month, Brian Cook also offers you a new type of test: a multiple-choice test at the newcomers solving level. Try it out: click on the Bonus Round – Primary.

  So, go to http://www.ihandicap.mobi/chess/chess202010.htm and click on one of the seven ‘Practice Tourneys‘.

  Remember that the diagrams are interactive; if you haven’t tried them before, have a go at one of the Daily Challenges to get used to the tech.

• 2020/09/11 – Dawson MT

  Written by Brian Stephenson

  The BCPS is delighted to announce the Dawson Memorial Tourney.

Welcome to the website of the British Chess Problem Society

The British Chess Problem Society, founded in 1918, is the world’s oldest chess problem society. It exists to promote the knowledge and enjoyment of chess compositions, and membership is open to chess enthusiasts in all countries. The Society produces two bi-monthly magazines, The Problemist and The Problemist Supplement (the latter catering for beginners), which are issued to all members. It organises the annual British Chess Solving Championship (sponsored by Winton Capital Management), and selects the Great Britain squad for the World and European Chess Solving Championships. Members are invited to attend BCPS lectures, which are held in London on the last Friday of each month between September and April. The Society holds an annual residential weekend, with a full programme of solving and composing tourneys and lectures. Members are entitled to use the resources of the BCPS library.

Membership enquiries, subscriptions, notification of change of address, resignation or claim for issue not received should be addressed to the Assistant Treasurer David Friedgood via the ‘contact’ menu item above.

• 2024/10/19 – David Shire recently gave a lecture via Zoom. The problems presented, with brief notes, are now available.
• 2024/09/11 – The problems used in the recent chess solving event at the British Championship at Hull now posted here.
• 2024/09/10 – The collection of rescued two-movers by our Spanish friends is now complete.
• 2024/05/11 – The Starter Problem for the 2024-2025 Winton British Chess Solving Cahmpionship now available.
• 2024/03/02 – Photos from the solving final at Harrow now posted.
• 2024/02/27 – Full details, including problems, solutions and results, of the 2023-2024 Winton British Chess Solving Championship (WBCSC) now available.
• 2024/02/02 – PDFs of the third edition of Sir Jeremy Morse’s Chess Problems Tasks and Records now added to the site. Not before time!
• 2024/01/22 – The Index to Volume 09 of The Problemist now added to the archive.
• 2023/10/13 – The BCPS constitution now on this site. Not before time!
• 2023/07/03 – An erratum to the July 2023 issue.
• 2023/06/19 – Photos from the 2022-2034 Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship final now available.
• 2023/06/13 – The results of the 2022-2034 Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship now available.
• 2023/01/02 – The 2023 UK venue for the International Solving Contest is announced.
• 2022/10/01 – Important news about the 2022-2023 WBCSC.
• 2022/05/31 – The 2022-2023 WBCSC has begun!!
• 2022/05/09 – The Problemist appoints two new contributors.
• 2022/04/21 – Christopher Jones, our President, has produced a book of his helpmate compositions from 1989 to 2021.
• 2022/04/13 – A change of General Editor of The Problemist is announced.
• 2021/11/27 – Michael Lipton has provided, for viewing and download, a new edition of the pdf of the collection of his chess problems.
• 2021/09/06 – BCPS Library books sold.
• 2021/07/13 – An erratum to the July 2021 issue.
• 2021/07/02 – The BCPS needs a new Librarian!
• 2021/06/21 – Most of the BCF Awards now scanned and viewable.
• 2021/06/02 – The Starter Problem for the 2021-2022 WBCSC is now available. You can enter by following this link.
• 2021/05/28 – Grand Prix Solving Event – British Open Online Masters 2020-2021!!
• 2021/03/04 – Results of the first British Open Online Solving Masters!!
• 2020/10/24 – Thanks to our Swiss friend Roland Ott, our pdf archive of The Problemist for the years 1956 and 1957 is now complete!
• 2020/10/23 – Thanks to our Swiss friend Roland Ott, our pdf archive of The Problemist for the years 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954 and 1955 is now complete!
• 2020/09/11 – The announcement of the Dawson Memorial Tourney.
• 2020/05/07 – An erratum to the March Problemist has been added
• 2020/01/06 – Erratum to the November 2019 Problemist added.
• 2019/12/06 – The 2020 International Solving Contest (ISC) announced.
• 2019/11/11 – Announcement of a lecture by David Hodge on endgame studies.
• 2019/10/09 – A collection of endgame studies by the late Timothy Whitworth.
• 2019/10/04 – A collection of articles by Paul Bissicks about Shrinking Men.
• 2019/09/30 – Erratum to the September 2019 Problemist added.
• 2019/09/27 – A report on some of the problems not included in the 2018 H#2 award.
• 2019/08/08 – Further erratum to the July 2019 Problemist added.
• 2019/07/16 – Erratum to the July 2019 Problemist added.
• 2019/07/02 – List of recent additions to the BCPS Library now added.
• 2019/06/11 – Erratum to the May 2019 Problemist added.
• 2019/05/01 – New section for rescued problems added to the site. Our Spanish friends have been busy correcting heretofore uncorrected #2s from past issues of The Problemist. There are hundreds of these and they will be posted a few at a time as time permits.
• 2019/04/13 – An improved setting of S2747 (Jenkner) from the March issue.
• 2019/04/08 – Erratum to the March 2019 Problemist added.
• 2018/01/01 – New subscription rate for PDF copies of magazines – just £5.00 a year!

For those who prefer to dip their toes into the water before plunging into it, here is a description of all the content on the site and how to navigate around the site to find it all. This is a large site and there is lots of content. Please feel free to explore at your will.

The menu is above, immediately beneath the logo. Unless you select one of the options that go to a sub-site (WBCSC described later) it is always there. Selecting a menu item will take you to further pages, many with a sub-menu on the left-hand side, from which you can navigate further. A brief description of the menu items follow:

Selecting WBCSC will take you to a sub-site with its own horizontal menu, much like the main site. It can be navigated in much the same way as the main site – via its horizontal menu beneath the logo and sub-menus on the left-hand side of the page.

WBCSC is the Winton British Chess Solving Championship. At that sub-site will be found details of the current year's event and an archive of material from past years.

Implemented with HTML5, Perl (with, inter alia, CGI::Simple, HTML::Template & XML::LibXML) & CSS/Javascript (jQuery, Bootstrap & DataTables).