The 2025 International Solving Contest will take place on Sunday 19th January 2025 at Sheffield Flourish. Numbers are limited to just ten solvers, so first come, first served. Get your entries in early. The official announcement of the competition can be viewed here. Solving will start at 10:00 am sharp and end at 15:00. Lunch at 12:00 will be provided. The controller will be Phill Beckett. There is no entry fee and no prize fund. Entries, to include your choice of section to solve in, to Brian Stephenson via the Contact menu item above.
The Starter Round of the 2024-2025 Winton British Chess Solving Championship is now complete. The solution to the Starter Problem is available here and the Periodical Table here. Those details and, for those correctly solving the Starter Problem, the Postal Round, have now been sent out to solvers. The closing date is 30th November 2024.
What follows is a tabbed display. Selecting the header on a tab will display the contents of that tab and hide the content of other tabs. By default the Weekly Chess Problem is displayed. Select Latest News to view the latest news except that relating to our magazines, publications and meetings (see button above) or the WBCSC (use the WBCSC menu item above). Select Welcome to view basic information about the BCPS. Select Latest additions to the site to view links to the latest additions to the site. Select About this site to view outline descriptions of what's available by selecting the various items from the menu above.
Any comments or questions on this problem should be addressed to Michael McDowell using the ‘Contact’ item in the menu above.
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..
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.
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.
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.
The Starter Problem of the Winton Capital British Chess Solving Championship (WBCSC) is now available and can be viewed here
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The BCPS is delighted to announce the Dawson Memorial Tourney.
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.
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:
Home | Always leads to this home page. |
BCPS | Leads to items on joining the BCPS, the Officers of the BCPS, Notice of Lectures, a note on the BCPS Library, a few Reviews of the Year and an archive of News items. |
Magazines | Back issues of The Problemist, The Problemist Supplement and the Fairy Chess Review. Also errata from recent issues of our magazines. |
Rescued Problems | 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. |
Solving | Advice on solving and where to find problems to solve. |
Composers | Articles on several well-known British Chess Composers. |
Books | Books produced by our members. |
Photos | Photos from various BCPS events over the years. |
For Beginners | Introductory articles on chess problems generally and on specific types of chess problems. Includes a list of recommended books. |
Downloads | A collection of free e-books about chess problems. |
Links | Links to other sites featuring chess problem material. |
Contact | A list of clickable links to a selection of those who perform various tasks for the BCPS. |
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.
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