Francis de Blasio
Michael McDowell is still unwell and is still in hospital. All of us at the BCPS wish him well.
I have selected a two-mover by one of the USA’s
lesser-known composers, Francis de Blasio (1907-1980), who appears to have been actively publishing for just about
a decade between 1944 and 1954. It features traditional themes.
1.Sc2! (2.Se3#)
1...S~ 2.c4#
1...Sb7 2.Qe5#
1...Sd7 2.Qe6#
1...Qxe7+ 2.Sxe7#
1...Rh3 2.Sf4#
To defeat the threat Black moves his knight at c5, which opens a guard on the threat square, but it also pins the
black pawn b5. A random knight move leads to the the pin-mate 2.c4#. Black can correct his error by moving that
knight to unpin either his rook at c6 or his knight at d6 so that they guard c4, but this commits the further error
of unpinning the white queen, leading to two mates by that piece. An intense pinning/unpinning idea, fashionable
at the time.
Since posting this problem I have discovered three problems by de Blasio published well after his active decade.
Two in the Los Angeles Times in 1979 and one, after his death, in Schach-Aktiv in 1981.
Many thanks to French solver Guy Meissonnier for a detailed solution.