Miniature Chess Problems: More-Movers (An Old and Rare Book)

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Chess originated in India. Then it virtually migrated to the Arab world and thence to Spain and other European countries. For centuries it languished in India, confined largely to the old and the useless, and came to be equated with playing cards and dice as the three vices leading to one's downfall!

Things have since changed, thanks largely to the legendary Mir Sultan Khan in the 1930's (three times Champion of Great Britain), Manuel Aaron in the 1960's (the first Indian to participate in a World Championship cycle and India's first International Master) and a host of others in recent times including Anand Vishwanathan (India's first Grandmaster and now among the top five players of the world) and Dibyendu Barua (India's second Grandmaster). India can now boast of a leading position among the chess- playing countries of the world.

However, in one area of chess we are still sadly lagging behind and that is the parallel field of chess composition-which is the artistic side of chess. This is also a vast area in which top exponents get titles of Grandmaster, International Master, etc. just like those playing games over the chessboard. How many people know that N. Shankar Ram is the only Indian with a title of International Master in chess composition (and that also he got only in 1993)? A lot needs to be done to make Indians interested in and capable of making significant contributions to chess composition. Publishing works of renowned composers of the world is a step in the right direction.

The Miniature in chess parlance is a setting in which the total number of chessmen present on the board does not exceed seven at any time. No one seems to know why seven is the limit for the Miniature nor who set it, but it has come to stick. Miniatures constitute just a small segment of the vast field of chess composition, but, as the saying goes, small is beautiful! Many of them can hold their own against their big brothers and a select few are among the best of all compositions.

The general definition of a chess Problem is that it is a composed setting in which the desired conclusions have to be reached in the stipulated number of moves, the rules of play being the same in over-the-board play, unless otherwise stated. A Miniature Problem is thus one with seven chessmen or less.

This Collection contains 275 Miniatures-all More-movers where White mates in four or more moves. Action begins with a 4-mover and ends with one which requires 26 moves to mate.

The overall order allowed is that of increasing number of White pieces. For example, the first Problem has two White pieces (the minimum possible) and one Black piece (the King). While the number of White pieces remains constant at two, the number of Black pieces goes on increasing gradually till the total reaches seven. Next, the number of White pieces increases to three and the whole process repeats; and so on till the number of White pieces goes up to the maximum limit of six (when, of course, the number of Black pieces is reduced to one the King). Within this general scheme, both White and Black forces are arranged in ascending order of heaviness of material. When two Problems have exactly the same material, the older one comes first.