Selection from Lipskie Centrum Kultury 1999 - fairy #2

1.Kxb8? th. 2.Sd7#, 1...Se6!
1.Kxd8? th. 2.Se6#, 1...Sd7!
1.Sd7? th. 2.Kxb8#, 1...Se6!
1.Se6? th. 2.Kxd8#, 1...Sd7!
1.Qc8! zz
1...Sd7 2.Kxd8#
1...Se6 2.Kxb8#
1...Sbc6 2.Sd7#
1...Sdc6 2.Se6#

EI (judge): "Well constructed problem showing othodox themes in fairy form. Four times we have the white move in three functions, key, therat and variation mate, it is known as Urania theme. All four tries give two pairs of reciprocal play. Good twomover."

1...PAb7, LEc7 2.Be7#, Be7#

1.Kb7? th. 2.Be7#, 1...PAe2, LEe2 2.LEb8#, LEa8#, 1...LEc7!

1.Kc7? th. 2.Be7#, 1...PAe2, LEe2 2.LEa8#, LEb8#, 1...PAb7!

1.LEa8! th. 2.Se6#, 1...PAe2, LEe2 2.Kc7#, Kb7

EI (judge): "Combination of themes Zagorujko and reciprocal change in an enough lightly constructed twomover. Defences of Black are simple, using pe3 as a hurdle."

JL (maintainer): "I know that mr. Brabec was trying to prepare this twomover for unofficial match Ukraina-Slovakia for fairy twomovers with at most 10 units. He didn't succeed - you see there are 11 units present. So he sent it to Poland where the judges and especially Eugeniusz Iwanow are known to prefer light positions. I only want to point that this problem's mechanism carries a lot of from Brabec's probably best work, known join with L. Lehen - 1st Prize Probleemblad 1990."

1.Kc6(+pd6)? th. 2.Kd7 (+pc6)#
1...BHd7(+pb5) 2.Kb5(+pc6)#
1...d2! x

1.Kc7(+pd6)? th. 2.Kc8 (+pc7)# A
1...d2 x 2.Kd8(+pc7)# B
1...BHd2(+pa5)!

1.Ke7(+pd6)? th. 2.Kd8 (+pe7)# B
1...d2 x 2.Ke8(+pe7)# C
1...Kg7!

1.Kd7(+pd6)! th. 2.Ke8 (+pd7)# C
1...d2 x 2.Kc8(+pd7)# A
1...BHe8(+pb5) 2.Kc6(+pd7)#

EI (judge): "Very lively play of white king to four different squares in problem combining two fairy conditions. Thank to Sentinelles it is possible to leave hurdles on suitable squares and after that white king is checked what is the equivalent of mate to black king."

JL (maintainer): "To my big surprise judge didn't spend a word commenting the presence of Ukrainian cycle or the fact that it is achieved with lonely white king in diagram position what is to my best knowledge pioneer example.

I gave the title Eclipse '99 to this problem because it was composed during total eclipse of Sun in August 1999 - not entirely, of course, the idea I got half an hour before beginning of eclipse and it was finished about an hour after end of eclipse, but the greyish light and sky surely contributed something to my way of thinking above the problem... And, such a combination of fairy elements is something like the eclipse of human brain..."

1...Rb6, Qd7 2.Sa5#, R5xd7#
1.Ba6+? Rxa6(Bf1)!
1.Sa5+? Qxa5(Sg1)!
1.Sxc5+? Rxc5(Sg1)!
1.Rd7! th. 2.Ba6#, Sa5#, Sxc5#
1...a6 2.Bxa6(pa7)#
1...a5 2.Sxa5(pa7)#
1...Qxd7(Rh1) 2.Sxc5(pc7)#

EI (judge): "Fleck theme with use of Circe blocking by captures of pawns. Tries are connected with solution in an interesting way."

(Mistake in diagram, reported by Michal Dragoun, corrected.)