Composed Problems
A segment of the chess world has nothing to do with playing games. These are the people interested in composing or solving chess studies or problems.
Instead of beginning with the starting position, where the object of the game is to checkmate the opponent's king or at least prevent your own king from getting checkmated, such studies begin with whatever pieces and pawns the composer wants. There is a stipulation accompanying such studies such as White to play and checkmate Black in two moves (or six moves or any number of moves).
The appeal of such exercises is an aesthetic one. Solvers are testing themselves against the position, not against an opponent. And composers are trying to express something beautiful in the way the pieces cooperate with each other.
Here is an example of a mate in two:
White to move and mate in two moves.
This composition features the pin and the unpin. It is composed by V. Chepizhny and won first prize in the Nikolaev-200 competition in 1989. It appeared in the May 2000 Chess Life, submitted by columnist Robert Lincoln. Solution: 1. Qg1.
And not 1. Rd1, when 1…. Ka2 escapes the pin and the mate, though 1…. e4, with an unpin, succumbs to 2. Qa6 mate.
1…. Ka2 2. Qa7 mate or 1…. e4 (with an unpin) 2. Ra3 mate.
The chess problem world has specialized terms, such as self block, interference, battery (two pieces or more on the same line, with at least one of them a long-range piece), and excelsior (a pawn starts out on its original square and takes either five or six moves to promote. The promotion, whether to a queen or an underpromotion, will produce checkmate).
Endgame Studies
These are a bit different than composed problems, in that there is no forced checkmate in so many moves. Also, there are usually fewer pieces on the board. The stipulation is usually White to move and win or draw.
Here is an example of an endgame study:
White to play and draw.
This one was composed by Grigoriev in 1935 and appeared in Pal Benko's column in the April 2002 Chess Life.
Solution: 1. Kf2 Ka4 2. Ke3 b5 3. Ke4!! Kb4 4. Kd4 Kb3 5. Kd5! b4 6. Kc5 b6+ 7. Kb5 and the position is drawn.
Other moves by White lead to the same position. For instance, 2…. Kb3 3. Kd4 or 2…. Kb4 3. Kd3.
Helpmates
These compositions are completely strange to any chess competitor. Both sides, White and Black, cooperate in checkmating Black. And Black moves first.
Here is an example:
Helpmate in two; two solutions.
This one was composed by J. Boggio and appeared in Europe-Échecs in 1962 and in Chess Life in September 2002.
In the solutions you will note that Black's move is given first. It looks strange for a Black move to be recorded first, but Helpmates are strange to begin with.
Solution 1: 1. cxb1=R Ka4 2. Rb2 Nc3 mate.
Solution 2: 1. cxd1=N Kb4 2. Nb2 Nc3 mate.
The themes of underpromotion, self-block, and interference predominate.
