Albert Heinrich Kniest

Albert Heinrich Kniest (born May 15, 1908 in Kiel ; † November 8, 1984 ) was a German composer and author in chess .

Chess composition

Kniest learned to play chess when he was around 15 years old. In 1923 he became a member of the Bottrop workers' chess club, where he developed into a tournament player with a reasonable skill level. But he quickly turned to chess composition. In 1925 he became a member of the Schwalbe Association . At the end of 1925 he published his first chess problems in the Essener Anzeiger . He preferred to compose Wenigsteiner - these are chess problems with a maximum of four pieces - and problems from fairy tale chess . In total he composed about 7,000 chess problems. During the Second World War he lost all records of his works before the war.

Albert Heinrich Kniest
Bottroper People's Newspaper, February 1937

	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H
8th									8th
7th									7th
6th									6th
5									5
4th									4th
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	G	H

Matt and self-matt in 2 moves

Solution:

a) Checkmate in two moves: 1. fxg3! hxg3 2nd Qh5 mate

b) Self- mate in two moves: 1. fxg3! hxg3 2. Qf4 g2 mate

If it was Black's turn (“set game”), he would have to checkmate with Qxf3 because he has no other move. White would only need one waiting move that does not change his position significantly, but he does not have one available. The self-mate (phase b) is thus a Fata-Morgana- mate of the Weber type: There is a single set mate (1.… Qxf3) that cannot be realized in the solution. Rather, the mate figure (the black queen) is defeated there and the mate is completely different.

The author

Kniest published many of his own magazines. He wrote most of them by hand, and he also added his own drawings.

• German fairy tale chess newspaper - May 1931 to May 1933
• Kniest's Chess Letters - November 1942 to June 1944
• Checkmate - October 1946
• Diagrams and figures
• Frankfurt Notes
• Caissa's cheerful underground car park with splinter pit

He also headed several problem sections in newspapers and chess magazines, which were highly valued in professional circles:

• Bottroper Volkszeitung - 1934 to mid-1937 (successor was his brother Peter Kniest )
• Chatterer
• Crevasse
• Colorful stones
• Do you know the bible?

His life

Kniest was a miner . He completed his visit to the mountain schools in Bottrop and Hamborn with the Steiger patent . He then studied engineering and became a civil engineer . His brother Peter Kniest was also a chess composer.