Miniature (chess)

Oscar Blumenthal (around 1905) coined the term chess miniature.

A miniature , even chess miniature or (rarely) Schachepigramm , is a special form of a chess problem with a maximum of seven tiles . Representations of it have been known since the 13th century. In modern times they were distributed in entertainment magazines and chess magazines from around the middle of the 19th century .

The term “chess miniature” - mostly just “miniature” in today's specialist literature - was not introduced as a name until 1902 by the German writer, critic, stage poet, chess player and chess composer Oscar Blumenthal (1852–1917).

Another meaning of miniature (or miniature game ) is a game of chess with no more than 20 to 25 moves.

Use of terms

Chess composition with a maximum of seven pieces

history

Libro de los juegos (1283)
Problem 103: Seven stones; Black mates in eleven moves.

Early representations of chess can be found in the Libro de los juegos ("Book of Games"), which was commissioned by Alfonso X and completed in 1283. Of the 103 problems there that were analyzed and commented on, 15 are miniatures: twelve Siebensteiner (i.e. miniature with seven stones), two Sechssteiner, and one Fünfsteiner.

In modern times, miniatures can be found from the mid-19th century, first in English and American entertainment magazines, and later also in chess magazines .

Artistic aspect

"Miniature" and "(chess) composition" are based on the musical terms " miniature " and " composition ". The use of epigram in the synonym "chess epigram" creates a relationship with poetry .

In the foreword of his collection of miniatures, the artistically active Blumenthal used formulations based on art and painting : “dainty small paintings ” in “the smallest of frames”, “for the highest artistic perfection” and “aesthetic wellbeing”, as well as “... with the most economical art from a few Stones assembled ... ". He had chosen Emanuel Lasker's Simplex sigillum veri (“The simple / simplicity is the seal of the true”) as the motto for this .

In the American Chess Review , published from 1933 to 1969, there was a poetic metaphor with parallels to music in 1937 .

“A chess miniature may be compared to a string symphony by one of the classical composers; the involved fugue of the full orchestral symphony is absent, but the single melody only stands out the more, making interpretation easier and more pleasurable. "

“A chess miniature can be compared to a string symphony by one of the classical composers; the fugue involved in the full orchestral symphony is missing, but the individual melody only stands out more and makes an interpretation easier and more enjoyable. "

- Chess Review (1937)

Technical aspect

U. Bonn
(1846)

	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

Mate in 3 moves

According to Blumenthal's definition, a chess miniature consists of a maximum of seven pieces, which he poetically called "the sacred number seven".

The simplest miniature is a composition with three game pieces ("three stone") - for example white queen, white king, black king - in which the black king is checkmated with one move. In the left three-move example from U. Bonn, this would be a miniature with the position before the last move Qc4 – c1.

Solution:
1. Ka4 – b4 Kb2 – b1
2. Kb4 – b3 Kb1 – a1 (tension)
3. Qc4 – c1 # (mate)

Most miniatures use four to seven game pieces, whereby the number of composed miniatures from four stone to five stone and six stone to seven stone - these are the names used by Blumenthal - increases due to the larger number of possible combinations. Miniatures with three or four stones are called "Wenigsteiner".

Samuel Loyd
Chess Monthly, April, 1858

	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

Mate in 5 moves

In addition to the number of stones, the miniature is characterized by the number of moves to mate: the more clear moves are required, the more difficult the task and the more carefully it has to be composed. Three-moveers are often found as medium-difficult tasks, but both Blumenthal collections also present four-move and five-move.

Solution:
1. Ng3 – f5, Ke1 – f1
2. Nf5 – e3 +, Kf1 – e1
3. Kc1 – c2, f3 – f2
4. Kc2 – c1, f2 – f1D ( pawn conversion : queen)
5. Ne3 – c2 # ( Frosted)

Composers and collectors

In the great number of chess composers there were some specialists in miniatures. Other chess players created important collections of miniatures. Below is a selection (in alphabetical order):

Members of the Bohemian School (also miniature school)

• Oscar Blumenthal (1852–1917) composed around 100 miniatures himself and published two collections of miniatures.
• The Bohemian School , also known as the “Miniature School”, including Eduard Mazel (1859–1943), consisted of a group of miniature specialists.
• Wolfgang Alexander Bruder, who specializes in Hilfsmatt miniatures, also has an important collection of miniatures.
• The Austrian Konrad Erlinger (1856–1944; pseudonym "Konrad Erlin") composed numerous miniatures, some of which have been awarded prizes.
• Alexander Galitsky (1863–1921) composed chess problems around 1850, including many miniatures.
• Gerhard Kaiser (1890–1966) composed more than 100 miniatures and had a collection that included nearly 10,000 miniatures.
• Johannes Kohtz (1843–1918) and Carl Kockelkorn (1843–1914) were the founders of the New German School of Chess Composition .
• Vladimir Koschakin (Владимир Кожакин), Magadan , owned 46,000 miniatures in 2007.
• Samuel Loyd (1841–1911) was, in Blumenthal's opinion, the “master of all masters”.
• Wilhelm Maßmann (1895–1974) composed 646 miniatures and expanded the collection of his father, Peter Asmus Maßmann, to 18,000 entries.
• Gleb Nikolajewitsch Sachodjakin (1912–1982) published more than 100 chess studies since 1929, mainly miniatures; 25 of his compositions received awards, eight a first prize.
• William Anthony Shinkman (1847-1933) was in Blumenthal's assessment a "witty American problem poet".
• Klaus-Peter Zuncke (1954–2007), composed around 250 miniatures from the 1970s and took over the collection of miniatures from G. Kaiser, which he expanded to around 61,000 entries by 2007 to include the collections of PH Törngren and W. Maßmann.

Short game with a maximum of 25 moves

A completed short game with fewer than 20 to 25 moves is still referred to as “miniature” or “miniature game”. Known miniatures of this type are the Fool's Mate (French. Mat du lion ; Matt in 2 moves), scholar's mate (French. Coup du berger ; Matt in four trains), légal trap (double. Mat de Legal ; Matt 7 trains) and the partie de l'opéra (mate in 17 moves).

Even with chess tournaments there are always spectacular miniatures.

Web links

• Chess database from Die Schwalbe . March 2017: more than 390,000 chess problems and compositions, including the collections of Gerhard Kaiser and Klaus-Peter Zuncke; among other things searchable by year and number of game pieces.

literature

There are hundreds of books that deal with miniatures. The listed works represent a minimal selection.

• Oscar Blumenthal: Chess Miniatures. A collection of problems. Veit & Comp., Leipzig 1902 ( anders.thulin.name ( memento from 7 January 2014 in the Internet Archive ) PDF; 551 kB).
• Oscar Blumenthal: Chess Miniatures. New episode. Veit & Comp., Leipzig 1903 ( anders.thulin.name ( memento from January 7, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) PDF; 242 kB).
• E. Wallis: 777 Chess Miniatures in Three. (PDF) Introduction: Philip H. Williams; Solution tips: AN Brayshaw (1908).

Individual evidence and explanations

1. ↑ Manfred Zucker: Great German Problem Master (14) . In: Schach , No. 5, 1994, p. 76.
2. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Oscar Blumenthal: Chess miniatures. A collection of problems. , Veit & Comp., Leipzig 1902.
3. ↑ issue 103 : Folios 63r, 63v and 64r; 7 stones: Black moves and wins in 11 moves (dissertation S. Musser Golladay, p. 366).
4. ↑ Sonja Musser Golladay: Los Libros de Acedrex Dados e Tablas: Historical, Artistic and Metaphysical Dimensions of Alfonso X's Book of Games (PDF, dissertation 2007), The University of Arizona.
5. ↑ page references from diss. S. Musser Golladay: Problem 68 : Folios (Fols.) 44v and 45r; 7 stones: White wins in 3 moves (p. 299); Problem 76 : Fols. 48v and 49r; 7 stones: Black wins in 5 moves (p. 313); Problem 77 : Fols. 49r and 49v; 7 stones, Black wins in 8 moves (p. 320); Problem 82 : Fols. 51v and 52r; 7 stones: Black wins in 3 moves. 589 (p. 325); Problem 84 : Fols. 52v and 53r; 7 stones: White wins in 6 moves. 594 (p. 328); Problem 85 : Fols. 53r and 53v; 7 stones: White (at left) plays and wins in 7 moves (p. 330); Problem 86 : Fols. 53v and 54r; 7 stones: White wins in 14 moves (p. 332); Problem 87 : Fols. 54r and 54v; 7 stones: White wins in 3 moves. (P. 334); Problem 91 : Fols. 56r, 56v and 57r; 7 stones: Black wins (or loses) in 9 moves (p. 343); Problem 94 : Fols. 58r and 58v; 7 pieces: Black moves but loses in 4 moves (p. 349); Problem 103 : Fols. 63r, 63v and 64r; 7 stones: Black wins in 11 moves. (P. 366).
6. ↑ Page references from dissertation S. Musser Golladay: Problem 69 : Fols. 45r and 45v; 6 stones: Black wins in 9 or more moves (p. 301); Problem 80 : Fols. 50v and 51r; 6 stones: Black wins in 3 moves (p. 322).
7. ^ Problem 93 : Fols. 57v and 58r; 5 stones: White wins in 3 moves (dissertation S. Musser Golladay, p. 347).
8. ↑ Blumenthal (1903) shows miniatures from American Monthly , Family Herald and Saturday Evening Gazette , all from 1858.
9. ↑ Blumenthal (1902) shows miniatures from the American Chess Journal (from 1860s), Dubuque Chess Journal (1870s), British Chess Magazine (1890s) and Deutsche Schachzeitung (from the 1870s).
10. ^ Elke-Vera Kotowski, Susanna Poldauf and Paul Werner Wagner: Emanuel Lasker: Homo ludens - homo politicus: Contributions about his life and work . Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, 2003, ISBN 978-3-935035-15-6 , p. 85.
11. ↑ Chess Review . Chess Review, 1937, p. 263.
12. ↑ thechessworld.com ; Retrieved March 25, 2017.
13. ↑ ^{a b c d} Oscar Blumenthal: Chess miniatures. New episode. Veit & Comp., Leipzig 1903.
14. ↑ Jeremy Morse: Chess Problems. Tasks and Records . 3. Edition. Troubador Publishing Ltd, Kibworth Beauchamp, Leicestershire 2016, ISBN 978-1-78589-143-4 , pp. 413 ( books.google.com ).
15. ↑ International Chess Yearbook 1948/49 (PDF).
16. ↑ Lubomir Kavalek: Chess by Lubomir Kavalek for Oct. 26, 2009. In: The Washington Post. October 26, 2009; Retrieved March 26, 2017 ( washingtonpost.com ).
17. ↑ КУДЕСНИК. ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF) Special edition, July 2007, p. 11. 
18. ↑ The Swallow. Issue 229, 2008, p. 263.
19. ↑ Branko Tadić Goran Arsovic: Encyclopedia of chess miniatures . Belgrade 2015, ISBN 978-86-7297-071-5 , pp. 7 .
20. ↑ J. Du Mont: 200 Miniature Games of Chess . 1941.
21. ↑ Irving Chernev: 1000 Best Short Games of Chess. A Treasury of Masterpieces in Miniature . Ishi Press International, New York / Tokyo 2013, ISBN 978-4-87187-574-5 (first edition: 1955).
22. ↑ Vienna chess newspaper . 1912, p. 202 .
23. ↑ Chessgames.com: Collection of 66 miniature games ; Retrieved March 25, 2017.