Judge Mirko Miljanic: “There were 23 studies published in the Phenix magazine for the year 2022. In my opinion, the quality of the studies is solid”.
Phenix 2022
Judge Mirko Miljanic: “There were 23 studies published in the Phenix magazine for the year 2022. In my opinion, the quality of the studies is solid”.
How do you composers evaluate Becker’s study?
The three-Knights dance looks attractive to me: three pawns in row, then three Knights in horizontal row, and the mating position with Knights in vertical row. But afterwards I realized there are no black pieces (except obviously the King) moving in the mainline.
The knight arriving on c4 (early in the solution) would make a world of difference.
I can pardon the capture on e8, even if I would not compose this way. I can see why the author composed this way. The spectators on a1, c4 and g2 (I count seventh rank pawns almost like pieces) are more annoying, especially because the Nc4 blocks the escape route. But my biggest objection is that everything is too forced, making the play mechanical. There are various studies with knight hunts against the king, even without the help of a rook. A nice example (with queen sacrifice) is by Nosek, but I don’t find it on Serhiy’s site.
On a different note, I am very surprised that Steffen and Martin did not get a prize. Clearly the first and second prize are more in Miljanic’s own style, but …
The black knight can be brought to c4, for example, by sacrificing the white bishop Bc4+. You can also transform the pawn into a queen a2-a1Q and “revive” the black rook e8…
This award smells. Nielsen didn’t have a chance against Osintsev with an old Serb judge. I hope younger generation will be less pro-Russian.
I am currently in Belgrade for work and met twice with Kovačević (but not with Miljanić: he did not come to the club because of some health issues). Marjan says that knowing Miljanic, it is unlikely that he was influenced by political bias. More likely, it is just expression of his old-fashioned taste.
This looks plausible to me. Given the similarities between the prizewinners and Miljanić’s preference for spectacular final pointes, I am not too surprised by the ranking (and by the fact that he did not properly appreciate the 2nd HM).
Friendship of a composer and a judge often makes the latter award prizes to primitive studies by his friend. See how regularly Tarasiuk boosted studies by Samilo. Or why do clumsy works by Timman always win tourneys judged by Garcia if it is not for gratitude and deep respect for a legendary chess player? Do you think that political views are less important and they do not influence judges’ verdicts?
To make it look plausible you and Kovacevic find Miljanic’s tastes old-fashionned. You prefer thinking that the best Serbian study composer is incompetent instead of admitting his sympathy towards the Russian composer. That’s how it looks.
Obviously you didn’t even see how plain the winning study is. The final trick is older than my grandmother, the intro has captures. And the passing pawns suddenly stopped irritating you as much as before.
Personal friendships may influence, but when you are slicing down to politics and general conclusions based on national preferences you lose objectivity and switch to offences.
Why did they not appoint a Serbian or English judge for Manchester City – Crvena Zvezda if not for the risk that the judge may have national preferences?
Sorry, but your insinuations about Serbs, and the absurd comparison with the money-dominated football, opens the Pandora’s box of the strongest motivation for biased judging – money.
You live in the country where composers get money from their government for successes in WCCI, WCCT, FIDE Album, FIDE World Cup … (much higher than the 1st Prize money). And there is an unprecedented case that not only composer gets money, but his “trainer” too, even when the “trainer” gives 1st Prize to his “student”…
These facts alone make a real temptation for weak characters to cross their moral and artistic integrity. But why would Mirko do it? Because Sergei is a Russian?? If you treat chess composers as religious or nationalistic fanatics, you disrespect chess art as a whole.
Yes, because he’s a fucking Russian.
Some things in the Serbian political culture are indeed quite irritating. At the airport, I saw that a bookstore had the book “Russophobia in Europe from the times of Charlemagne [!] to the Ukrainian crisis [sic]”. But I would not infer that any Serb, or any Serb of a certain age, is nationalist, pro-Russian, etc. This is pure speculation, and I know nothing about Miljanić that would support (or refute) such conclusions.
So, in your words, I prefer to believe that the judge was simply incompetent. This is also supported by the fact that the choice of the first prize is not the only strange thing in the award (e.g., Steffen and Martin’s study ending up as a 2nd HM).
Judgmental errors happen quite frequently even to good composers. Look at the first prizes from MSV 2022, Minski & Nielsen 100, ot at several strange things in the awards of The Problemist 2022, or Afek-70.
Also, I know Miljanic is generally very fond of my studies. I am convinced this is simply a matter of taste (prefering studies with a pointed finale) which my study with Martin kind of lacks.
Also, I think the nationality of the referee for City vs against Red Star would have made absolutely no difference 🙂
I think Miljanic was impartial but I am not sure and you can’t prove it.
I am even less convinced that a judge who likes pointed finales could be impressed by the winning study. Jan’s commended study has the same finale.
Jan, I’m sorry your first live experience with Serbian chess composers was overshadowed by your political feelings. You were announced as an honorable guest in the main national newspapers “Politika”, with a photo, endgame, and some nice words. Wasn’t it contradicting your airport experience? I hoped all the gestures and gifts from different people in the Beograd club showed that they don’t treat someone’s work according to his nationality and politics.
Marjan, I am very grateful for the invitation to the club, your hospitality, the newspaper article etc. It was a great experience. Sorry if this was not sufficiently appreciated in what I wrote above. Also for the rest, my interaction with all Serbs at the conference, in the club, and elsewhere was positive. Most people were really nice and welcoming and I am happy to come back any time.
The airport experience was, however, not the only moment where I asked myself about the direction the country is taking. On my pre-covid visits, I would have probably answered yes to the question of whether Serbia is ready to leave its difficult past behind, and to move forward. This time, I left the country less convinced.
I still fail to see what your political views have with chess art, and why you present them here.
The lines in the 2nd HM make it a little gem.
The story of the Nielsen & Minski coproduction: At the beginning of 2021 we sent this study to Phénix. The judge at the time, Jan Sprenger, already signaled to us that the study was at prize level. Then the editor forgot to publish this study and didn’t publish it until 2022. Now we have the 2nd hm. Of course I’m disappointed. At the moment I can do whatever I want. There are only disappointments.
There is even more to the story, actually. Because a sideline of this study turned into another study.
Have a look at the line 6…Ne3 (…)12…Nc1 13. Bf1.
This could have been the mainline if not for one amazing detail.
After 13. Bf1 Kb6, White has the perfect finishing move 14. Kb4 and the knight will be caught via a3. But (unfortunately for this study) there is a second win with 14. Kc3 with 14…Ka5 15. b4+ Ka4 16. Bc4 (or 15. Bc4 Ka4 16. b4) Ka3 17. b5 Nb3!! 18. b6 Nc5 19. Bb3!
And this was used in the following study
https://lichess.org/psmkGQQR
Another comment:
The Rf3-move in my second prize repeats the tactic Rf5! from my co-study with Martin here:
https://eg.org.ua/chessgame/nielsens-minskim-0434-32h3g5/
It is actually the very same move but with knights against of bishops.
I was refering to this study from Chess Star 2021 (I am not allowed to edit the above comment)
https://lichess.org/psmkGQQR
The comment plugin in this site WP Discuz (the same Vysotska uses in her blog) has some basic functions like deleting or editing own comment very well masked. They are available but need a GM’s imagination to discover them.
For editing move the mouse to the right bottom of the comment and click on the appearing icon.
For deleting any of your comments click on the icon of a man at the start of the comment section, where the number of comments is given.
But when editing I am told something about horses (perhaps “hold your horses”). I think the plugin fears I am a bot and I am not allowed to save the edit. Maybe this only happens if I make the edit a few minutes after the original post. Anyway now I am allowed to..
Maybe in some weeks I will get GM privileges.
Which colour of Danzka vodka do you recommend for this occasion?
It’s a database zz.
https://syzygy-tables.info/?fen=8/8/8/8/kPB5/2K5/8/2n5_b_-_-_0_1
In your maliutka 10.Bd5 (instead of 10.Be6) followed by Kc5-d6-c7 wins faster.
Well of course. But the joy of discovering it myself….
A nice twist: The final wining maneuvre is even known from a famous game:
https://www.chessgames.com/perl/chessgame?gid=1063192