<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<rss version="2.0" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom">
	<channel>
		<title>Problem 688: Kostas Prentos - Helpmate</title>
		<description>Discuss Problem 688: Kostas Prentos - Helpmate</description>
		<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html</link>
		<lastBuildDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2026 09:38:06 +0000</lastBuildDate>
		<generator>JComments</generator>
		<atom:link href="https://www.kobulchess.com/en/component/jcomments/feed/com_content/930/10.html" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" />
		<item>
			<title>Nikola Predrag says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7110</link>
			<description><![CDATA[How do you know that a "brilliant composer" does not have a "deep understanding" of the MOTIVATION? The intuition, including the sense of beauty and harmony, is exactly the source of understanding which needs no explanations! The explanations are needed (but are rarely efficient) to those who apply the most trivial shallow prejudices, instead of activating the deep intuition for perceiving the beauty and harmony. The so called "harmony" is widely recognized in the most banal features, hardly being worth calling them "harmonious". "ODT" is meaningless without a mechanism which is transforming. The prizes are being given to non-original ideas realized through a banal and ugly play. But OK, you've "heard enough about thinking", don't waste your time on it any more.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Nikola Predrag</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 19:03:21 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7110</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Vitaly Medintsev says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7109</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ Nicola, I have heard enough about thinking here. And I know many composers who are not versed in these subtle distinction and do not have a deep understanding of the MOTIVATION, and who, nevertheless, creating brilliant chess compositions, based on the sense of beauty and harmony. I assume you also know of such composers :-)]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Vitaly Medintsev</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 18:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7109</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Vitaly Medintsev says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7108</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ Kostas, it's neither about your version nor mine; the point is about those important things that we are discussing here - What principles should be the main in composing? What is considered as "artificial" or "not essential"? In which direction should go the thoughts of a composerr if he/she originates not only from his/her own imagination but primarily from the internal logic of a particular pattern? The discussion has showed that the answers to these questions are quite different :-)]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Vitaly Medintsev</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 17:48:52 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7108</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Nikola Predrag says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7107</link>
			<description><![CDATA[So, you have shown an ACCIDENTAL anticritical play by using the WELL KNOWN "dynamic" B1&B2. Kostas has shown a GENUINE anticritical play by using the well known "static" B1. The originality and subtlety clearly prevails in 688! A "planar dispersion" of the effects might look very complex and amazing but it's shallow, in principle. Unfortunately, it's often much easier for the public perception, due to the "computability". "Linear depth" might require some thinking.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Nikola Predrag</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 17:16:25 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7107</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Nikola Predrag says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7106</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Vitaly, you should first recognize the essential difference between 688 and your "version" in post #3 in which the critical B1 moves determine the timing of B2. There's nothing original in that and the motivation of B2 has nothing to do with the white anticritical W1. The timing and the line-closing effect are ACCIDENTAL as related to W1. Timing of B2 in 688 depends EXCLUSIVELY on W1 and that's what makes that move anticritical. Black is MOTIVATED to close that same line, it's not just a coincidence. The intensity of one element (the same line here) deepens the logic of the play. And it's not only about the depth, there's also the W/B interplay, purely caused by the motivation of timing of B2. In your idea, the order of black moves is fixed even without worrying about the white play.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Nikola Predrag</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 17:08:01 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7106</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Kostas Prentos says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7105</link>
			<description><![CDATA[I see with satisfaction that it wasn't just me. It is indeed a tricky business to compose a helpmate with convincing unpins. The easy way out is to have the unpinning piece also block a flight. In 688, the black Knights must give up control of the mating squares c7 and f7. Any other move of these Knights would fail because of the pins. This was the minimum requirement I set to myself and it was really hard to achieve with standard material. The Grimshaw effect is of course secondary and can be replaced with something else, but I had to make sure that whatever that effect was, it would not interfere with the clarity of the unpin play. My advice to Vitaly: You are the judge of this tourney. If you don't like the problem, just ignore it in your award. You don't need to provide a reason, or a comparison problem. Sometimes, just a hunch is all you need. I am fine with that.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Kostas Prentos</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 16:31:54 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7105</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Vitaly Medintsev says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7104</link>
			<description><![CDATA[ I agree and that's the main point! In Kostas's challenge we see two static elements in the black play on B1 & B2. They are not related to each other. The sequence of these elements depends on the basic motivation - white ODT. In the pattern, the black play could be more dynamic and non-obvious, and the motivation could be more subtle.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Vitaly Medintsev</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 15:16:08 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7104</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Nikola Predrag says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7103</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Kostas's challenge was the unpin. Creation of an abstract system relies on thinking - interpreting the relevance. Computing just applies some already given abstraction with fixed meaning of what is relevant and what is not. One may practice various shoots to an empty goal but the challenge is to score when there's a goal-keeper and the whole opposing team. Then you may appreciate the shooter's skill to find a precise trajectory through the "defensive wall". You know, the opponents are not positioned to make the shoot easier but to make it hardly possible. That's the relevant point which is so easily "interpreted" as "irrelevant" by sheer computing. Therefore I appreciate the Kostas's challenge!]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Nikola Predrag</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 13:30:27 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7103</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Nikola Predrag says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7102</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Vitaly (and Seetharaman), there are two distinct points of discussion so, let's not confuse them. Kostas was persistent to achieve the unpin-motivation for the arrival in B2, and finally he has succeeded! None of the examples you gave was succesful in this. Put wK on e8 in Shire's problem to see the "motivation for unpin". There's NO ODT related to the unpin! So far, No.688 has no precedent. That's one point! You're right that there are more "elegant" or "organic" and EASIER motivations for ODT-patterns but they could make the different compositions. That's the other, different point!]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Nikola Predrag</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 13:29:11 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7102</guid>
		</item>
		<item>
			<title>Seetharaman Kalyan says:</title>
			<link>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7101</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Thanks for quoting David Shire's example which is different from the rest. I can only repeat Kostas's comment "H#2 is now a minefield of anticipations... it takes real courage to compose anything" Added by me: "Dont try any H#2 with less than 8 solutions" :-) !!]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Seetharaman Kalyan</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Sat, 02 Jan 2016 12:54:20 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>https://www.kobulchess.com/en/problems/originals-2015/930-kostas-prentos-helpmate.html#comment-7101</guid>
		</item>
	</channel>
</rss>
