Marian Wróbel (1 January 1907 – 25 April 1960) was a prominent

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

chess problemist A chess composer is a person who creates Endgame study, endgame studies or chess problems. Chess composers usually specialize in a particular genre, e.g. endgame studies, Chess problem#Types of problem, twomovers, threemovers, Grotesque (chess)#M ...

of the mid-twentieth century. Between 1947 and 1950 he was considered the leading chess composer in the world. During his lifetime he published more than 1,000 problems and was a

FIDE The International Chess Federation or World Chess Federation, commonly referred to by its French acronym FIDE ( Fédération Internationale des Échecs), is an international organization based in Switzerland that connects the various national c ...

International Master of Chess Composition.

Biography

Born in

Lwów Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukraine ...

(now Lviv) on 1 January 1907, Wróbel learned to play chess as a child of 5 and became interested in chess problems. In 1922, he published his first problem at the age of 15 and in 1928 the International Association of Problemists ranked him fourth in the world. He studied in Lwów and Warsaw and completed a

Magister's degree A magister degree (also magistar, female form: magistra; from la, magister, "teacher") is an academic degree used in various systems of higher education. The magister degree arose in medieval universities in Europe and was originally equal to the ...

in Polish

philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...

in 1932. He became a teacher but due to health problems transferred to administrative work. During the 1930s Wróbel was a close collaborator and friend of

Dawid Przepiórka Dawid Przepiórka (22 December 1880 – presumed April 1940) was a prominent Polish chess player of the early twentieth century. Biography Dawid Przepiórka was born 22 December 1880 in Warsaw, Poland (then part of the Russian Empire), to a f ...

and hosted him following the German invasion of Poland in 1939 when Przepiórka's Warsaw home was destroyed. Wróbel was with Przepiórka during a private gathering of chess players in January 1940 when the Gestapo raided the meeting and arrested all the participants. Wróbel was very active as a journalist of chess and published three major books on chess composition. In 1954 he was awarded the FIDE title International Master of Chess Composition, and in 1959 he became an International Judge of Chess Composition, the first year the title was awarded. Wróbel died in Warsaw on 25 April 1960. The diagram on the left is one of the best twomovers of Wróbel. In the initial position White has answers to all Black's moves: 1... e3 2. dxe3#; 1... f3 2. Nxf3# (exploiting the half-pin of Pe4 and Pf4); 1. Bd-any 2. Nxe2#; 1... Bb2 2. Bxb2#; 1... Bc3 2. dxc3#; 1... Nf-any 2. Rxd6#. However, White has no waiting move, and the set play cannot be realized. The key 1. Qxe2! destroys the half-pin and pins the Queen. Black is in Zugzwang: 1... e3 2. Rd5#; 1... f3 2. Qe3#; 1... g4 (Ba4,Bb3) 2. Qxe4#; 1... Bc2 2. Nxc2#; 1... Bxe2+ 2. Nxe2#. The remaining variations remain unchanged. The diagram on the right is one of Wróbel's best known threemovers. In the initial position White has a ready response to the only possible move of Black: 1... B-any 2. Bc4+ Ba7 3. Rxa7#. However, White has no waiting move. The solution is the unexpected 1. Re8!! Zugzwang. The main variations explain the choice of the square e8 for the Rook: 1... Bb6 2. Rb8 Be4 3. Bb5#; 1... Bc5 2. Re5 Bb6 3. Bb5# (2... Bxb4 3. Sb2#); 1... Bd4 (Bb8) 2. Re4 Ba7 3. Sb2#. Other choices of the square for the Rook fail: 1. Rc8? Bc5!; 1. Rd8? Bd4!; 1. Rf8? Bb8!. In each case, capturing the Bishop leads to a stalemate.

Biography

References

Further reading