THE LEPUSCHÜTZ THEME

by Hans Peter Rehm, Germany
III. Doubling the theme

Doublings of the theme are very rare (in parallel variations as well as in one variation). I believe a lot could be done in this (admittedly difficult) field.

The next Nr.23 is an extension of Nr.4 to 4 moves, but I believe this is well justified by the finer play with dual avoidance.
1,Rf4?, 1.Rf3? too slow. 1.Rf7 Qh6+ 2.Rf4+ Re6 3.Sf6+(Sc3+?) Sf6: 4.Qc4# 1... Qh3+ 2.Rf3+ Qe6 3.Sc3+(Sf6+?) 4.Qe4# 1... cb5:/Sg7/Rb4/c4 2.Qa8+/Sf6+/Sc3+/Qa8. Type R/Q-closing of black line + R/Q-advance. The type "closing of black line" is only in this (and the next) problem. I felt that the construction should be improved.

Nr.24: 1.Sf3+? Bf3: 2.Qd4+ Sd4:, 1.Rc3? too slow as is 1.Rd3? 1.Rg3 [2.Rg5+ hg5 3.Qg5: 4.Bf4:] Qc1+ 2.Rc3 Qf4 3.Sf3+ (Sc6+?) Bf3:,ef3+ 4.Qd4# 1... Qf1+ 2.Rd3+ Qf4 3.Sc6+(Sf3+? ef3+!) Sc6: 4.Rd5. Type R/Q-closing of black line + R/Q-advance.

Nr.25: 1,Kb3? too slow, 1.Kc3 Ba5+ 2.Kb3 Bd8 3.gh3! [thr.(f5) 4.Bf1 Ke4 5.Se5 f4 6.Bg2+] f6! 4.Kc3(4.Kc2?) Ba5+ 5.Kc2 Bd8 6.e4+ Kd4: 7.Se6. In order to get a threat forcing f7-f6 we need an additional guard on c4; having forced f6 the guard of d3 has to be restored. Both is done with the thematical manoeuvre. Type K/B-guard of a flight square + K/B-guard of a flight square. The elegant mechanism was also used in collaboration with my friend Stephan Eisert.

Nr.26: Instead of nice model mates we tried to make deeper reasons for doing the thematical pendulum. Who would suspect in the diagram that the position of Kf6 is bad because the diagonal h8-d4 is closed? But 1.ab6? is refuted only by 1... Bf2!! 2.b7 Be3: 3.b8Q Bd2:, which without Kf6 could be answered by 4.Qh8:+ Kd5 5.Qe5#. So 1.Ke6 Bc8+ 2.Ke7 Ba6 3.ab6 [4.Sf5+ Kd5 5.Rc5#] cb6 (not Bf2?). The Probespiel of Führung Ke7-f6 back is now 4.b5? cb5? 5.Ke6, but 4... Sg6+ Bg6: cb5, and 6.Ke6 is not strong enough since Sf5 closes the bishop's line. (Black forced the critical move Bb1:g6). But after 4.Ke6 Bc8+ 5.Kf6 Ba6 6.b5 Black has only 6... cb5 7.Ke6 Bc8+ 8.Rc8: 9.Sf5#. By walking out of the line White walks into a check which allows Black to force a critical move. Type K/B-line opening + K/B-walk out of check.

Nr.27: 1.g4? h1Q!, 1.Kd6 Bf8+ 2.Kd7! [3.Rf4+] Bh6 3.g4 [4.Sf2+] h1S 4.Kd6 Bf8+ 5.Kc6 Bh6 6.Sc5+ Ke5: 7.Rf5. Here our aim was to make the king's pendulum less obvious because now it grants a flight (d5). Type K/B-walk out of pin + K/B-guard of flight square. At first sight Kc6-d7 is done to guard e6. But this is not correct thinking because it would not be necessary to control e6: after 1.g4? we need no guard on e6 by the white king (threat 2.Sc5:+). The guard only compensates the loss of control of c,d5. Thus White is forced to exchange his threat 2.Sc5: for the weaker one on f2 for which there is a direct defence h1S. By the switchback the stronger threat is restored.
From these examples the reader may learn that the same basic mechanism leads to rather different problems if the logic for doing things is different.
I cannot resist to cite here a wonderful problem which is not strictly thematical, but close to the spirit of the theme.

Nr.28: 1.Bb8? Rc3: or cb3 (Probespiel, not try!), 1.c4? again too slow (b1Q or Se2). We need a lot of Beschäftigung before these moves become strong enough. 1.Se6 Bf2+ 2.Sc5 Bg3 3.Sd7 Bf2+ 4.Sb6 Bg3 5.c4! Bc4: (now forced because of the threat 5.Sd5: Bf2+ 6.Se3 Be3: 7.Ka8 8.g4#) 6.Sd7 Bf2+ 7.Sc5 Bg3 8.Se6 Bf2+ 9.Sd4 Bg3 10.Kb8 b1Q 11.Se6 12.Sf4+ 13.g4#. A lot of moving around after checks causing a weakness. The only thing "missing" is that the Probespiel for the Führung is absent (playing the move without check). But this is more by chance. If the knight d4 would have power to do the moves 1.Sd4-c5, Sc5-b6 etc (say S+fers) the problem would present our theme correctly 4-fold.
Some will perhaps suggest not to ask for the Probespiel of the Führung in our theme. But then the theme becomes less clear-cut: problems where a white king runs away (being constantly checked) would be thematical if one of the checks causes a weakness in black's position.

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