English Chess Forum

Letter in today's Times, part of a thread entitled 'Sent off in style':

Sir, My friend and world champion chess problemist, Colin Sydenham, was cremated recently. As the final act his children placed on his coffin chess pieces, concluding with the queen, placed in memory of his wife who had died before him.
Julian Hall
Oxford

Apparently he died on the 15th November, 2023.

There's a short autobiography of him at the BCPS website: https://www.theproblemist.org/composers ... cps&page=1

I didn't know him but I wish I had as we followed similar academic courses and shared the love of the Roman poet Horace. For which reason I shall eschew the standard "requiescat in pace" and opt for "exegi monumentum aere perennius" in honour of his chess problem work.

Thanks for the link, John, and to Paul for posting the touching account of the cremation ritual. There is some excellent material on the BCPS website, including the Starter Problem for the 2025-6 Winton British Chess Solving Championship (published 5 days ago).

I'm not a huge fan of chess problems, especially helpmates and the like. However this one of Colin Sydenham's is a bit special:
https://rtchessclub.com/2024/01/29/ches ... -week-272/
It's worth spending a bit of time on (it took me 15 minutes, which I'm sure must be very poor) in order to better appreciate the solutions(s).

I am going to have to print that one off and try and solve it now...

Richard James wrote:I’m sure you can find both solutions.

Jon D'Souza-Eva wrote: ↑

Mon May 19, 2025 2:12 pm

I'm not a huge fan of chess problems, especially helpmates and the like. However this one of Colin Sydenham's is a bit special:
https://rtchessclub.com/2024/01/29/ches ... -week-272/
It's worth spending a bit of time on (it took me 15 minutes, which I'm sure must be very poor) in order to better appreciate the solutions(s).

As the saying sometimes goes: “once you’ve got one, you’ve got them all”