November 03 1940
Problem No. 40 03 Nov 1940, Sun Arizona Daily Star (Tucson, Arizona) Newspapers.com
Problem No. 40
By Stasch Mlotkowski, Trenton
White to mate in two.
FEN 6b1/B4B2/4r3/1p1r4/1pk5/P4Q2/8/KN6 w - - 0 1
Solution: 1. Ka2 Bxf7 2. Qb3#
Today's problem was submitted by W. S. Ivins, and is from the column of Herman Helms in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Ivins thinks it has an intriguing appearance and several nice variations. Of the composer he states: “Stasch Mlotkowski (all the letters in his name excepting the ‘c’ are sounded) used to be a very strong player. I remember his giving another opponent and myself odds of a knight and winning both games sans voir. This was back in about 1897. Two or three years later I watched him beat Hodges with an Evans Gambit in a New York-Philadelphia inter-city match. The last time I saw him was as a contender in the American Chess Federation Tournament at Philadelphia in 1936, but the old zip was gone, and the best he could do was tie for first in the Class B consolation. He is now about 63 years old.”
True, but in 1904 he won the American Chess Federation Tournament at St. Louis, Missouri, and at San Francisco in 1923 he tied for first place with N. T. Whitaker.
