(From Mat Plus No.21-24, 1999, p.278
One of the dearest presents I have ever got was the book from the old friend Bernd Ellinghoven, publisher (together with Denis Blondel) of the latest Feenschach-Phenix edition "The Chessboard Adventures of Norman Macleod". Norman's book, edited by John Rice and completed by composers from different countries, makes an unique Tribute to one of the most popular figures from the Chess Problem World. I met Norman 11 times, each year he attended the World Congress, from the first time in 1978, to the last, 1990. He was like a father to me, and he behaved like this, inspiring and helping in most different ways. A lot of exciting stories about Norman could be found in the book. I would like to add some memories of mine, the reminders of past years from my Diary. 1978: CanterburyBefore meeting him in Canterbury I only learned that mysterious Mr. Macleod was the inventor of the genial twomover No.1. At that time I was about the same age as he had been when composing it, but its mystical mechanism was still a top secret to me. Surrounded by different kinds of authority, perfect English and strict rules of well behaving all around, I was chosen as a company by this warmhearted man, whose open approach and funny Scottish accent seemed so friendly. "Call me Norman" - he said and began to move pieces on his small magnetic board.
One of the first stories he told me was about the twomover No.2, composed in a train, in about 15 minutes. He had submitted it to the Yugoslav Chess Federation 1949 Tourney (closing date was 29.11.1949 but the results were published in 1950) and was greatly surprised the next year. The amount of dinars he received for the 5th Prize, after changing it in a bank, was enough for a three months living!
"That's how I began to appreciate Yugoslav problemists!" he concluded, and I thought this might be a good opportunity to ask him for an original for Yugoslav magazine MAT. His response was shocking: right from his jacket, the Magician handed me over couple of envelops (signed: #2, #3, #n, and so on), each with dozens of problems: "You can pick up some of these". Like a child in a Toy-shop, I was happy to spend hours in analyzing and selecting my favorites. The young composer's comments were quite critical, but Norman liked them. Only rarely, he would protest to my wishes "I already promised this one...", but then, he would often continue "To Hell with it, you may have it".
The Loyd-style No.3 with castling in order to vacate the squares for future Turton was much to my soul at that time. Such a colorful things, as well as Norman's overtaking of original moremovers column in "The Problemist", made me spend next couple of years in moremover field and send best outcomes to the magazine which have remained my favorite up too the present day. On the other hand, Norman's originals became the trademark for the best period of MAT. 1980: Wiener NeustadtNorman was not at Finland 1979 Congress, nor in Slovenia 1980 WCSC, but a few days after Bled we met each other in Wiener Neustadt, where the Congress was held separately from the World solving competition. I still remember those first sentences we exchanged after two years. "May I offer you a beer?" - was his first question. Then I asked him what was he planning as the new president of BCPS (which I thought to be a great honor). "To find another one!", he answered. With the chessboard between us and beers around us, he smoothly bridged over all social, personal and generation gaps: "Show me some masterpiece you composed recently..." That was his way to simplify the conversation and encourage a young composer. "What to show to Norman?" was the question I often put to myself before each of the Congresses during 80-s. And this question had power of making me compose or complete something in the last minute before the next Congress! Before the Final banquet in Austria Norman was in rush, searching for a coin of sufficient size. "I want to show the trick how to put a coin into a bottle" - he said. But he couldn't find the coin and I never saw the trick. Later, I red in some Chess Encyclopedia that Magic was one of many hobbies of the highly talented Mr. Macleod. There were so many other of his interests (for some of them I learned only from John Rice's book), but this one seemed to me so natural for him. And the classical twomover No.4, I found in that Encyclopedia, have always seemed miraculous to me.
1981: ArnhemIt was hard to measure the patience of Norman's wife Daphne while he was forgetting about her for many hours, during the Congresses. After the 7 days of loosing him in the Chess of Arnhem, it must have been a great relief and satisfaction for her to move with him alone to Amsterdam, and, among other things, to visit the famous Van Gogh Museum. As a sheer coincidence, I went the same way exactly at the same time. After a long searching for Norman in the halls, she found us both in the garden of this wonderful museum, sitting over the black and white board, ignorant for the rest of colors! This was not the last time I asked myself if Daphne really hated me. But she didn't. That dearest lady had a life-long experience of living inside Norman adventures, and she knew better than all of us what unexpected things could be expected from him. 1983: Bat YamNorman's absence from Bulgarian Congress (Varna 1982), had something to do with demands of his work for the intelligence organization of the Foreign Office. So, it was good for the Problem World (although surprising) that he had retired in 1983, at the age of 56. At the time of Bat Yam he greatly enlarged his work for the BCPS, became really prolific composer of all genres, and some of his best known problems were still to be composed (the majority of his Album problems, 49 of them, were published in 1980-88 period). I was lucky in Israel to "still" from him magnificent No.5 (in order to have an easy and pleasant judging of the moremovers section in MAT!). One should notice the connection between his first published problem (#2 A1 in the book), and this one, his most reproduced composition from the 80's. The King battery was Norman's first and most beloved inspiration, but only in this moremover (including another sparkling motif) Holst promotion turned out to be a real apotheosis of it!
Although Norman and I never tried to compose an ambitious problem together, there are three modest reminders of the fun we had in quick composing. Our best attempt was in Bat Yam when we simultaneously worked on the #2 and h#2 theme in the time of three hours. We almost succeeded: there was not enough time for polishing the weaker one (#2) but h#2 (for which he had prepared the matrix) seemed to be our candidate for the award. Running out of time, we applied Norman's insurance system: one of us had to draw position and another one to check his partner's drawing. The final result was: the 2nd Prize for the weak #2 and nothing for the h#2 (No.6) because we missed to draw nothing less then a white bishop!
Later, the problem appeared in the FIDE Album, but the real pleasure was the story of its first failure, including our funny discussion with the strict judge of that quick tourney. Namely, we complained that it was obvious the WB was missing since there were no solutions. "But there were cooks!", he replayed. And that was true: without WBg4 there was the possibility for cooks like: 1.Rb2 Sf3 2.Kh3 Rh4#! Because he enjoyed so much bargaining with Arab sellers, Norman often used to get lost during the Israeli excursions. It was a rare opportunity for him to decrease the prices ten times, regardless of the obvious fact that those "Roman" coins were 20 times less old than he was told! It was only the game he loved, all the jokes about Scotties had nothing to do with Norman. Norman was allowed to do things forbidden for all other. That's one of the reason I was ready to follow him blindly in all the escapades, although I was often trapped in them. For instance, one night I had slept on the floor in his hotel room after long drinking and much later I read in a problem magazine about my hiding in order to avoid paying the hotel bill! 1984: SarajevoWhen I saw him at the entrance of the Congress hotel "Igman" with a big luggage in his hands, Norman shouted in clear Serbo-Croat language "Nosac!".* This word meant that I should take his luggage and he had carefully prepared the joke, after buying a special Dictionary. Being a member of the organizing team of that Congress, I mostly noticed its weaknesses and the improvisation running all the time. Norman comforted me "I don't like too organized Congresses, this one is very good!". On final banquet, he helped a lot melting the atmosphere with a Scottish drinking song, and everything turned to be quite pleasant. After that week on the Igman mountain Norman and Daphne spent some time at Fadil Abdurahmanovic's apartment. Then they decided to take a rent-a-car and make an interesting tour around the former Yugoslavia. The moment I wished them safe journey, the small "Reno 4" started like a rocket, and I imagined both Norman laughing about my surprised look, and Daphne asking him to slow down. 1986: ParisAfter the Congress, Norman, Petko Petkov and me spent a few memorable days in Paris. Among many jokes he made on the streets of Paris, once he asked seriously a young girl seller of porno cassettes "Can you, please, tell me - which one is the best?". It is easy to imagine her face istantly getting purple red. But his jokes were never offensive or malicious. He was a special kind person and he tried not to offend even those problemists who never moved from the level of a beginner. For such persons, sending bunch of originals, he invented the following, quite spectacular method. First, it was necessary to find one incorrect problem. Then, two letters had to be written: (1) "I selected this problem to be published...", and, after some time - (2) "Unfortunately, your problem turned to be incorrect..."! What a complicated method! Norman was genuine Problemist in his way of thinking and acting. He was ready to get into all kinds of complications if there was at least a slight chance to find a tricky or elegant way out. And he was so capable of finding it!
Some less ambitious problems, which he called "trifles", as No.7 and No.8, illustrate even better his surprise thinking. The key of the first one is simply brilliant to me, while about the second we had long discussion. I thought that the sparkling idea of "Schiffmann's" destroying of the set play should end in a thematic way (i.e. to promote black rook which would block f7 and assure the same mate) but he insisted on the surprise of a radically changed mate. 1987: GrazNorman the great improviser! He accepted giving a mini-lecture, but didn't know - about what. Since we were in Graz, I proposed him to present some examples of the Graz style moremovers, the subject which I had found in one Grasseman's book. Although Norman never heard about Graz style before (neither did some Austrian problemists!) the lecture was a great success. He improvised freely and imaginatively, adding his own problems and ideas. For the final scene he applied his musical knowledge, dancing Waltzer and Polka to illustrate the sudden turnover from Logical to Bohemian elements in the course of the solution! 1988: BudapestIn the 1988 I struggled hard to quit smoking. The first night in Budapest Norman offered me a cigar: "Who cares, I should also quit smoking". The days which followed he was the one to remind me not to smoke too much. As for the next three years of struggling, I changed my principles and managed to smoke only once in a year - at Congresses. It was in Hungary that he told me about preparing his book, whose title should definitely contain the word "Adventure". One of the sections he planned (unfortunately missing in the book) was to be titled "My problems by other composers". The star of the section was meant to be a twomover No.9. Norman's identical position (after the whole summer sment on composing it!) was published in Schach-Echo 1976, and at that time he was very proud to find out that some other great composers, such as G. Latzel, had been searching for it before him. Only many years later it was discovered that Grandmaster Viktor Chepizhny had been the first to achieve this magnificent anticritical-critical cycle. Meanwhile, the problem with Norman's name entered the FIDE Album, while No.9 never did. "This one is probably my best twomover!" - Norman told me in Budapest.
My problem published by Norman is much simpler but still attractive Bristol Annihilation No.10, reproduced 20 years later. I was glad that anticipation was by him, and that we had both selected the same square for the black Rook, the only changeable aspect of the construction. 1989: BornemouthTypical Norman's surprise: one day he took his car and we made a tour around the town, using the special "Pub Guide" he had bought! The consequence was that we came back too late for some important events of the Congress, but those usually do not make the memories. 1990: BenidormNorman's last Congress. I will always remember the moment when we set on a stone in the street, in front of the Hotel. Then he told me about his illness, and how he had asked a doctor if it would be possible for him to visit the next Congress in 1991. "It's possible, but not probable" was the straight answer which made Norman not to miss Benidorm. He didn't want to spoil the Congress by revealing the said news to many people. He even prepared a special Cameroon dress to cheer the company on the Final banquet. But, if you look on the page 232 of his book, you may notice the real feelings on the faces of Petko Petkov and Fadil Abdurahmanovic. The photo had been taken just before three of us said goodbye to Norman and Daphne. 1991: RoterdamA letter from Norman waiting for me on the hotel reception! There was nothing in it to reveal the most difficult situation in which he was... Only in our last contact, by the phone, he mentioned, with his ever lasting sense of humor "It seems some parts of me slowly drop off" and he ended with tiny, but cheerful voice "Its great you call!". At the end of 1993 I visited Norman's grave stone, with the sentence on its reverse which now can be found as a motto of his book: "There is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his own works" (Ecclesiastes, 3, 22). With Daphne and my host Tony Lewis, together with his wife Sally, I saw Norman's wonderful house and the Memorial Park, with his bench and his tree. *** For a long time I had the wrong impression that most of the problemists could not understand the greatness of Norman. The Obituary in "The Problemist" 1991, warmar than any other I have seen, and, finally, Norman's book prepared by his friends, changed my mind. No matter how different from him, so many people appreciated or loved him in many different ways. And this was quite natural to regard such a multi-side personality. In fact, it is the praise for the Chess Composition that it was on the top of the list of Norman's 100 hobbies ("Composing chess problems is one of the most rewarding hobbies anyone can have. For me the rewards are not so much seeing a problem in print, basking in the solvers' comments, or winning the prizes in tourneys. The true reward is the trill of composition, the ecstatic moment when everything falls into place and a new composition is born.."). What was even more amazing, contrary to dilettantes, Norman created a refined taste for each of his wide interests including arts, with his own favorites, often opposing common opinion. So, it was quite natural for him to be an all-round composer. He accepted and popularized all interesting fairy conditions, while at the same time he seemed to be more proud of his few endgames. Some fairy specialist will protest my "orthodox presentation" of Norman. At that point I would disagree with them, as I disagree with selectors of the NAM trophy for the most sparkling and original problem. The best area to measure "non-orthodox" thinking is the orthodox field, where there is history and tradition to compare with. Yes, Norman's fairy problems are sparkling, but so is his completely classical #2 No.11. The equally powerful impressions of the key move and following line-interfering battery-play will find their way to everybody's heart - from ordinary chess player to the most critical expert.
Norman's universality extended to the highest degree of making the Problem Chess a wonderful way of communication between people. Most of all, he was spreading around an universal joy, joy of composing, solving, commenting and presenting the Problem art, joy so typical for beginners, but not for the masters as he was. *** During our last meeting Norman gave me the position No.1a, the version of No.1 he had never published. Strangely or not, this much later version, saving two men, have always seemed inferior to me, and only recently I found the reason why. While writing this text I analyzed for the first time the original position No.1 and realized that simple changes could save three black pawns with the most economical 8+8 position (No.1b).
Is it really better? Norman probably didn't like a "dual-defences" 1... Be6/Se5 in the set-play, producing the same mates as thematic blocks 1... Qe6/Re5. But, then, why did he later accept them in No.1a (1... Sc4/Rab6)? Furthermore, in No.1b one can get rid of the only white pawn, by using the King battery, to get a 7+10 position (Kh3-f3, Rh2-f2, etc). It is also possible to forget about economy and unity and incorporate the additional fourth change, and so on, and so on... The truth is: such versions may be nice, but never as powerful as the original is. It is about the same as with memories about Norman: all the stories in this book, problems and photos, do not seem to be enough to revive the charm of real moments. So, no version could produce the initial magic of the appearance of problem No.1. It have been inspiring generations of composers for the whole 50 years, and it will do so in the future. Norman himself never got back to the Lacny theme. He didn't get any distinction, nor Album point for his invention, but many others did - for the versions of his matrix. Word "polishing" doesn't fit to the essence of this problem, just as it didn't fit anyhow to the magical appearance of "Norman The Original". We may only hope his personality will be reproduced somewhere in the Problem World, no matter how inferior such a version may be. |