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MatPlus.Net Forum General Most problems by one composer in an award
 
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(1) Posted by Michael McDowell [Sunday, Jun 20, 2010 21:00]

Most problems by one composer in an award


The March 2010 issue of Problem Observer features Michael Lipton’s judgment of a theme tourney for two-move block-threats. 17 of the 20 honoured problems are by Gerhard Maleika (and he didn’t win First Prize!). Can this be a record for most problems in an award by a single composer?
 
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(2) Posted by Marjan Kovačević [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 04:20]

Pity the announcement wasn't better popularized.
 
 
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(3) Posted by Dan Meinking [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 11:13]

Wonder how many entries, and entrants, there were??

I remember Milan Vukcevich taking 1st, 2nd and 3rd Prizes in a Chess Life #3 section (1983 or 1984 most likely). Think he may have earned an Honorable Mention or two in the same tourney.
 
   
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(4) Posted by Michal Dragoun [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 12:18]

Concerning number of prizes, I have to show off myself with H. Fougiaxis 40 JT - award on http://problem64.beda.cz/silo/moutecidis_fougiaxis_prentos_jubilee_2006_awards.pdf :-)
 
   
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(5) Posted by Michael McDowell [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 17:16]

Dan, there were 40 entries, but the award does not mention the number of composers. Marjan, the tourney was publicised in the March 2009 issue of The Problemist, but may not have been picked up by other magazines.
 
 
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(6) Posted by Jan Hein Verduin [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 20:12]

Feenschach's 21st theme tourney (1967/1969) had more than 200 entries. 19 of the 39 awards went to Pieter ten Cate.
 
 
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(7) Posted by Kevin Begley [Monday, Jun 21, 2010 21:45]

From the start of this thread, I worried this would encourage some notorious composers to flood composing tourneys with mediocrity (in pursuit of false grandeur).

While it might be a serious achievement for one composer to earn a large quantity of awards for a particular tourney -- seemingly this is the case w/ HF40JT, and some other candidates mentioned here -- it might also lead to dubious distinction.

Imagine one composer taxing the judge(s) with hundreds of entries, to earn dozens of commendations; or, imagine worse!
There needs to be some counter-balance here (e.g., perhaps reveal the # of entries per composer, so that we might also track the record number of entries without distinction).

If one entry earns one commendation, I think it's fair to call the tourney something of a success.
If two-dozen entries earn one commendation, I think it's fair to call the tourney a substantial failure.

Despite the fact that some tourneys may have substantially benefited from unlimited entries (e.g., HF40JT), I would encourage setting "reasonable" limits upon the number of entries per composer...

The goal should be to capture only one award (first prize), and we should have a higher regard for those who achieve this by the most economical means.
 
   
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(8) Posted by Dan Meinking [Tuesday, Jun 22, 2010 01:40]; edited by Dan Meinking [10-06-22]

Kevin wrote:


"From the start of this thread, I worried this would encourage some notorious composers to flood composing tourneys with mediocrity (in pursuit of false grandeur).

While it might be a serious achievement for one composer to earn a large quantity of awards for a particular tourney -- seemingly this is the case w/ HF40JT, and some other candidates mentioned here -- it might also lead to dubious distinction"


I think the HF40JT award speaks for itself. Michal submitted 15 entries (including 2 joints): 10(!) got prizes, 2 got 1st HM, 1 got 2nd HM, and 1 more got a Commendation. Out of 56 entries, 27 were awarded: 11 prizes, 9 HMs, 7 Comms. And... there was strong competition: Caillaud, Lorinc, Petkov, Tura, etc.

Pretty amazing, Michal!!
 
   
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(9) Posted by Kevin Begley [Tuesday, Jun 22, 2010 05:09]; edited by Kevin Begley [10-06-22]

@Dan,

This incredible result hardly speaks for itself -- specifically, it says nothing about how praise of such a result might tend to encourage excessive mediocrity.

I assume, given your decision to not speak directly to this issue, that you believe the potential good outweighs any potential harm.
And, I am prepared to concede, this may be entirely valid...

I only propose that it might be possible to design some counter-balancing force(s), such that unlimited entries are encouraged only when warranted by quality (and discouraged otherwise).
And, without such a counter-balance, I consider it wise to restrict entries to some "reasonable" quantity (per composer).

Furthermore, this result says nothing of the composer's inefficient positioning of his entries -- why win 1st thru 8th prize from a single tourney, when you might, instead, win eight 1st-prizes from multiple tourneys?
It's obvious why many composers flood TT's: rarely are judges reliable enough to be trusted with our single, best entry.
And, the plain fact is, excessive entries encourage excessive awards (they provide judges excessive latitude).

Recently, I sent an early entry into some thematic tourney, only to learn that my problem was entry #23, but I was only composer #3!
At first, my reaction was a deep, unsettling disgust.
For about two weeks, I planned to respond in kind -- flood the tourney with entries, attempt to drive all others entirely out of the award, and give some mediocre jokers a taste of their own medicine.

Five entries later (or was it six?), I came to my senses.
I remembered that I compose problems for artistic enjoyment.
I remembered that judges are too often wildly unreliable.
I remembered that awards have been dominated before, and few would appreciate the joke I would have been making on a bad policy.
And, I discovered how this endeavor only makes me a party to my own theft.

I may send more problems to this same TT -- only because, it's rare that I find a TT so interesting.
The difference is my motivation has changed -- my aim is to prevent another HF40JT-like result, rather than [sarcastically] duplicate it.

[edit: a good counter-balance would be to seal bids on what a problem deserves, and penalize composers when they fail to achieve their bid -- and penalize the judges when the bid is exceeded.]
 
   
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(10) Posted by shankar ram [Friday, Jun 25, 2010 19:17]

I do agree with Kevin about quantity not being equal to quality. I myself passed through this phase in my composing before realising this.

But as a counter point, I have this experience: as a matter of convenience, I used to send most of my problems in a particular genre to the same source (informal tourneys only!). When the awards came out, some of my better problems used to fare less well than I would have hoped for. Later, looking at the example of others, I saw I could have got more awards if I had "farmed out" my output among a larger selection of sources!

But then, like Kevin said, I had my fun while composing the stuff. What happened later was others' headache! <philosopher's hat/off>
 
   
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(11) Posted by Sarah Hornecker [Saturday, Jun 26, 2010 00:41]

If there really was an injustice done here, the judges were incompetent. They should not estimate the number of entries of a composer when doing their award but each entry for itself. A special case is, however, when the entries of an author as a whole get awarded (like "special prize for exploration of theme whatsitsname").

I remember having a study in Schach where I gave a special mention (not to confuse with a special honorable mention - I just mentioned it explicitly in the award) for a lifetime achievement to the author of an unawardable study who has explored that certain kind of endgame for several decades now.
 
 
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MatPlus.Net Forum General Most problems by one composer in an award