Miroslav Havel (actually Miroslav Košťál; * 7 November 1881 in Teplice; † 8 July 1958 in Prague) was an important Czech chess composer.

Grand Master of Chess Composition

Life:

Havel lived in Prague from 1884. He studied at the technical college there. From 1906, he worked for the Austrian State Railways and, after Czechoslovakia was founded, for its Ministry of Railways.

Chess composition

After the publication of his first task on 1 May 1898 he soon began to make a name for himself as a leading representative of the Bohemian school of chess composition. Although many young composers were emerging in Bohemia and Moravia, Havel's works were seen as a transition to a new era of the Bohemian school.

A key feature of Havel's chess compositions was his avoidance of the use of white pawns. In 1922, František Dedrle praised the frequent use of the echo in Havel's works, either as combinations or mate positions, in the foreword to Bohemian Garnets. According to Dedrle, Havel did not prioritise the purity of the mating patterns over the echo idea. Since, according to Dedrle's interpretation, even sacrifices only served to destroy superfluous material, Havel avoided using them unless they formed an important part of the overall idea.

Editor

Havel was also active as a journalist. For a long time, he edited the chess composition section of Československý šach. He was editor of the chess columns of various daily newspapers, including Čas (from 19 June 1920 until the magazine ceased publication in 1923), Národní osvobození, Slovenský národ and Les Parallèles 50. He also appeared as a solver of chess problems.

More than fifty years after his death, he was appointed Grand Master of Chess Composition in 2012.

Others: 16 chess studies with solution are selected on the Website ARVES.org.

Source: Germain Wikipedia

              Website: ARVES.org