Adam J. Sobey (England, 19.3.1925 - 13.07.2015)

Chess composer of problems and endgame studies

In the article: "How to Compose?" Adam Sobey explaines how he composes studies. Only the first part, i.e. an excerpt from a much longer article, is reproduced here:

"The genesis of a study bt Adam Sobey

This workshop note describes the way in which a particular study of mine came into being. It shows how an idea was developed, both forwards to the intended denouement and backwards to the initial position of the published study. I do not pretend that my story is necessarily helpful to anyone wanting to try their hand as study composition because any creative activity is strictly personal : no two composers will go about things the same way. In particular, there will be a vastly different attitude regarding the way in which time influences events. As it happens, I believe there is a great benefit in interrupting work and allowing things to be tossed around in the mind. This has a clarifying effect, which is well known to those whose work is analytical, for every time we get stuck and cannot make progress a change in activity generally proves beneficial. We all know that from the crossword world, and Edward de Bono has given it an authoritative ring. In the following I will write the note as though there were no "helpful" suspensions of efforl, but from start to finish, the study was evolving over several composing sessions."

An obituary article John Beasley writes about him:

"Adam Sobey 1925 - 2015

Adam Sobey died in July 2015.

Although inactive in his last years, he was for a long time a leading member of the British endgame study fraternity, and he made significant contributions in other fields as well. The Problemist started publishing original endgame studies in 1968. Adam was its first study columnist, and continued to hold the post until 2000. As such, he guided the first steps of several contemporary British study composers, myself included, and had it not been for the platform he provided for my early work I would probably not be writing this now. He himself was very proud of the way in which, from modest beginnings, his column eventually reached out to the world’s best composers, and after his retirement I invited him to present selections from what he had published as special numbers 26 and 29 of British Endgame Study News. But perhaps even more important was his role in nurturing home talent. By and large, an established study composer will send one of his best pieces to a problem magazine only if he has a particular regard either for the magazine or for its columnist. I remember a remark by, I think, Jack Gill - sadly, I cannot quote chapter and verse - that from early life problemists tend to take a minimalist attitude towards endgame theory and practice, and indeed one of the attractions of “White to play and mate in two” is that it doesn’t demand any endgame knowledge. Yes, a problem magazine will attract the occasional masterpiece - the two studies by Ladislav Salai jr which I present elsewhere on this site provide examples, and as study columnist of diagrammes I myself had the pleasure of publishing the “Na1” study by David Blundell which immediately became recognised as a classic - but in general a composer will send his best works where the readership is more knowledgeable and appreciative.

However, in providing an opportunity for those who have hitherto composed only problems to try their hands, and in offering a platform for studies which are promising but not yet of a quality to command a place in the mainstream press, a study column in a problem magazine can perform an extremely useful function. A list of British study composers whose work appeared in Adam’s column over the years would be very revealing. He was of course a composer himself. Harold van der Heijden’s invaluable “Endgame study database IV” contains over fifty studies by him, and all but a few date from the time before computers became available to do the heavy analysis. Five were quoted in BESN (one each in the ordinary issues for March 1996, September 1996, and December 1997, and two in special number 28); three more appear below. They are very much of the “short and sweet” kind (those quoted in BESN were of heavier metal), but I think they will be found attractive. 

He also composed helpmate problems and I think some fairies, and he had a nice eye for novel and amusing possibilities over the board. His inventions Triplets, Three Kings Chess, Superknights, and Lambeth Conference were played at Christmas meetings of the Haslemere Chess Club, apparently to general approval, and they duly found their way into David Pritchard’s Encyclopedia. Triplets, in particular, was subsequently played in at least one high-level postal tourney organised by AISE (Associazione Italiana Scacchi Eterodossi). Professionally, Adam worked in some capacity which prevented him from writing directly to composers in Eastern bloc countries (he told me that G. W. Chandler used to write for him). He also composed crosswords for The Listener, I think as “Adam”.* The crosswords in The Listener were legends in the art of brain torture (I think that at least one published before the war found no successful solver at all), and I dimly remember one competition clue of his at a British Chess Problem Society weekend, which, although perfectly fair, demanded unexpected exploration at two distinct levels before the penny dropped. Thank you, Adam. Your successors will do well to equal you."

Source: Dutch Website ARVES

Others: On the Dutch Website ARVES 16 endgame studies with solution by Adam J. Sobey are selected.