Ferdinand Metzenauer (born March 24, 1908 in Lonka; † March 5, 1968 in Silbersbach near Lam) was a well-known German composer and author on chess.

Life
Born in Hungary, Metzenauer moved to Munich with his German mother in 1913. Here he worked as a commercial clerk. He was taken prisoner during the Second World War. After his return he lived in Silbersbach near Lam in the Bavarian Forest until the end of his life. He ran his own gardening business with his wife.

Chess composition
Metzenauer learned to play chess at the age of 17. Although he achieved a reasonable level of skill in tournament chess, he preferred to focus on chess tasks. He published his first in 1928, and in total he composed more than 500, mainly two- and more-movers pieces. He often won first prize at tournaments and five three-move moves were included in the FIDE album 1914–1944/II. In 1938 he became Bavarian problem champion.

The Munich idea
In January 1934, Metzenauer published his so-called Munich idea in the magazine Die Schwalbe. Werner Sidler defined this topic like this: In the main plan, Black has a damaging defensive parade against a White threat. However, due to self-handicapping, White is unable to take advantage of this damage. A corresponding pre-plan maneuver eliminates Black's defense so that White's original damage can be used. (Swiss chess newspaper, 2002, issue 6, page 33).

Source: Germain Wikipedia