Above we see an old-fashioned chimney sweep. There is a lot of lore surrounding "sweeps" including their sometimes worn uniform of top hat and tails; we'll leave it to you to find out more if you're so inclined. But today, in Bill Salot's 75th Problem Composing Contest, we'll look at sweeps of the checker variety: Big problems with big action wherein pieces are swept off the board. This one will be a real challenger and we urge you to check out the contest page and vote for the one you like best.

As an introduction and to whet your interest, here's a problem called The Magnificent Seven, an 8x9 composition by the late Roy Little. It tied for second in Contest 38 in April 2018.

BLACK

WHITE
White to Play and Win

W:WK1,7,10,K11,14,16,K17,22,30:BK2,3,12,K19,K20,21,K25,K27

See what you can do with Mr. Little's teaser, and then click on Read More to see the solution before moving on to the contest page.

Solution

*14 9---A, 25-18, *9 6, 2-9, *10 6, 9-2 (or 3-10, *30 26, 9-2, same), *30 26---B, 3-10, *26 23, 19-26, *17 13, 12-19, *11 16, 20-11, *1 6, 2-9, 13 8 (take 7). White Wins with the move.

A---Not 30 26, 25-9, 11 15, 2-18, 1 5, 20-11, 5 7 Drawn.

B---Not 1 6, *3-10, Black Wins.

On to the contest page!