Alois Johandl

Alois Johandl (* Vienna, 30.06.1931 - † 09.07.2004)

Chess composer

Alois Johandl composed direct mates (mostly in more moves) and also helpmates, selfmates and fairy problems. 

He was born in Vienna on 30.06.1931 and passed away on a heart attack (73) on 09.07.2004.

He was one of the most renowned Austrian authors of chesscomposition. He was initiated into the secrets of the logic school by Viennese prof. Halumbirek. 

At the age of seven he learned the game of chess.
At the age of 19 he published his first chess problem.
Most of his chessproblems belong to the logical school, but he built also nice chess studies.
Alois Johandl composed until 1977.
After a ten-year career-related break, he returned to the composition board in 1987.
During a holiday on Lake Ossiach, Johandl died 2004 on a heart attack.

Since 1972 he was an International Master of chess composition.

Source: arves.org

Picture: Manfred Zucker (left) and Alois Johandl (right), Bratislava 1993

Article (translated into English) by Klaus Wenda (grandmaster in chess composition) published in "die Schwalbe":

"A virtuoso of the moremover chess problem
in memory of Alois Johandl (30.6.1931 - 9.7.2004)
by Klaus Wenda, Vienna, Heft 210, Dezember 2004  

The logical multiple move has a long tradition in Austria. Building on the theories developed by Josef Halumbirek, it was initially Stefan Schneider and Hans Lepuschütz who had a decisive influence on the New German school until around 1980. From the 1950s onwards, a new fixed point emerged alongside this triumvirate: Alois Johandl.

Alois Johandl quickly found his own unique, unmistakable style, with which he achieved one success after another in the arenas of the professional tournaments. Conciseness and logical foundation of the idea, surprising progression of the game and optimal economy of the use of material were the significant elements of his masterly compositions, which soon earned him the FIDE International Master title in 1972. However, he never lost touch with the general public of solvers and also composed for those puzzle enthusiasts who, unencumbered by theoretical considerations, were primarily looking for an intellectual puzzle in a chess problem. 

 The author Alois Johandl has appeared in hundreds of chess columns on all five continents to entertain readers with relaxed, elegant positions full of humour and wit and to promote the chess problem. In my estimation, the deceased's problem oeuvre, consisting of around 600 operas, is unique in this range from complicated masterpieces, the full content of which is only accessible to selected experts, to daily newspaper puzzles (which are indispensable for the broad impact of problem chess).

My acquaintance with Alois Johandl goes back to around 1960. Since then, we have met once or twice a month as part of the Wiener Problemrunde. After a career-related creative break in the decade 1978-1988, Alois only intensified his compositional activities again when his professional retirement gave him enough time and leisure to do so. Despite a 10-year absence, studying the FIDE albums and several Schwalbe volumes quickly brought him back up to speed, as evidenced by the 10 tasks in the FIDE album 1989-1991.
From 1990 onwards, our personal contacts also became more frequent and deepened into a friendship that went beyond problem chess. 

 In 1999, preparatory work began on the book Dreiklang, published by Fritz Chlubna, which gave us many interesting hours together to analyse and evaluate our tasks. In August 2001, shortly after his 70th birthday, Alois was delighted to receive a freshly printed copy of this book, which contained 158 of his own selected and annotated exercises.

Over the past two years I have managed to extend my friend's attention to logical self and reflex mates, as well as multiple moves with fairy-tale pieces, and we have tackled some joint projects. In the last few months, he often complained of heart problems, but believed that he had them under control with medication. We were still on the phone to each other on 5 July 2004. Alois Johandl had a two-week holiday in Carinthia ahead of him, he was in good spirits and full of design ideas and we planned a meeting in my summer residence in August to exchange ideas.

Fate did not allow this to happen again. On 9 July 2004, Alois died of a sudden heart attack at his holiday resort. Our sympathy goes out to his family, especially his widow Hedwig, who was a loving and understanding companion to him for more than four decades.

The world of problem chess has lost one of its greats. A voice of the triad has fallen irretrievably silent, but its echo will continue to resound in the immortal compositions that will lend the name Alois Johandl a presence among all friends of the chess problem for decades to come."

(translated into English)

Klaus Wenda is a grandmaster in chess composition and lives in Vienna.

Source: dieschwalbe.de