Manfred Zucker

Manfred Zucker (born April 15, 1938 in Chemnitz; † October 23, 2013 there -  was a very activ and talented chess composer, editor and chess player.

Editor
In 1960, Zucker was one of the founding trio of the chess corner in the regional newspaper Volksstimme (Karl-Marx-Stadt), which merged with the Zwickauer Kreiszeitung Freie Presse on 1 January 1963. The Schachecke of the Freie Presse became known under its new name and was taken over entirely by Zucker after the deaths of Herbert Küchler and Helmut Klug. From April 1973 to 2000, he very successfully headed the Problems and Studies section in Chess. He had been an international adjudicator for chess composition since 1972 and had about one hundred assignments in this function, including twice for the FIDE albums.

In recent years he took over as editor of the multi-move and self-mating section of the magazine for chess composition Problem-Forum and appeared regularly as a speaker at the annual chess composition meetings in his region. Two of his lectures took him as far as Biel to the Kunstschachfreunde in Switzerland. He has published over 50 specialised articles on composition in chess journals.

Chess composition
Zucker has been active as a composer since the 1950s. His first original, a checkmate in five moves, appeared in the magazine Schach in 1956. In 1983 he won the 2nd GDR championship in problem chess with a checkmate in seven moves. Self-checkmate and multi-move moves were among his favorite directions, although he preferred strict economy in the use of means. He also composed some endgame studies.

Chess player
Zucker learned to play chess as a child and joined BSG Motor IFA Karl-Marx-Stadt, now TSV IFA Chemnitz, at the age of 15. He played in all leagues from the 3rd district class to the GDR Oberliga and made it to the three-quarter finals of the GDR championship in Torgau in singles in the early 1960s. He continued to play actively for his club well into his old age.

Private
After graduating from high school, Zucker learned the profession of wholesaler and was managing director of a purchasing and delivery cooperative for the craft sector until his retirement.

His wife Heidi (who passed away at an early age) actively supported him for a long time in his extensive work as an editor. Zucker died as a result of an intestinal operation.

Highly valued for his human qualities

Manfred Zucker was an important organiser and adjudicator in countless problem chess activities and is held in high esteem from a human point of view by those who knew him.

Manfred Zucker 15.04.1938 - 23.10.2013
An obituary by Frank Richter, Trinwillershagen (Article published in December 2013 in the problem magazine "Die Schwalbe" issue number 264)
"The news of Manfred's death has shaken me to the core. It is unimaginable not to be able to see him again, talk shop with him about problem chess or just chat about life in general. With his passing, problem chess in Saxony in particular, in Germany in general and worldwide has lost one of its most outstanding personalities and protagonists. Manfred's departure leaves a gap that cannot be filled.

It is definitely no exaggeration to describe him not just as my father, but as the problem chess father of an entire generation. I still remember my first steps in the genre of artificial chess very well: during a holiday in Oberwiesenthal with my grandparents, my father and I tried to decipher one of those strange chess puzzles with the caption "Mate in two moves" from the chess column of the Karl-Marx-Stadt daily newspaper Freie Presse, which was edited by an "MZ". That was in the mid-70s, the subject matter was foreign to us and we gave up after a few hours of futile attempts to solve it. A few years later, I started reading SCHACH regularly, including the "Problems+Studies" section, which was also supervised by this newspaper, and one day I managed to solve four two-move puzzles. I was delighted to send my solutions to MZ and was very surprised to receive a personal reply from this certainly very busy man, which encouraged me to continue working on the problems. 

My own attempts at composition followed, and each of my submissions was promptly answered by Manfred - in a very friendly, very motivating way, his letters with their characteristically clear, unconventionally slanted handwriting opened up the fantastic world of ideas of the art of composition to me, conveyed fundamental criteria and values and spurred me on to finally build a problem that was ready for publication. When I succeeded, I had the feeling that Manfred was almost more pleased than I was.

At the beginning of the 80s, I was allowed to visit him in person. His inimitable, friendly manner immediately made me feel at home in the world of the great GDR problem chess names. And it was almost like an accolade when he beckoned me to the board at a course in the Baltic resort of Rerik and suggested that we work on an idea together. For him, that was also part of promoting young talent - dealing with young people unselfishly, cooperatively and on an equal footing.

Looking back, I wonder where he actually found the time for all this. He was in the middle of his professional life, was in charge of two large problem chess columns with a high frequency of publication, large volumes and hundreds of solvers, composed, judged prizes, wrote articles, acted as tournament director, played party chess etc. etc. And I was by no means the only young author to receive this support, no matter who you ask, whether Trommler, Schreckenbach, Reinhold, Linß, Degener, Degenkolbe... - any of them could describe exactly the same experiences as me. He cultivated correspondence with foreign authors just as intensively. An achievement on his part that cannot be overestimated.

Many other facts, memories and tributes could be listed here. I will limit myself to what has been said so far and refer to the books on MZ's problem chess work: "Ausgewählte Schachaufgaben" from the Kuhn/Murkisch series, "Ausgewählte Miniaturen" by W. A. Bruder and "Sachsendreier: Böttger - Fiebig - Zucker" published by udo degener. Finally, three selected problems from Manfred's extensive oeuvre will once again illustrate his own style with the quality seal "Typically MZ" - clear aesthetics, economical construction, attractive and easy to solve. They represent the genres he loved and worked on the most: the logical multiple move, the self-mate and pieces with the white queen and her cavalier (the knight)."

Publications

Fritz Hoffmann; Günter Schiller; Karl-Heinz Siehndel; Manfred Zucker: 407 tasks and studies. Sportverlag, Berlin, 1984. ISBN 3-88805-350-1
Manfred Zucker: Selected chess tasks. Self-published by Winfried E. Kuhn and Godehard Murkisch, Göttingen, 1989.
Degenkolbe, Mirko (ed.) and others: Sachsendreier: Böttger - Fiebig - Zucker: 3 × 70 selected chess problems by Horst Böttger, Reinhardt Fiebig & Manfred Zucker; as well as the decisions of the anniversary tournaments “Böttger-Fiebig-70” and “Zucker-70”. Udo Degener Verlag, Potsdam, 2008. ISBN 978-3-940531-05-6

Web links
Literature by and about Manfred Zucker in the German National Library catalog
Compositions by Manfred Zucker on the Schwalbe PDB server
90 years of chess composition in Chemnitz (with picture) (PDF; 1.9 MB)
Individual evidence
  Obituary at TSV IFA Chemnitz
  International judges for chess composition
  Martin Hoffmann: The portrait: Manfred Zucker, Chemnitz. in: Swiss Chess Newspaper, 2005, No. 11–12, page 25 (PDF; 2.1 MB)
  CHESS 6/1984 p. 277f, Second GDR Championship 1983
 

Source: Germain Wiipedia 

Others: On Website ARVES.org by Peter Boll are 5 endgame studies by Manfred Zucker seleted.