William Anthony Shinkman

William Anthony Shinkman (* 25 December 1847 in Reichenberg (Bohemia); † 25 May 1933 in Grand Rapids (Michigan)) was an important American chess composer. He also worked under the pseudonym M. Ham Nawkins.

His life
At the age of 6, he arrived in Baltimore as the child of Bohemian immigrants named Tschinkman. He later lived in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he initially worked as an insurance and property agent. From 1893 he worked for the city council.

Chess composition
Together with his contemporary Samuel Loyd, he was the most famous chess composer in the USA in the late 19th and early 20th century.

His oeuvre comprises over 3,500 art pieces, making him one of the most prolific chess composers ever. 672 of them are included in the collection The golden argosy published by Alain Campbell White in 1929. The foreword to this book was written by Shinkman's nephew Otto Wurzburg, who was also an important composer. Because of his wealth of ideas, Shinkman was also known as The wizard of Great Rapids.

Among other things, he was in charge of the composition section of Lasker's chess magazine.

His orthodox mating problems are usually characterised by surprising key moves. Shinkman also contributed a great deal to the field of self-mating.

He also coined the English term block, a forced move idea. White does not threaten mate, but every move by Black blocks a defence piece. The term is not commonly used in this sense in German.