Baruch Lender (9 January 1913 – 25 February 1994) was an Israeli chess problems composer, recognized for his theoretical contributions to the art of chess problems.1 His most enduring legacy is the invention of a complex strategic theme for two-move problems known as the "Lender Combination," a sophisticated synthesis of pre-existing tactical ideas that cemented his reputation as a profound theorist in the field. While his work was deeply technical, his life was framed by a broader context of intellectual pursuit.
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Biography and Context in Israeli Chess Composition
Born on January 9, 1913, Baruch Lender was part of a
generation of composers who shaped the landscape of chess composition in
Israel. He emerged during what is known as the "Haproblemai Era" (1954–1985), a
period of significant growth for the art form in the country, spurred by the
popularity of chess columns and specialized publications. This era was foundational, building upon the
earliest roots of Israeli chess composition, which can be traced back to 1924,
and setting the stage for Israel's later international successes, including
multiple World Chess Solving Championships.
Lender's contemporaries included notable figures such as
Josef Goldschmidt, often regarded as the "father of Israeli chess
composition," who helped foster an environment where complex strategic
ideas could flourish. Within this vibrant
community, Lender's contribution stands out for its focused depth. While the
historical record provides extensive details on the careers of other Israeli
chess figures—such as Ofer Comay, a World Chess Solving Champion, or Yochanan
Afek, a prolific composer and writer—Lender is remembered almost exclusively
for his single, named thematic invention. This suggests that his impact was that of a
quiet, deep thinker rather than a public figure or a prolific composer of
varied works. His legacy is not defined by volume, but by the intellectual
novelty and intricacy of the Lender Combination, an idea so significant that it
became his primary identifier in the annals of chess problem history.
Personal details from his daughter's memoirs reveal that Lender
was an educated man from a family of higher social standing who, by 1939, was a
partner in his father's business. He was described as
a gentle and generous person, known for his calm demeanor and an aversion to
pointless arguments—a temperament perhaps well-suited to the patient and
logical pursuit of chess problem composition.
The Lender Combination
The Lender Combination is a highly complex theme in
two-move chess problems, described as a "sort of mix of Salazar and
(pseudo) le Grand" themes. Its ingenuity
lies in its layering of multiple forms of paradox and reciprocity, creating a
deep and challenging solving experience. To fully appreciate Lender's
invention, it is necessary to first understand its constituent thematic
precursors.
Thematic Precursors: The Salazar and le Grand Themes
The intellectual architecture of the Lender Combination
rests on two sophisticated themes developed in the 20th century, both of which
play with the solver's expectations by reversing the function of moves between
different phases of play.
The le Grand Theme
Developed in the 1950s by Dutch brothers Henk and Piet le Grand, this
theme involves a paradoxical reciprocal change between a "try" (a
near-solution defeated by a single defense) and the "key" (the actual
solution). The formal structure
is as follows:
1.
A white try threatens a specific mate, $A$.
2.
A black defense, $x$, defeats the threat but allows a
different mate, $B$.
3.
The white key move then threatens mate $B$.
4.
The same black defense, $x$, now defeats this new threat but
allows the original mate, $A$.
The core of the theme is a "double paradox": the
black defense $x$
appears to both enable and disable each of the white mates, depending on the
context of the try or the key.8 This intricate logical reversal makes the theme highly
prized among composers.
The Salazar theme is another form of reciprocal change,
this time involving the reversal of White's first and second moves against the
same black defense. Its abstract
structure is:
1.
A white try, $1. E?$, is met by a black defense, $1...b$, which is followed by the mate $2. F\#$.
2.
The white key move is $1.
F!$. When met by the same black defense, $1...b$, it is now followed by the mate $2. E\#$.10
Here, the move that served as the mate in the try phase ($F$) becomes the key move in the solution,
and the move that was the try ($E$) becomes the mating move. This theme often involves a
strategic shift in how the mate is delivered, for instance, by changing between
battery and non-battery play.
Lender's conceptual leap was not merely to use these
themes, but to recognize their shared architectural foundation in logical
reversal and reciprocity. He understood that these two distinct forms of
paradox could be layered upon one another to create a new, more complex
structure of strategic misdirection.
Definition and Strategic Structure
The original Lender Combination 1979.
The Lender Combination synthesizes these elements into a
single, cohesive whole. Its abstract formula, as demonstrated in Lender's
compositions, can be expressed through the interplay of moves across the
problem's virtual (try) and actual (solution) phases.
A generalized structure is:
- Try: $1. A?$ (threatening $2.B\#$). A defense $1...a$ is met by $2.C\#$.
- Solution: $1. C!$ (threatening $2.D\#$). The same
defense $1...a$ is now met by $2.A\#$.
In this structure, the move $C$, which was a mating move in a variation of the try,
becomes the key move of the problem—a clear echo of the Salazar theme.
Simultaneously, the move $A$, which was the try itself, becomes the new mating move
after the defense $1...a$, reflecting the reciprocal change characteristic of the le
Grand theme. The "pseudo" qualifier often used to describe the le
Grand element indicates that Lender's application may modify the pure form to
fit within this more complex matrix.
Illustrative
Masterpiece: UV CSZTV, 1979
The canonical example of the Lender Combination is his
problem published in UV CSZTV in 1979, for which he
received a 3rd Honorable Mention.1 A detailed analysis reveals the theme's intricate
mechanics.
Baruch Lender, UV CSZTV, 1979
3rd Honorable Mention
Mate in 2
The solution unfolds across three phases of play:
1.
Set Play (analyzing potential mates if Black were to move first
from the diagram position):
o
$1...Bxd4[a] \quad
2.Qxa6\#$
o
$1...Bc3 \quad 2.Ne3\#[A]$
2.
The Try:
o
The try is $1.d5?$, which threatens $2.Ne3\#[A]$.
o
After the defense $1...Bxd4[a]$, the mate is $2.Qxa6\#$.
o
After $1...Rc3/Bxa3[b]$, the mate is $2.Rg4\#[C]$.
o
However, the try is
refuted by the single move $1...Re2!$.
3.
The Solution (Key):
o
The key is $1.Rg4[C]!$, which threatens $2.Qxa6\#$.
o
After the defense $1...Bxd4[a]$, the mate is now $2.Ne3\#[A]$.
o
After the defense $1...Bxa3[b]$, the mate is now $2.d5\#$.
The analysis shows how all the thematic elements converge.
The key move, $1.Rg4!$, was
a mating move ($C$) in a variation of the try. The try move, $1.d5?$, becomes a mating move ($D$) in a variation of the solution. This
mutual exchange of functions between the first and second moves is the Salazar
component. Meanwhile, the mates following the thematic defense $1...Bxd4[a]$ are changed between the
try phase ($2.Qxa6\#$) and the solution phase ($2.Ne3\#[A]$), demonstrating the reciprocal change at the heart of the
le Grand theme.
The following table visually deconstructs this complex
interplay.
|
|
Phase of Play |
Threat (Label) |
Black's Thematic Defense (Label) |
White's Mating Response (Label) |
|
Set
Play |
- |
- |
$1...Bxd4
[a]$ |
$2.Qxa6\#$ |
|
- |
- |
$1...Bc3$ |
$2.Ne3\#
[A]$ |
|
|
Try |
$1.d5?$ |
$2.Ne3\#
[A]$ |
$1...Bxd4
[a]$ |
$2.Qxa6\#$ |
|
$1...Bxa3
[b]$ |
$2.Rg4\#
[C]$ |
|||
|
Solution |
$1.Rg4!
[C]$ |
$2.Qxa6\#$ |
$1...Bxd4
[a]$ |
$2.Ne3\#
[A]$ |
|
$1...Bxa3
[b]$ |
$2.d5\#$ |
Family and Personal Life
Beyond his contributions to chess, Baruch Lender was a
family man whose children both went on to achieve considerable success in
demanding intellectual fields. Their careers and recollections provide a fuller
picture of the environment in which Lender pursued his esoteric hobby. Aside
from his Chess problems artistic creations he was a successful stock market
investor.
Daughter: Professor Minna Rozen
Baruch Lender's daughter, Minna Rozen (b. October 1947), is a distinguished academic and
professor emeritus of Jewish History at the University of Haifa. She is a leading authority on the history of
Jews in the Ottoman Empire and the Balkan states, having served as the Director
of the Diaspora Research Center at Tel Aviv University from 1992 to 1997. Her scholarly
approach is noted for its interdisciplinary nature and its focus on
"grassroots history," which has involved her leading extensive
projects to document and digitize tens of thousands of Jewish gravestones and
community archives in Turkey and Greece.
In her memoir, Memories from the Pale of Settlement, Rozen offers a warm and insightful portrait of her
father. She describes him as "the finest, gentlest, most generous man in
the world". She recalls her
fathers as calm and educated nature, noting that he was confident his
intellectual abilities would always allow him to provide for his family. A particularly telling recollection is that
her father "never wasted time on arguments that led nowhere and was known
in town as someone who could not be engaged in a good quarrel," a
description that aligns with the patience required for chess composition.
Son: Dr. Mandy (Menahem) Lender
Baruch Lender's son, Dr. Mandy (Menahem) Lender, also pursued a professional career requiring extensive
education. Born in Israel, graduated from the Hebrew University Medical School
in Jerusalem in 1970 with an M.D. degree and went to earn an MBA degree from
the Dominican University, River Forest IL. Later he
authored the book The Master Attractor.
The high-level professional achievements of both of
Lender's children—one a leading historian, the other a physician and
author—point to a family environment that valued education and intellectual
development.
Legacy and Recognition
Baruch Lender's contributions have been formally recognized
and preserved by the chess composition community, ensuring his work remains a
subject of study. This posthumous treatment marks his transition from a skilled
composer to a canonical figure in the theory of chess problems.
A definitive monograph on his work was published: Lender Combinations - Baruch Lender and His Chess Problems
(1996). The book was compiled by a trio
of esteemed Israeli composers—Uri Avner, Paz Einat, and Yoel Aloni—a collaboration that signifies the high regard in which
Lender was held by his peers. Published by Variantim in both English and Hebrew, the 176-page volume contains
148 of his problems along with personal notes and commentary, making his
specialized work accessible to an international audience. Such a scholarly codification by leading
experts is a formal acknowledgment of a composer's lasting importance.
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His memory is also actively celebrated. On the occasion of his 100th birthday, the 2nd Israel Open Chess Problem Composition Tourney (c. 2013-2014) dedicated its helpmate section to his memory. This act of communal remembrance ensures that his name and contributions are passed down to a new generation of composers. Together, the scholarly monograph and the centennial tournament demonstrate that the chess problem world has judged Baruch Lender's work to be of enduring theoretical and historical value.
References:
1.
Lender Combinations. Baruch Lender and His Chess Problems. 1996. Uri Avner, Paz Einat, & Yoel Aloni Editors. Variantim Special Publications, The Israel Chess Composition Society
(ICCS). Tel Aviv. ISBN 965-338-029-X
2.
https://minnarozen.co.il/whoisminna.html
3.
https://lendercombinations.com
5.
https://www.wfcc.ch/uri-avner-13011941-10062014/
8.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoel_Aloni
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