“All genres are good except the boring.” – Certainly this aphorism by Voltaire was the author’s motto for his book on extraordinary chess problems. To pick the very best, Werner Keym has done a painstaking selection from thousands of problems existent in databases, with a respectable result. On the one hand he deals with special themes and tasks (castling, en-passant captures, pawn promotions, et al.), on the other hand with problems belonging to the genre of retrograde analysis, i.e. the author’s favourite composing subject. This latter part of the anthology constitutes about 50% of the total and contains many of his own compositions. Most of all these brain-twisters are not only beautiful and original, but also subtle, enigmatic or tricky, sometimes even bizarre, in any case a challenge to the solver.
Throughout the book the author has stuck to his concept to present the problems with the corresponding solutions on one page, which is particularly convenient for the reader. Moreover, the author has abstained from any problem jargon generally used extensively in other problem books. So the book will also be suitable for not so experienced problem friends who wish to broaden their knowledge and to better themselves in the field of chess problem solving.
At the end of the book the author even leaves the field of problem chess when he suggests an improved procedure in matches for the World Chess Championship.

This first English edition is a considerably revised and updated edition of Werner Keym’s Eigenartige Schachprobleme published in 2010: about 1/4 of the 500 problems have been replaced by superior or more recent examples. Appendices 1 and 2 of the German edition (Economical Retro Records) have not been included anymore as the respective problems are meanwhile easily available in online databases.

Have a look at an excerpt from the new edition.


A special service for those who don’t have the 1st German edition (meanwhile out of print):
Eigenartige Schachprobleme is now freely available as PDF, see www.nightrider-unlimited.de/angebot/... (1.7 MB). The file also includes at its end the updated errata (> last minor update in December 2018).
Note: The diagrams in that PDF may appear of mixed quality, depending on your individual PC configuration, the operating system and the PDF reader used. The best display seems to be provided by the Foxit Reader.

Update (22-02-2021): Chess Problems Out of the Box is now available as a free e-book as well! (PDF of 1.34 MB)

Keym, Werner: Chess Problems Out of the Box
Kuhn † / Murkisch Series No. 46, paperback, viii + 184 pages, contains about 500 diagrams, a short glossary, a detailed index of names and subject index, and a colour photo of the author (frontispiece).
Treuenhagen, 2018 – ISBN 978-3-935586-14-6.
Edition of 250 copies
15 x 21 cm
Weight 286 g

For chess bibliophiles, a small, limited hardback edition of this book is available, in the usual get-up of the red Kuhn/Murkisch Series. The price is € 28.- plus postage.

Payment is possible by bank transfer or by PayPal. If you prefer the latter, please use the email address given below - murchess@gmx.de - and add €2 or $2 to cover the PayPal fees.
Bank details are given in our Impressum (Imprint).

Order from:
Verlagsbuchhandlung
Godehard Murkisch
Herbartweg 3
37083 Göttingen
Germany