Helpmate
Encyclopedia
A helpmate is a type of chess problem
in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating
Black. In a helpmate in n moves, Black moves first, then White, each side moving n times, to culminate in White's nth move checkmating Black. (In a helpmate in two for example, sometimes abbreviated h#2, the solution consists of a Black move, a White move, a second Black move, then a second White move, giving checkmate.) Although the two sides cooperate, all moves must be legal according to the rules of chess
.
The example problem to the right is a helpmate in eight (or h#8) by Z. Maslar, published in Die Schwalbe
in 1981. The solution is (recall that in helpmate solutions, Black's move is given first): 1. Kf3 Kd3 2. Bb3 Kc3 3. Ke4+ Kd2 4. Kd4 Ke2 5. Kc3 Nb4 6. Kb2 Kd2 7. Ka1 Kc1 8. Ba2 Nc2#
, published in Deutsche Schachzeitung
, December, 1854. The problem had White to move and White could play in a number of different ways to achieve the same mate (duals), considered a serious flaw today.
In The Chess Monthly
, November 1860, American puzzle inventor Sam Loyd
published the first helpmate with Black to move as is now standard, one intended main line, and an attractive but false solution (a try) to mislead solvers. However this problem too had a minor dual, and also had the major flaw (or cook) of having a second, completely separate solution, not noted by the author. Even so, it was a much better problem than Lange's and its presentation incorporating a story written by D. W. Fiske, established the genre. http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/puzzle11/puzz11-5a.htm
The first completely sound helpmate was by A. Barbe of Leipzig, published in 105 Leipziger Ill. Familien-Journal, 1861. http://chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?p=102&sid=b993cd65a915d1871e6ee93636c6811d
The term "help-mate" originated in The Problem Art by T.B. and F.F. Rowland (Kingstown, 1897) (chesshistory.com, quoting OED
). The helpmate problem task has since increased in popularity to be second only to the directmate, and is no longer considered to be part of fairy chess
.
In order to introduce more lines of play into a problem, various devices can be employed. Most straightforwardly, a problem can have more than one solution. The solutions will usually complement each other in some thematic and aesthetically pleasing way. Each solution can be considered a different phase of play
. If there is more than one solution, the composer will state this; if there is no such statement, the problem has only one solution. The example to the left is a helpmate in two (h#2) with two solutions. It was published in the June 1975 issue of Schach and is by the helpmate specialist Chris J. Feather.
The two solutions are 1. Bxb8 Bd5 2. Nc7 Bxg5# and 1. Rdxd8 Bc6 2. Nd7 Rxb3#. These lines are very closely linked, with both exhibiting the same basic pattern: first, Black takes the white piece that gives mate in the other solution (this is known as a Zilahi), at the same time opening the line on which mate is eventually given, then White moves a bishop to close a line so that Black's next move will not give check. Black's second move closes another line so that after White's last move, giving check, Black will not be able to interpose one of his pieces
.
(from CHM avec 6 pieces Bad Pyrmont, 1996).
The solution with Black moving first is 1. Ng6 f8Q 2. Ne5 d8N#. With White moving first, it is 1. f8R Nf7 2. d8B Nd6#. These two lines are closely linked, with two white pawn promotions
covering the black king's flight squares in the first part and promoted pieces blocking White's flight squares in the second. This problem is an Allumwandlung
, a problem in which pawns are promoted to each of knight, bishop, rook and queen.
rules), such as Circe chess
, grid chess
, or patrol chess
. All of these variations can be, and have been, combined. (So it is possible to have, for instance, a series-helpmate in seven, twinned with two solutions in each phase, using nightrider
s and Madrasi chess
.) Problems related to helpmates can have other kinds of stipulations involving cooperation between White and Black, in particular seriesmover
problems, like seriesmates, serieshelpmates, serieshelpstalemates, etc.
Chess problem
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using chess pieces on a chess board, that presents the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two...
in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating
Checkmate
Checkmate is a situation in chess in which one player's king is threatened with capture and there is no way to meet that threat. Or, simply put, the king is under direct attack and cannot avoid being captured...
Black. In a helpmate in n moves, Black moves first, then White, each side moving n times, to culminate in White's nth move checkmating Black. (In a helpmate in two for example, sometimes abbreviated h#2, the solution consists of a Black move, a White move, a second Black move, then a second White move, giving checkmate.) Although the two sides cooperate, all moves must be legal according to the rules of chess
Rules of chess
The rules of chess are rules governing the play of the game of chess. While the exact origins of chess are unclear, modern rules first took form during the Middle Ages. The rules continued to be slightly modified until the early 19th century, when they reached essentially their current form. The...
.
The example problem to the right is a helpmate in eight (or h#8) by Z. Maslar, published in Die Schwalbe
Die Schwalbe
Die Schwalbe is the German chess composition society and issues the bimonthly magazine Die Schwalbe.- Society :Die Schwalbe was founded on 10 February 1924 in Essen as Vereinigung von Problemfreunden zur Förderung der Aufgabenkunst...
in 1981. The solution is (recall that in helpmate solutions, Black's move is given first): 1. Kf3 Kd3 2. Bb3 Kc3 3. Ke4+ Kd2 4. Kd4 Ke2 5. Kc3 Nb4 6. Kb2 Kd2 7. Ka1 Kc1 8. Ba2 Nc2#
History
The first helpmate problem was by the German chess master Max LangeMax Lange
Max Lange was a German chess player and composer.In 1858–1864, he was an editor of the Deutsche Schachzeitung . He was a founder of Westdeutscher Schachbund , and an organizer of the 9th DSB–Congress at Leipzig 1894...
, published in Deutsche Schachzeitung
Deutsche Schachzeitung
Deutsche Schachzeitung was the first German chess magazine.Founded in 1846 by Ludwig Bledow under the title Schachzeitung der Berliner Schachgesellschaft, it took the name Deutsche Schachzeitung in 1872...
, December, 1854. The problem had White to move and White could play in a number of different ways to achieve the same mate (duals), considered a serious flaw today.
In The Chess Monthly
The Chess Monthly
The Chess Monthly was a short-lived chess magazine produced from 1857–1861 in the United States. Edited by professional diplomat and linguistics professor Daniel Willard Fiske, it was co-edited for a time by Paul Morphy. Eugene B. Cook and Sam Loyd edited the chess problems section...
, November 1860, American puzzle inventor Sam Loyd
Sam Loyd
Samuel Loyd , born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician....
published the first helpmate with Black to move as is now standard, one intended main line, and an attractive but false solution (a try) to mislead solvers. However this problem too had a minor dual, and also had the major flaw (or cook) of having a second, completely separate solution, not noted by the author. Even so, it was a much better problem than Lange's and its presentation incorporating a story written by D. W. Fiske, established the genre. http://www.chessbase.com/puzzle/puzzle11/puzz11-5a.htm
The first completely sound helpmate was by A. Barbe of Leipzig, published in 105 Leipziger Ill. Familien-Journal, 1861. http://chessproblem.net/viewtopic.php?p=102&sid=b993cd65a915d1871e6ee93636c6811d
The term "help-mate" originated in The Problem Art by T.B. and F.F. Rowland (Kingstown, 1897) (chesshistory.com, quoting OED
Oxford English Dictionary
The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
). The helpmate problem task has since increased in popularity to be second only to the directmate, and is no longer considered to be part of fairy chess
Chess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
.
Multiple solutions
Because the nature of helpmates sees Black and White cooperating, the play in helpmates may seem to be a great deal simpler than in directmates (the most common type of problem, where White tries to checkmate Black, and Black tries to avoid being mated). In directmates, a great variety of play can be found in the solution because although White has only one move at each juncture which will solve the problem, Black can choose between several to try and thwart White's efforts. In helpmates, however, both White's and Black's moves are limited to just one at each juncture; this may seem simple, but a well-constructed helpmate also shows thematic play and the cooperating moves should not always be easy to find. It has been noted that helpmates allow for the maximum expression of ideas in chess problems.In order to introduce more lines of play into a problem, various devices can be employed. Most straightforwardly, a problem can have more than one solution. The solutions will usually complement each other in some thematic and aesthetically pleasing way. Each solution can be considered a different phase of play
Phase of play
Phases of play are parts of a chess problem which happen, as it were, concurrently rather than consecutively.Each problem has at least one phase: the post-key play or actual play; that is, the play after the key...
. If there is more than one solution, the composer will state this; if there is no such statement, the problem has only one solution. The example to the left is a helpmate in two (h#2) with two solutions. It was published in the June 1975 issue of Schach and is by the helpmate specialist Chris J. Feather.
The two solutions are 1. Bxb8 Bd5 2. Nc7 Bxg5# and 1. Rdxd8 Bc6 2. Nd7 Rxb3#. These lines are very closely linked, with both exhibiting the same basic pattern: first, Black takes the white piece that gives mate in the other solution (this is known as a Zilahi), at the same time opening the line on which mate is eventually given, then White moves a bishop to close a line so that Black's next move will not give check. Black's second move closes another line so that after White's last move, giving check, Black will not be able to interpose one of his pieces
Chess piece
Chess pieces or chessmen are the pieces deployed on a chessboard to play the game of chess. The pieces vary in abilities, giving them different values in the game...
.
Twinning
Another way of giving variety to the play of a helpmate is twinning. Here, more than one problem is wrought from a single diagram by making small changes to it, such as moving a piece from one square to another, adding or removing a piece, turning the board round or some other device. Twinning is occasionally found in other types of problems, but is particularly common in helpmates. The example to the right is a helpmate in two by Henry Forsberg (published in 1935 in Revista Romana de Şah). The twins are created by substituting the black queen on a6 with a different piece. The solutions are:- a) diagram position: 1. Qf6 Nc5 2. Qb2 Ra4#
- b) with black rook at a6: 1. Rb6 Rb1 2. Rb3 Ra1#
- c) with black bishop at a6: 1. Bc4 Ne1 2. Ba2 Nc2#
- d) with black knight at a6: 1. Nc5 Nc1 2. Na4 Rb3#
- e) with black pawn at a6: 1. a5 Rb3 2. Ka4 Nc5#
Duplex
A further variation is the duplex, another way of getting two problems for the price of one. The first problem is a normal helpmate, the second starts from the same position but has White moving first and helping Black to checkmate him. Again, duplex problems have been composed with other types of problems, but the vast majority are helpmates. To the left is an example by Milan VukcevichMilan Vukcevich
Milan Radoje Vukcevich was a Yugoslav scientist, chess International Master, Grandmaster chess problem composer, and writer....
(from CHM avec 6 pieces Bad Pyrmont, 1996).
The solution with Black moving first is 1. Ng6 f8Q 2. Ne5 d8N#. With White moving first, it is 1. f8R Nf7 2. d8B Nd6#. These two lines are closely linked, with two white pawn promotions
Promotion (chess)
Promotion is a chess rule describing the transformation of a pawn that reaches its eighth rank into the player's choice of a queen, knight, rook, or bishop of the same color . The new piece replaces the pawn on the same square and is part of the move. Promotion is not limited to pieces that have...
covering the black king's flight squares in the first part and promoted pieces blocking White's flight squares in the second. This problem is an Allumwandlung
Allumwandlung
Allumwandlung is a chess problem where, at some stage in the solution, the pawn is promoted variously to a knight, bishop, rook and queen....
, a problem in which pawns are promoted to each of knight, bishop, rook and queen.
Unorthodox helpmate problems
Very popular today also are helpmates where White moves first; then the stipulation contains a "½", for example a helpmate in 2½ moves. Helpmates, like other problems, can be composed with fairy chess pieces or with fairy conditions (chess variantChess variant
A chess variant is a game related to, derived from or inspired by chess. The difference from chess might include one or more of the following:...
rules), such as Circe chess
Circe chess
Circe chess is a chess variant in which captured pieces are reborn on their starting positions as soon as they are captured, based on the following rules:#Pawns return to the start position on the same file they are captured on....
, grid chess
Grid chess
Grid chess is a chess variant invented by Walter Stead in 1953. It is played on a grid board. This is a normal 64-square board with a grid of lines further dividing the board into larger squares...
, or patrol chess
Patrol chess
Patrol chess is a chess variant in which captures can be made and checks given only if the capturing or checking piece is guarded by a friendly unit...
. All of these variations can be, and have been, combined. (So it is possible to have, for instance, a series-helpmate in seven, twinned with two solutions in each phase, using nightrider
Nightrider (chess)
A nightrider is a fairy chess piece that can move any number of steps in a direction that a knight can move. For example, a nightrider on b2 can reach square c4 and forward to d6 and e8, but cannot jump over pawn f4 to h5...
s and Madrasi chess
Madrasi chess
Madrasi chess is a chess variant invented in 1979 by Abdul Jabbar Karwatkar which uses the conventional rules of chess with the addition that when a piece is attacked by a piece of the same type but opposite colour it is paralysed and becomes unable to move, capture or give check...
.) Problems related to helpmates can have other kinds of stipulations involving cooperation between White and Black, in particular seriesmover
Seriesmover
A seriesmover is a chess problem in which one side makes a series of legal moves without reply at the end of which the other side makes a single move, giving checkmate or yielding stalemate, depending on the precise stipulation. Checks cannot be given except on the last move of the series...
problems, like seriesmates, serieshelpmates, serieshelpstalemates, etc.
Further reading
- Chris Feather , Black to Play (F. Chlubna, Vienna, 1994) - a general survey of helpmates.
- Hilmar Ebert + Hans Gruber "Top Helpmates" 1995, as PDF in: http://www.hilmar-ebert.de
- Hilmar Ebert + Hans Gruber "Early Helpmates" 2001, as PDF in: http://www.hilmar-ebert.de