helpmate
Sign in to saveA 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 2 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.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- type of chess problem
- Subclass of
- checkmate
Show 2 more facts
- discoverer or inventor
- Max Lange
- time of discovery or invention
- 1854-00-00
Sources (2)
via Wikidata · CC0
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- History
- Varieties of helpmate problems
- Multiple solutions
- Twinning
- Duplex
- Unorthodox helpmate problems
- See also
- References
- Further reading
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 2 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 illustrated is a helpmate in 8 (or h#8) by Zdravko 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
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “helpmate” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.