Helpmate, Selfmate ... Checkmate!
As an adolescent and engaged chess player, I encountered for the first time the study of the themes of helpmate and selfmate. To say the least, I wound up pretty puzzled. Why should my opponent collaborate willfully in order to be checkmated? And why on earth should I literally force him to checkmate me? The whole idea ran entirely contrary to my passion and ambition to win. Wasn’t that the goal of playing?
Only in later years I began to appreciate the hidden treasure in those apparently senseless - or even outright crazy - moves, realizing that excogitating and mulling over them improved to a large extent my tactical and imaginative skills.
A helpmate is a chess problem in which Black moves first and both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating Black. The abbreviation is h#n, where n is the number of requested moves. For example, h#3 means that at his third move White checkmates Black. Obviously, all moves must be legal moves.
The first helpmate problem was created by Max Lange in 1854. Unfortunately, the solution of this problem is not unique, and it is White to move and not Black.
Sam Loyd in 1860 was the first to create a helpmate with Black to move. But his problem has also a second solution, completely different from the author’s one, discovered eighteen years later.
Finally, the first completely correct helpmate with modern rules was created by Albert Barbe in 1861.
Surprisingly, helpmate quickly became popular, in fact so much that it surpassed all the other themes, obviously besides the classic mate in n moves. The term helpmate was coined only in 1897, initially the word being help-mate with a dash.
The following is a modern example of a helpmate that you can try to solve (the board is rotated):
A selfmate is a chess problem in which White moves first and forces Black to deliver checkmate against his will. It is not known when the first selfmate was created, but its roots are more distant than the helpmate’s. Indeed, there is a problem by Ercole Del Rio of 1750 (with multiple solutions) and also a problem of the XIII. century, not certainly dated, with an original solution in 13 moves, reduced to 11 by a successive analysis.
As for the term helpmate, the original name was different, namely sui-mate. It derives from the Latin word sui, meaning of oneself, that is, as stated above, a checkmate forced by the side that is checkmated.
Here a problem for you to solve. White obtains his goal moving all his eight pieces back to the starting squares!
Finally, an incredible problem created by the Finnish Matti Arvo Myllyniemi in 1966, which we can define four in one. That is to say, starting from the initial position you need to find:
- checkmate in two moves (White moves first)
- helpmate in two moves (Black moves first, board rotated)
- selfmate in two moves (White moves first)
- stalemate in two moves (Black moves first and White stalemates him, board rotated)
You might have noticed that each of the four solutions involves the promotion of the Pe7 to a different piece! An absolute masterpiece.
In wrapping up the topic, I would like to leave you with basically two thoughts. Undoubtedly, studying helpmate and selfmate will upgrade your chess performance by sharpening your mental and creative dexterity.
But do not go overboard (pun intended)!
Remember: Your opponent remains your opponent and it is you who wants to win the game!
