Helpmate

I discovered the following chess puzzle on a Russian blog for puzzle lovers. It is a helpmate-type puzzle. Black cooperates with White in checkmating himself. In this particular puzzle Black starts and helps White to win in one move.

Oops. Something is not quite right. There are not enough pieces on the board. To recover the missing pieces in order to solve the puzzle, you need to retrace your steps. If Black and White go back one move each, they will be able to cooperatively checkmate Black in one move. Find the position one move back and the cooperative checkmate.

Helpmate

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2 Comments

  1. Norb:

    Beautiful – thanks.

  2. Tony Newhall:

    Tanya, Thanks for posing this fascinating chess problem. I had some confusion at first in determining who makes the initial move, white or black? If you post this problem again, can you change the instructions to read:
    “In this particular puzzle Black helps White to win in one move.”
    “Oops. Something is not quite right. There are not enough pieces on the board. To recover the missing pieces in order to solve the puzzle, you need to retrace your steps. If first White then Black go back one move each, then Black has the move forward and will cooperatively help White checkmate him in one move. Find the position one move back and the cooperative checkmate.”
    Thanks for posting this. This is a terrific problem!

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