I’m glad to see this lad has his priorities right.
This puzzle caught my eye whilst flicking through an old British Chess Magazine.
Helpmate in five. By A. Thoma (sic) BCM 1978.
In a Helpmate Black goes first and both sides work together to checkmate Black.
I could see the final pattern. Black King to a7, White King to c7 get something
(that something will be a promoted Black piece on the a1 square.) and then we
can deliver check mate with the White Bishop. It took a while to get there but
eventually I did it. White’s 2nd move had me stuck till I got it. A good puzzle.
A. Thoma BCM 1978.
FEN
k1K5/p7/p7/8/8/p7/7b/6B1 b - - 0 1
[FEN "k1K5/p7/p7/8/8/p7/7b/6B1 b - - 0 1"] 1... a2 {Black goes first in a Helpmate.} 2. Bxa7 {Clears a7 for the Black King.} 2... a1=Q 3. Bb8 {This move was the most difficult to dig out.} 3... Qh1 {The Queen comes here ready to go to a8.} 4. Bxh2 {White has to take this Bishop.} 4... Ka7 5. Kc7 Qa8 {Self blocking a flight square.} 6. Bg1 {Checkmate.}
I came across this challenge in a 1994 BCM. 'Construct a position where White has a
King, Knight & Bishop but cannot win unless you remove either the Knight or Bishop.
Here is one solution. You are welcome to try and construct another.
Any Bishop move meets 1....axb1 =Q + mate and 1.Bb2+ cxb2 + also loses.
1. Nxc3 is a stalemate, which is best because 1. Nd2 will lose after 1...cxd2+
Remove the Bishop. 1.Na3 c2 2.Nc2 mate. Remove the Knight 1.Bb4 c2 2,Bc3 mate.
Now an RHP game where White missed a chance to set a glorious trap.
r2king - Nimboe RHP 2010
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Nc3 f5 {This opening could easily have come from a Latvian gambit with White playing 3.Nc3.} 4. d4 exd4 5. Nxd4 Qf6 {White now played 5.Nxc6 and went onto lose. So how about....} 6. Ndb5 {Awkward to meet. 6..Bd6 looks clumsy Black could play.} 6... Kd8 {Looks plausible. However....} 7. Nxc7 {And if 7...Kxc7 then Nd5+ winning the Queen. But that is not the best bit.} 7... Rb8 {To save the Rook and the trap is sprung.} 8. Bg5 {The beautiful point.} 8... Qxg5 9. Ne6+ {The Black Queen is lost.}
A Bishop on g5 pinning a Queen on f6 to a King on d8 is pretty common on RHP.
1,300+ examples as opposed to the 125 I found in a my OTB database where players
are only playing one game at a time. This OTB example similar to the previous game.
I.H. Donev - H. Poettinger, Liechtenstein Open, 1995
1. e4 d6 {The Pirc, Not to everyone’s taste but I got on OK playing it.} 2. d4 Nf6 {What I liked about it is as Black you get first hit on the e-pawn.} 3. Nc3 Nbd7 {3...g6 and Bg7.and 0-0 is the usual way to go.} 4. f4 e5 {We are in some kind of Philidor with White looking better already.} 5. Nf3 c6 {A Philidor type of move, but Black should go for Be7 and 0-0.} 6. dxe5 dxe5 7. fxe5 Ng4 8. e6 {That is a good move.} 8... fxe6 9. Ng5 {Hitting the e6 pawn and the g5 Knight.} 9... Nge5 10. Nxe6 Qh4+ {10...Qa5 was the move but Black knew what they doing and has an idea.} 11. g3 Qf6 {With Nf3+ and some reasonable though hopeful OTB chances.} 12. Nc7+ Kd8 {Black was analysing 13.Nxa8 Nf3+ to see what they could cook up when White played...} 13. Bg5 {Black resigned 13...Qxg5 14.Nd6+}
This next one I found by chance in an old note book
Olive - Botshon, USA 1987
1. b3 {The Larsen which has a number of zealous followers who never play anything else.} 1... e5 2. Bb2 Nc6 3. e3 {White is aiming for Bb5 with Bxc6 threats. I used to play 3...a6 here.} 3... Nf6 4. Nf3 { No Bb5. White is tempting the e-pawn forward to open the a1-h8 diagonal.} 4... e4 {If the b2 Bishop is happy then White is happy.} 5. Nd4 {Now 5...Nxd4 is pure hindsight on my part but we are glad Black did not play it.} 5... Be7 6. Nf5 {Chasing the Be7 Bishop so the b2 Bishop is king of the dark squares.} 6... O-O {Now Bxe7 yes....} 7. Nxg7 {Wow! Game on.} 7... Kxg7 8. Qg4+ Kh8 9. Qxe4 {Two pawns plus long diagonal pressure for a Knight.} 9... d5 10. Qh4 {Now 10....d4 closing that a1=h8diagonal. 11.exd4 Nd5 and 12...Re8} 10... Nb4 {Black goes hunting Rooks. White of course ignores the threat.} 11. g4 {With the obvious g4-g5 ideas. This is truly a caveman attack.} 11... Nxc2+ 12. Kd1 Nxa1 13. Bd3 {A neat switch. Black has been expecting to see 13.g4 Bf5.} 13... d4 14. Bxd4 Bxg4+ {Returning some booty, the best defence.} 15. Qxg4 {15...Rg8 and 16...Rg7 looks like it should hold on.} 15... Qd5 {But Black hopes by chasing another Rook it will deflect White's intentions.} 16. Qh4 {White gives another Rook with check. Black is in trouble now.} 16... Qf3+ 17. Kc1 {Black may have been thinking of 17...h5 here. But 18 Qg5 and White wins.} 17... Nxb3+ 18. axb3 Qxh1+ 19. Kc2 Qc6+ 20. Nc3 {That ends the Black checks. Checkmate is unavoidable.} 20... Kg8 21. Bxf6 {Black resigned.}
