Helpmates in two with grasshoppers and nightriders 1

So, we have a long name for this page, hopefully it opens a new longer project at CCM. You know more and more composers are entering wonderful realm of fairy chess. The most orthodox composers never using fairy elements to express their ideas were catched by theme of last WCCT demanding twomovers with transmuting kings and possibly using nightriders and/or grasshoppers. I know surely about excellent Ludovit Lacny who will soon publish brutal fairy article in Pat a Mat. It is brutal in the sense of density of fairy elements used but great when speaking about ideas shown in it. And I think in the other countries is the situation the same. Fairy chess is gaining more and more space in almost all composition magazines (except those totally ignoring it) and therefore more and more people read about it and some of them are catched...

Let's go back to the concrete fairy elements from 6th WCCT. We already tried transmuting kings in twomovers, also with other fairy pieces, see 3rd TT CCM, and now we are going to focus on two voluntary elements, fairy pieces grasshopper and nightrider. These two are the most common fairy pieces and for majority of people they are the first fairy pieces they ever met. Thus it is natural that many problems featuring them exist, some of them beeing good, some beeing bad, some showing special fairy effects, some only extending known orthodox effects... Shortly, we are going to look at a few sets of helpmate twomovers that have not very long actions and thus are ideal for presentation without demand on readers to set positions on board. But this doesn't mean they can't do it!
Petko A. Petkov
1st HM Buletin Problemistic 1978

1.Se4 Rh5 2.Bd4 Sxd6#

1.Re4 c7 2.Rd4 Se3#

Strategy involving grasshopper-typical selfpin by black and tempo move by white with analogically motivated dual avoidances.









h#2 (7+12)
2+3 grasshopper
2.1.1.1
Hans Peter Rehm
Schach-Echo 1979

a) 1.Bc7 Sc5 2.Be5+ Sce4#

b) 1.Re2 Sd3 2.Re4+ S3e5#

White knights pass through dangerous squares with the help of black closing temporarily appropriate lines.









h#2 (6+11)
3+2 grasshopper
b) g6 -» f4
Pavlos Moutecidis
899 Rokada 1979

1.Qf4! Ga2 2.Sg5 Gd5#
1...Ga7 2.Gg4 Gc5#
1...Gh5 2.Re4 Gf7#
1...Ghd8 2.Rxe5 Gf8#
1...Sd5 2.Ge6 Se7#
1...Gxb7 2.Gxf6 Gb5#
1...Gbd8 2.Gxg6 Gf8#

Probably there is some theme here, but I don't see it...









h#2 (12+13)
8+4 grasshopper
1.7.1.1
Nikolaj Nagnibida
Rokada 1977

a) 1.Qg3 Gh3 2.Qg4 Qf5#

b) 1.Qd2 Gc1 2.Qc3 Qc4#

Known mate with special pin in light setting.









h#2 (4+3)
grasshopper e3
b) e6 -» c5
Nikolaj Nagnibida
Themes-64, 1978

1.Gxb3 Ba4 2.Ge3 Bd1#

1.Gxg6 Be8 2.G6e4 Bh5#

Line clearance followed by block.









h#2 (6+6)
3+4 grasshopper
2.1.1.1
Lennart Larsson
5551 Springaren 11- 1979

1.Gd2 Gxe2 2.Gc2 Sd5#

1.Sd5 Gg7 2.Gd4 Ba3#

1.Sc6 axb5 2.Gc7 Gb7#

Two black moves remove cyclically two pieces from third-pin, last piece is pinned and thus it cannot destroy mate.









h#2 (11+14)
5+2 grasshopper
3.1.1.1
Petko A. Petkov
Schach-Echo 1979

1.Qd8+ b8Q 2.Qd4+ Qb6#

1.Qg8+ b8S 2.Qc4+ Sc6#

Unpins of white pawn and promoted piece by queen closing also 4 times grasshopper lines.









h#2 (3+7)
0+3 grasshopper
2.1.1.1
Manne Persson
Pavlos Moutecidis
2704 Mat 1979

1.Ne7 Sc6 2.Gg3 Qc2#

1.Gg3 Qxe5 2.Ne7 Sc2#

Moves Ne7 and Gg3 are necessary for mate to appear, that's why white plays unpinning Umnov moves and mates from battery to c2 closing last dangerous line.









h#2 (9+13)
3+4 grasshopper, 1+1 nightrider
2.1.1.1

Comments to Juraj Lörinc.
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