Babson Task - Selfmate Babsons

Selfmate Babsons

The earliest Babson tasks are all in the form of a selfmate - this is where white, moving first, must force black to mate him against his will within a specified number of moves. In 1914, Babson himself published a selfmate which achieved the task, although three different white pawns shared the promotions. The first problem in which a single black and single white pawn were involved in the promotions was by Henry Wald Bettmann, and won 1st prize in the Babson Task Tourney 1925-26.

Henry Wald Bettmann. 1st Prize in the 1925-26 Babson task tourney.

	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h
8									8
7									7
6									6
5									5
4									4
3									3
2									2
1									1
	a	b	c	d	e	f	g	h

A selfmate in three.

The key move in Bettmann's problem (left) is 1.a8=B, after which the play goes:

1...fxg1=Q 2. f8=Q

2... Qxf1/Qxc5 3.b5 Qxb5#

2... Q-any 3.AnyxQ Rxa6#

1...fxg1=R 2. f8=R R-any 3.anyxR Rxa6#

1...fxg1=B 2. f8=B B-any 3.anyxB Rxa6#

1... fxg1=N 2. f8=N N-any 3.anyxN Rxa6#

A number of other selfmate Babson tasks with one pawn of each colour doing all the promotions followed this one.