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 |
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.
Read more about this topic: Babson Task