Chess Stack Exchange
Chess Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [selfmate]

A selfmate is a type of chess problem in which one side, usually White, forces the other side to checkmate them. The other side plays to avoid the checkmate.

13 questions
21
votes
5 answers

A position with the only legal move resulting in checkmate

Theoretically, is it possible that for some position, the only legal move for a side leads to a checkmate (that is, the opposite king gets checkmated)? If so, has this ever occurred in a real game?
HPP_00
  • 411
  • 3
  • 5
19
votes
5 answers

Can one side force a loss in regular chess?

Chess is unsolved, so there is no known optimal strategy for one side to force a win or a draw. However, is there an optimal strategy to lose? Consider a variant where checkmate results in a loss, but all other rules are the same as regular chess.…
Victor
  • 307
  • 2
  • 5
12
votes
3 answers

Position where neither player can force a win and neither player can force a draw

One sometimes sees the claim that in every chess position, either White has a forced win, or Black has a forced win, or both players can force a draw. While this claim is "morally" correct, it is technically not quite correct. To be pedantically…
Timothy Chow
  • 705
  • 3
  • 12
10
votes
1 answer

Is there more than 1 solution?

In this selfmate puzzle is there more than one solution? I think I found one but I was curious to know if there is more than one. 4N2k/5P2/3p1rP1/2pP4/2p1K1R1/2B1P1N1/6Pp/8 w - - 0 0 Credit: J. C. J. Wainwright, first published in Alain C. White's…
dr.vlad lup
  • 633
  • 2
  • 7
9
votes
1 answer

Selfmate problem

[FEN "8/7P/8/p2p4/P2p4/pB1p4/3P4/k2K4 w - - 0 1"] Composed by IM Geir Sune Tallaksen. White moves first, and must force Black to deliver checkmate. Give the sequence of moves that force Black to mate White on the 7th move!
dr.vlad lup
  • 633
  • 2
  • 7
8
votes
5 answers

Is this selfmate solvable or fixable?

This is a kind of a repost of a fascinating chess problem that appeared yesterday. The original poster got shy or something, and bafflingly deleted his own post, which was beginning to attract some good reputation and interest. In the mean time, I…
Laska
  • 10,710
  • 4
  • 37
  • 70
4
votes
4 answers

Theoretically, is the analysis of the moves more complex if the objective is to be the first to be checkmated?

I have seen variations of other board games or strategy games where the aim is to actually 'lose' the game by forcing your opponents to make moves. Applying this concept to the rules of chess, would it require a completely different set of skills…
Michael Lai
  • 165
  • 4
4
votes
1 answer

Is KQB vs KP generally sufficient to force a selfmate?

User Hauke Reddmann noted in a previous answer that there should be a straightforward way to secure selfmate against a substantially weaker opponent (i.e., force them to checkmate you): win all the material of your opponent, except a safely blocked…
Mobeus Zoom
  • 2,279
  • 7
  • 19
4
votes
2 answers

The quickest selfmate in 1

How quickly can a legal game reach a position where one side must give checkmate? This is in effect Evergalo's reading (see his (now deleted) answer) of Rewan Demontay's Question 33154; that question actually asked something else, but the selfmate…
Noam D. Elkies
  • 6,514
  • 28
  • 37
3
votes
3 answers

Forced Mate (differently)

I was wondering if there was a move so bad in chess that if you played it the only move your opponent could do was checkmate you back, through blocking your piece or through moving the king. It would definitely require a discovered check of some…
Esther Sai
  • 31
  • 1
3
votes
1 answer

The quickest selfmate in 2

Duh. Clearly, the one shown there with Qxh5+ Rxh5# can be easily turned into a s#2, by e.g. B-e2-f3, Qe2 from White and c6, Q-a5xd2-d1 from Black. 9.0 moves if I added correctly. Someone care to beat this, or even construct a helpgame-s#3? (This…
Hauke Reddmann
  • 14,860
  • 2
  • 24
  • 61
1
vote
0 answers

Actual selfmate in OTB game?

Danger, Will Robinson, in both English and German "selfmate" is occasionally used for what problemists correctly term "helpmate". I mean selfmate: a move so idiotic it forces the opponent to mate. (I quickly browsed Krabbe's site, but to no…
Hauke Reddmann
  • 14,860
  • 2
  • 24
  • 61
1
vote
1 answer

I have discovered a selfmate requiring 1,351 moves to enforce. How does this move-count stack up against the 'record holder'?

I've discovered a selfmate requiring 1,351 moves to enforce. What is the highest move-count known for a selfmate? {The starting position is provably legal}.
Robert Linsley
  • 19
  • 1