If Black promotes, then the only way for White towards a forced checkmate in the stipulated number of moves is to promote a pawn to the same piece to which Black promoted.
Joseph Ney Babson[it] (1852–1929), the task's eponym, first conceived of the task in 1884, but never solved it.[1] To devise a satisfying Babson task is regarded as one of the greatest challenges in chess composing. For almost a century, it was unknown whether such a task could exist.
The Babson task is a special form of Allumwandlung, a chess problem in which the solution contains promotions to each of the four possible pieces. Such problems were already known when Babson formulated his task.
1...a1=N 2.f8=N (2.f8=Q? Nxb3 3.Qa8 Nd4 and no mate) a2 3.Ng6 Nxb3 4.Nf4#
This is not a full Babson, however, because 1...a1=B 2.f8=B does not work; White must instead play 2.f8=Q, with similar play to above.
Selfmate Babsons
The earliest Babson tasks are all in the form of a selfmate, in which White, moving first, must force Black to deliver checkmate against Black's will within a specified number of moves. In 1914, Babson himself published such a problem, in which three different white pawns shared the promotions.
Henry Wald Bettmann 1st Prize, 1925–26 Babson Task Tourney
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Selfmate in three
Henry Wald Bettmann composed the first problem in which one black pawn and one white pawn were involved in all promotions, winning 1st prize in the Babson Task Tourney 1925–26.[2]
The key in Bettmann's problem is 1.a8=B, after which play is as follows:
1...fxg1=Q 2.f8=Q (2.f8=R? Qxf1 3.b5+ Kxc5; both 2.f8=B? and 2.f8=N? fail to Qg8!) Qxf1 3.b5+ (3.Qfxf1? Rxa6 is not checkmate, as White can play 4.Qxa6) Qxb5#; or Qxc5 3.b5+ (3.bxc5? Rxa6 is not checkmate, as White can play 4.Kb4; 3.Qxc5 checkmates black, entirely wrong for a selfmate) or 2...Q-any 3.anyxQ Rxa6#
1...fxg1=R 2.f8=R (2.f8=Q? Rxf1 3.Qfxf1 (3.b5 checkmates Black) Rxa6 is not checkmate, as White can play 4.Qxa6) R-any 3.anyxR Rxa6#
1...fxg1=B 2.f8=B (2.f8=Q? Bxc5 3.bxc5 (3.b5 checkmates Black; 3.Qxc5 checkmates Black) Rxa6 is not checkmate, as White can play 4.Kb4) B-any 3.anyxB Rxa6#
Various other composers later composed similar problems.
Directmate Babsons
Composing a Babson task in directmate form (where White moves first and must checkmate Black against any defence within a stipulated number of moves) was thought so difficult that very little effort was put into it until the 1960s, when Pierre Drumare began his work on the problem, which occupied him for the next twenty years or so. He managed to compose a Babson task in which the knight is replaced with the nightrider (a fairy chess piece which moves by making any number of knight moves in the same direction on unblocked squares) but found it hard to devise one using normal pieces: because of the knight's limited range, it is difficult to justify a knight promotion by White in response to a knight promotion by Black on the other side of the board.
Pierre Drumare Memorial Camil Seneca, 1980
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White to play and mate in five
When Drumare eventually succeeded using conventional pieces in 1980, the result was regarded as highly unsatisfactory, even by Drumare himself. It is a mate in five (first published Memorial Seneca, 1980). The key is 1.Rf2, after which captures by Black on b1 are answered by captures by White on g8.
Efficiency in chess problems is considered a great boon, but Drumare's attempt is very inefficient: no fewer than 30 pieces are on the board. It also has six promoted pieces in the initial position (even a single promoted piece is considered something of a "cheat" in chess problems), which is in any case illegal: one of the white f-pawns must have made a capture, and the white and black b- and c-pawns must have made two captures between them, making three in total, yet only two units are missing from the board. Despite all these flaws, it is the first complete Babson task.
In 1982, two years after composing this problem, Drumare gave up, saying that the Babson task would never be satisfactorily solved.
Leonid Yarosh Shakhmaty v SSSR, March 1983
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White to play and mate in four
The following year, Leonid Yarosh, a football coach from Kazan who was virtually unknown as a problem composer until that point, came up with a much better Babson task than Drumare's: the position is legal, it is much simpler than Drumare's problem, and there are no promoted pieces on board. First published in March 1983 in the famous Russian chess magazine Shakhmaty v SSSR, this is generally thought of as the first satisfactory solution of the Babson task. Drumare himself had high praise for the problem.
1...cxb1=N 2.axb8=N (2.axb8=Q? Nxd2 and no mate) Nxd2 3.Nc6+ Kc3 4.Rc1#
However, Yarosh's problem has a small flaw: the key is a capture, something which is generally frowned upon in problems. Also, when first presented, the black piece at h4 was a pawn, but a computer discovered an additional solution by 1.axb8=N hxg3+ 2.Kh3 Bxb8 3.Qxc2 and mate next move. Yarosh then substituted a knight on that square; now 1.axb8=N fails to 1...Nf3+ 2.Bxf3 Bxb8 3.Qxc2 Bxg3+ and White is too late. Nevertheless, when Dutch author Tim Krabbé saw this version in the Soviet publication 64, he records that the realisation that somebody had at last solved the Babson task had the effect upon him as if he had "... opened a newspaper and seen the headline 'Purpose Of Life Discovered'."
Leonid Yarosh Shakhmaty v SSSR, August 1983
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White to play and mate in four
Yarosh continued to work on the problem, and in August 1983, he created an improved version with a non-capturing key, which appeared in Shakhmaty v SSSR. Many chess problemists,[who?] including Tim Krabbé,[3] consider the problem one of the greatest ever composed. Again, it is a mate in four.
The key here is non-capturing and also thematic (that is, it is logically related to the rest of the solution): 1.a7!. The variations are largely the same as in the original:
1...axb1=N 2.axb8=N (2.axb8=Q? Nxd2 and no mate) Nxd2 3.Qc1 Ne4 4.Nc6# (alternatively, 2...Nc3 3.Rxf4+ Ne4 4.Rxf4#)
There is another defence for black that is non-thematic and also leads to mate in four: 1...Qxd8+ 2.Kg7 axb1=Q 3.Rxf4+ Qe4 4. Rxd4# However, this is not considered a flaw according to the rules of the Babson task.
Pierre Drumare Thèmes-64, 1985
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White to play and mate in five
Yarosh composed a completely different Babson task later in 1983 and another in 1986. Several other Babsons were later composed by other authors, including one by Drumare in 1985. The solution of this Babson is 1.fxg8=Q dxe2 2.Nxe3 e1=Q/R/B/N 3.gxf8=Q/R/B/N and now mate in two in all variations.
The cyclic Babson
Peter Hoffmann, Die Schwalbe, 2003
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White to play and mate in four
In a cyclic Babson, rather than Black’s promotions being matched by White, they are related in cyclic form: for example, Black promoting to a queen means White must promote to a bishop, Black promoting to a bishop means White must promote to a rook, Black promoting to a rook means White must promote to a knight, and Black promoting to a knight means White must promote to a queen.
The August 2003 issue of the German problem magazine Die Schwalbe contained the problem to the right, a mate in four by Peter Hoffmann. Hoffmann had previously published a number of conventional directmate Babsons, but this one is significant because it is the first cyclic Babson. However, as with Drumare's original Babson task, the problem uses promoted pieces and has a capturing key.
The key is 1.Nxe6, threatening 2.hxg8=Q and 3.Qf7#. The thematic defences are:
1...d1=Q 2.hxg8=B (2.hxg8=Q? Qd7+ 3.Bxd7 stalemate; 2.hxg8=N+? Kxe6 and no mate), threatening 3.c4+ Q-moves 4.BxQ#
2...Qd7+ 3.Bxd7 Kxg6 4.Rxh6#
2...Qxc1 3.Rxg5 (threat: 4.Rf5#) hxg5 4.Qh8#
1...d1=B 2.hxg8=R (2.hxg8=Q? stalemate; 2.hxg8=N+? Kxe6 and no mate) Kxe6 3.Rd8 3.Kf6 Rd6#
1...d1=N 2.hxg8=Q (2.hxg8=N+? Kxe6 3.Qxe2+ Ne3! and no mate) Nxb2+ 3.Kb5(Bxb2) and 4.Qf7#
There are also a number of sidelines.
Peter Hoffmann, Schach, 2005
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White to play and mate in four
In the September 2005 issue of Schach[de], the first cyclic Babson without promoted pieces in the initial position was published. Again, the composer was Peter Hoffmann.
The key is 1.Nxb6. The thematic defences are:
1...d1=Q 2.exf8=B (2.exf8=Q? Qd4+ 3.Bxd4 stalemate; 2.exf8=N+? Kd6 3.Be5+ Kc5 and no mate)
2...Qd4+ 3.exd4 Kxf6 4.d5#
1...d1=B 2.exf8=R (2.exf8=Q? stalemate; 2.exf8=N+? Kd6 3.Be5+ Kc5 and no mate)
1...d1=N 2.exf8=Q (2.exf8=N+? Kd6 3.Be5+ Kc5 and no mate)
2...Nxc3+ 3.Kxa5 Ne4 4.c8=Q#
Babson Task in an endgame study
Achieving a Babson Task in an endgame study was for long time considered impossible, because of the enormous complexity requested to make every promotion the only winning move, avoiding duals and keeping the position legal. Some partial Babsons have been showed in form of a study, but at maximum 3/4 of the theme was achieved (usually missing the Rook variation).[4]
In October 2024, the Israelian chess composer Gady Costeff published on EG a sound attempt of a complete Babson Task in an endgame study, which was the first in the history of chess composition. Unfortunately, the position was illegal for just one missing White capture (and had three white Knights in the initial position). The composer declared to have worked on that position for more than 13 years, trying to make it legal, but eventually giving up and publishing it anyway, out of competition.[5]
'Daniele Guglielmo Gatti - Original, inspired by and dedicated to Gady Costeff - EG n. 239, 2025
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Black to move - White wins
In January 2025, again on EG, the Italian chess composer Daniele Guglielmo Gatti showed a complete Babson Task in an endgame study. The composer declared to have worked for 45 days after having seen the Costeff's failed attempt, creating a much different position that keeped some core elements and ideas of Costeff's one, but managing to make it legal, sound, with improved economy and without promoted pieces. This made him effectively the first composer in history to correctly achieve the task in an endgame study, 141 years after the theme was proposed by his eponym.[6]
The solution of the study follows:
— 1…f1=Q2.hxg8=Q!Ne5+ 3.dxe5 Qf4+ 4.Ne4! avoids stalemate and wins,
iii) Threatens 4.Nf7 mate. Prematurely 3.Ne4+? Kh7! wins as there is no mate on f6.
iv) Thematic try: 2.hxg8=N+? Kg7 3.c6 Qxe1 4.c7 Qb1 5.Nxe6+ Kh7 The point: no promotion with check 6.c8=Q Qxa2+ 7.Kb4 Qb3+ 8.Ka5 (Kc5? Qc2+ skewer) e1=Q+ 9.Kb6 Qxe3 another point 10.Nf6+ Kh6 11.g5+ Qxg5 12.Ng8+ Kh5 and draw.
v) Other promotions all fail to Nxe3 mate.
Related Research Articles
A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle created by the composer using chess pieces on a chessboard, which presents the solver with a particular task. For instance, a position may be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two moves against any possible defence. A chess problem fundamentally differs from over-the-board play in that the latter involves a struggle between Black and White, whereas the former involves a competition between the composer and the solver. Most positions which occur in a chess problem are unrealistic in the sense that they are very unlikely to occur in over-the-board play. There is a good deal of specialized jargon used in connection with chess problems.
In the game of chess, perpetual check is a situation in which one player can play an unending series of checks, from which the defending player cannot escape. This typically arises when the player who is checking feels their position in the game is inferior, they cannot deliver checkmate, and wish to force a draw.
Allumwandlung is a chess problem theme where, at some stage in the solution, a pawn is promoted variously to a queen, rook, bishop, and knight. Allumwandlung's main requirement is promotion, either a white pawn or a black pawn. A Babson task may appear if both pawns are spotted in an individual problem, corresponding one another.
This glossary of chess problems explains commonly used terms in chess problems, in alphabetical order. For a list of unorthodox pieces used in chess problems, see Fairy chess piece; for a list of terms used in chess is general, see Glossary of chess; for a list of chess-related games, see List of chess variants.
In the game of chess, an endgame study, or just study, is a composed position—that is, one that has been made up rather than played in an actual game—presented as a sort of puzzle, in which the aim of the solver is to find the essentially unique way for one side to win or draw, as stipulated, against any moves the other side plays. If the study does not end in the end of the game, then the game's eventual outcome should be obvious, and White can have a selection of many different moves. There is no limit to the number of moves which are allowed to achieve the win; this distinguishes studies from the genre of direct mate problems. Such problems also differ qualitatively from the very common genre of tactical puzzles based around the middlegame, often based on an actual game, where a decisive tactic must be found.
Stalemate is a situation in chess where the player whose turn it is to move is not in check and has no legal move. Stalemate results in a draw. During the endgame, stalemate is a resource that can enable the player with the inferior position to draw the game rather than lose. In more complex positions, stalemate is much rarer, usually taking the form of a swindle that succeeds only if the superior side is inattentive. Stalemate is also a common theme in endgame studies and other chess problems.
A helpmate is a type of chess problem in which both sides cooperate in order to achieve the goal of checkmating Black. In a helpmate in n moves, Black moves first, then White, each side moving n times, to culminate in White's nth move checkmating Black. Although the two sides cooperate, all moves must be legal according to the rules of chess.
Checkmate is any game position in chess and other chess-like games in which a player's king is in check and there is no possible escape. Checkmating the opponent wins the game.
The two knights endgame is a chess endgame with a king and two knights versus a king. In contrast to a king and two bishops, or a bishop and a knight, a king and two knights cannot force checkmate against a lone king. Although there are checkmate positions, a king and two knights cannot force them against proper, relatively easy defense.
The Saavedra position is one of the best-known chess endgame studies. It is named after the Spanish priest Fernando Saavedra (1849–1922), who lived in Glasgow during the late 19th century. Though not a strong player, he spotted a win involving a dramatic underpromotion in a position previously thought to have been a draw.
In chess, promotion is the replacement of a pawn with a new piece when the pawn is moved to its last rank. The player replaces the pawn immediately with a queen, rook, bishop, or knight of the same color. The new piece does not have to be a previously captured piece. Promotion is mandatory when moving to the last rank; the pawn cannot remain as a pawn.
A model mate is a type of pure mate checkmating position in chess in which:
The chess endgame with a king and a pawn versus a king is one of the most important and fundamental endgames, other than the basic checkmates. It is an important endgame for chess players to master, since most other endgames have the potential of reducing to this type of endgame via exchanges of pieces. Players need to be able to determine quickly whether a given position is a win or a draw, and to know the technique for playing it. The crux of this endgame is whether or not the pawn can be promoted, so checkmate can be forced.
In chess, a grotesque is a problem or endgame study which features a particularly unlikely or impossible initial position, especially one in which White fights with a very small force against a much larger black army. Grotesques are generally intended to be humorous.
Tsume shogi or tsume (詰め) is the Japanese term for a shogi miniature problem in which the goal is to checkmate the opponent's king. Tsume problems usually present a situation that might occur in a shogi game, and the solver must find out how to achieve checkmate. It is similar to a mate-in-n chess problem.
In chess, the bishop and knight checkmate is the checkmate of a lone king by an opposing king, bishop, and knight. With the stronger side to move, checkmate can be forced in at most thirty-three moves from almost any starting position. Although it is classified as one of the four basic checkmates, the bishop and knight checkmate occurs in practice only approximately once in every 6,000 games.
A joke chess problem is a puzzle in chess that uses humor as an element. Although most chess problems, like other creative forms, are appreciated for serious artistic themes, joke chess problems are enjoyed for some twist. In some cases the composer plays a trick to prevent a solver from succeeding with typical analysis. In other cases, the humor derives from an unusual final position. Unlike in ordinary chess puzzles, joke problems can involve a solution which violates the inner logic or rules of the game.
The chess endgame of a queen versus pawn is usually an easy win for the side with the queen. However, if the pawn has advanced to its seventh rank it has possibilities of reaching a draw, and there are some drawn positions with the pawn on the sixth rank. This endgame arises most often from a race of pawns to promote.
Nikalai (Nikolay) Dmitrievich Grigoriev was a Russian chess player and a composer of endgame studies. He was born on 14 August 1895 in Moscow, and he died there in 1938.
Chess on a really big board is a large chess variant invented by Ralph Betza around 1996. It is played on a 16×16 chessboard with 16 pieces and 16 pawns per player. Since such a board can be constructed by pushing together four standard 8×8 boards, Betza also gave this variant the alternative names of four-board chess or chess on four boards.
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