It’s always an exciting day when Postman Pat delivers the latest issue of The Problemist to the Chess Palace.

A couple of longer helpmates caught my eye. This is the 2nd prize winner from last year’s Benko Memorial Tournament.

Helpmates can often serve as an excellent introduction to the problem world, both for competitive players and for those who prefer collaboration to competition.

Here, Black plays the first move, and the two sides work together to reach a position where White’s 6th move delivers checkmate.

When you’ve done that, you then have to do it again, but with the black king starting on b5 rather than a5.

Have fun!