I was playing a new pupil the other day, just to find out his level of play. As usual, I gave him the white pieces. Things weren’t going well for him: he just had one pawn left, while almost all my army was still intact. You could probably find a mate in one for me here. Come to think of it, you could probably find lots of mates in one for me. But the young boy was looking increasingly unhappy so I thought I ought to let him win as quickly as possible.

I worked out that if I played the right sequence of moves I could help him to mate me in just five moves. Can you see how I did it?

Well, no, I’m making it all up, but teachers often like to start with a story to draw their audience in.

This is a helpmate in 5 moves (Bo Lindgren 2nd Prize Tidskrift för Schack 1945) which I saw posted on the birdie website the other day. Black plays the first move, and the two sides work together to reach a position in which White’s 5th move delivers mate?

Can you solve it? Yes, you can!